“Truth or Treason?” Farounbi, Mande to Headline ValidViewNetwork’s Third Global Discourse

ValidViewNetwork will hold the third edition of its Monthly Global Discourse on Sunday, August 30, 2026, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. WAT, with Ambassador Dr. Yemi Farounbi, OON, and Prof. Samaila Mande billed as Distinguished Discussants.

The session to be held virtually, is themed “Truth or Treason? Navigating the Thin Line Between National Critique and National Demarketing.”

The theme

The topic interrogates a boundary Nigerians argue over daily but rarely define; where constructive national criticism ends and harmful national demarketing begins.

In an era when a domestic complaint can become an international headline within minutes, ValidViewNetwork frames the question as one that touches investment, tourism, diplomacy and how Nigerians are perceived at home and abroad.

The theme builds directly on the platform’s second edition, held July 26, which examined “National Demarketing and the Nigerian Psyche” which left audiences with an unresolved question: how does a country confront its failures without letting those failures become the only story told about it?

August 30 puts that question to two discussants with very different vantage points.

The discussants

Ambassador Dr. Yemi Farounbi, OON, brings over five decades in broadcasting and diplomacy. He built his career at WNTV/WNBS and NTA, went on to lead the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), and later served as Nigeria’s ambassador to the Republic of the Philippines and the Kingdom of Cambodia.

His public commentary has long argued that the media’s duty is neither blind praise nor reckless condemnation, but truth told with national purpose.

Prof. Samaila Mande joins from academia and institutional administration, where decades of work in scholarship and civic education have shaped how Nigerians are trained to think about national responsibility.

His presence sets a structured, academic counterweight to Amb. Farounbi’s decades inside newsrooms and embassies.

What the session covers

The discourse will examine whether legitimate criticism and national demarketing can always be told apart, and who has the standing to draw that line.

ADVERTISEMENT

It sits inside a broader series; the maiden edition addressed insecurity in Nigeria’s forests and produced a 15-point communique; the second addressed the Nigerian psyche and public mindset.

The third now turns to the politics and ethics of narrating the nation itself.

The Monthly Global Discourse is ValidViewNetwork’s recurring platform for convening thought leaders whose insights shape public understanding and inspire national development.

Further details on how to join the August 30 session will follow on ValidViewNetwork’s platforms.