Akwa Ibom State Governor, Pastor Umo Eno, has been commended by former Nigerian Presidents Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, as well as former President of Botswana, Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi, for fostering a peaceful, attractive, and investment-friendly environment in the State.
The commendations came on Wednesday during the unveiling of the C54 News Global Streaming Dome in Uyo, where Governor Eno declared Akwa Ibom a destination of choice, ready to host global businesses and institutions.
Governor Eno, represented by Deputy Governor Senator Akon Eyakenyi, described the establishment of the global digital news platform as a welcome addition to the State’s growing investment profile and reaffirmed his administration’s readiness to provide the needed support.
He said the management of C54 News made the right choice by siting its studio in Akwa Ibom, which he noted as clean, serene, peaceful, and secure, with resourceful and knowledgeable people who are among the nation’s highest consumers of digital information.
The Governor explained that his administration was deliberately positioning the State as a leading tourism destination and investment hub in the region and country through strategic infrastructure, improved connectivity, unmatched hospitality and a business-friendly environment.
Highlighting the benefits of hosting the media organisation, Governor Eno noted that global media institutions have historically raised the international profiles of their host cities, citing Al Jazeera in Doha and CNN in Atlanta, Georgia, and expressed confidence that C54 News would similarly help project Akwa Ibom to a global audience.
“Akwa Ibom is ready for C54 News Channel, and we are excited to have you here. We believe your presence will also help put our State on the global map, which we are thankfully laying the building blocks for. Akwa Ibom State is ready for the world,” he declared.
He reiterated his administration’s media-friendly disposition and commitment to projecting what he described as the Akwa Ibom story of growth, development and unique exceptionalism.
Delivering the keynote address, former President of Botswana Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi described the launch of C54 News Global Streaming Dome as a strategic investment in Africa’s capacity to own and tell its story, stressing that the continent must move from being the subject of global conversations to actively shaping narratives.
He said credible, verified information was essential to connecting African citizens, businesses, and governments, adding that C54 News could bridge the information gap by taking African stories to Africans and the wider world.
“Africans need credible, verified information to connect citizens, businesses, and governments. C54 News will bridge that gap by taking African stories to Africans and to the world,” he said.
Dr Masisi cautioned that the platform’s long-term strength would depend not merely on technology or audience reach, but on its ability to earn and retain public trust through accuracy, independence, fairness and integrity.
He urged Africans to tell their stories confidently, develop local talent and work together to build a more connected and prosperous continent.
In his remarks as Father of the Day, former Nigerian President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo said the launch of C54 News addressed a longstanding imbalance in global media narratives, in which African perspectives had often received limited attention.
He expressed optimism that platforms such as C54 News would enable African leaders and citizens to learn from African perspectives and documentaries, stressing that credible data was essential to the continent’s development, and thanked the organisers for the initiative.
In his goodwill message, former President Goodluck Jonathan described C54 News as a timely and important investment in media and technology, commending its vision of connecting all 54 African countries to global audiences through news and documentaries.
Jonathan urged African media organisations to help reshape perceptions of the continent by telling its stories accurately and highlighting its innovation, enterprise, culture, resources, and opportunities.
Also speaking, the Founder of the Centre for Values in Leadership, Professor Pat Utomi, who chaired the event, enumerated benefits of establishing indigenous global media institutions in Africa, describing C54 News as a historic platform for the continent to reclaim its narrative and connect its people, industries and ideas.
Earlier, C54 News Founder and Chief Executive Officer Mr Idris Usman explained that the platform was established to connect Africa through journalism, culture and ideas.
Usman challenged Africans to see the continent not merely as a collection of countries, but as an interconnected landscape of markets, industries, cultures, ideas and possibilities.
South Africa’s Consul-General to Nigeria, Professor Bobby Moroe, also commended the initiative as a bold pan-African step towards strengthening bilateral relations and continental unity through the media.
C54 News is a 24-hour global news streaming platform focused on news, documentaries and data, established to tell the African story from a global perspective, with its headquarters in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
The establishment of the platform further strengthens Akwa Ibom’s profile as a destination for media, technology and other investments, with a promise of stronger international visibility and opportunities for economic growth.
Dignitaries at the event included members of the National and State Houses of Assembly, members of the State Executive Council, traditional rulers, captains of industry, media executives and members of the diplomatic community.
BY Mfonobong Ukpong
