I am aware that the Nigeria Union of journalists(NUJ) has worked out an insurance package for its members. It is a step in the right direction to encourage practitioners to remain committed to service. The state of the economy generally dictates the welfare of professionals and all citizens in society. Wage increases do not on their own lead to improved welfare. While this administration works hard to improve on critical sectors of the economy, especially power supply and other critical infrastructure and social service, there is the need for public and private media owners and stakeholders to dialogue on the working condition of media practitioners in order to enhance their performance. Media training schools of government like Nigerian Television Authority Training School in Jos, and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria Training school in Lagos have been standardized with their curricular updated to comply with contemporary challenges. I will therefore appeal to media proprietors to invest in the training and welfare of their workers in order to get the best quality and return on investment. The press should also be supported by organizations and the society in order to function effectively and in the information age, the press should remain dynamic and keep abreast with global trends. Our media owners and professionals must aim at the highest standards of ethics and productions in order to make our media the pride of our nation. I challenge the International Press Centre and other media stakeholders to remain engage in programmed that will strengthen the capacity of journalists and the media profession. The media are one of the key pillars of good governance in a democracy. Both the government and the citizens cannot function effectively without the media in a democracy. We all need the media. Let us resolve to play our roles so that the Nigerian media will continue to improve and remain the pride of Africa and compare favourably with the best in the world. It is not only the economic, the military and other institutions that give strength to a nation. The media are a major cultural, intellectual and social weapon which nations in the new Information Age use to project their influence across borders. Nigeria has the key ingredients to emerge as a major media power in the African Sub-region. We must invest in this potential to project our country and Africa to the rest of the World. As we have seen in the last 500 years, the