NIGERIAN MEDIA AND SOCIO-POLITICAL RESPONSIBLITIES.

[Nuruddeen]

NIGERIAN MEDIA AND SOCIO- POLITICAL RESPONSIBILITIES

By
Jibo Nura

E-mail: jibonura@yahoo.com

As honorable Alexander, former President, Nigerian Construction Industry Arbitrators  
(NCIArb), had it that, ?Judges and Arbitrators are experts in the business of dispensing justice. A judge in the public court while an Arbitrator in the private?.

From the above, it suffices for one to say that the Nigerian press is a conglomeration of experts such as journalists, information and communication technologists etc, that specialize in the business of disseminating information.

However, the roles the Nigerian media play in the development process of this country clearly underscore the strategic position upon which the national media ethics was built. It is true that the conglomerates of Nigerian media, especially the journalists have contributed to the socio- political malaise of this country. The way the Nigerian journalists are manipulating information and discharging it with bias is quite unwholesome to our socio- political etiquettes.

During the colonial period, most Nigerian journalists were very good in their quest for true nationalism. They sincerely pursued the Nigerian independence through their writings. The then Nigerian media recorded a remarkable achievement. Thereafter, however, the Nigerian media transformed into avenues for advocating misinformation, propaganda and above all promoting sectarian interests in their responsibility. We have
witnessed a lot of crises in this country. The most recent were the Kaduna Massacre, the Kano- Jos brutalities and the previous Lagos and Shagamu mayhem. All these are antecedents with religious and political undertones. The Nigerian media were not with clean hand in all these crises. In fact, the Kaduna crisis was a clear case of what I termed ?media?s editorial irresponsibility?. The media should in no way bring or promote political and religious intolerance among people. Religious affairs are now being manipulated in this country so much so that religion has gradually influenced our politics. The press as an epitome of peace should always try to enlighten the public on the pressing need for every person to understand the basic principles of the major religions in the country so as to arrest the trend towards disunity on religious grounds. Everybody should try and know the basis of his or her religion. It is unfortunate that the Media are dichotomized along tribal and regional diversities, with the Southern part of the country having their own media package, mainly protecting Southern interest and also the Northern part having its own.

All of them operate under divisive and regional ideologies. It is quite astonishing to hear such names like the Afeniferes, the Ndigbos, the Hausa- Fulanis etc, counter- attacking each other through the independent media houses. All these counter- attacks would do is to create multi dimensional problems and anarchy, which in turn will have great negative effect on our national savvy.

Even though these independent media houses might at this time not disentangle themselves from the constraints of their regionalism, they should, however, be a bit patriotic in their operations.

Our media should do as much as possible to sustain democracy in this country. To achieve this, they should not allow themselves to be used as tools for manipulation. The government, whether civilian or military, should not use the media as morass for committing the most heinous political and social crimes against humanity. The Media should criticize government policies and give unbiased solutions to problems. On the other hand, they should critically observe and study the problems of the entire society and proffer clear solutions to them. And where government comes up with sound policy formulations, the media should propagate them to the people and call for their quick implementation.

To sustain a virile democracy, the media should see that public opinions on matters of national concern are brought to the attention of the government. They should therefore, be accurate and objective in their news reporting. As one of the Nigerian journalists, honourable Chief Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe, once said, ? by twisting facts, by telling half truths or untruths, the Nigerian press can mislead a great number of innocent people and thus distort our national image?.

I also share the words of one of the Nigeria?s former presidents that ?the media should direct the entire society to a given path?. All forms of corruption, abuse of office by public functionaries, indiscipline and other vices should be exposed by the Nigerian media. In doing this, the true ideals of democracy and accountability will be upheld, and this will lead to the emergence of an ideal society devoid of oppression and injustice.

Finally, in this period of civil rule, the media should take it up as a duty upon it self to ensure honesty, patriotism and integrity and maintain a minimum level of objectivity in the conduct of their affairs. This will go along way in restoring our national integrity.

 Jibo Nura, Nigeria.