Ojo: Media and Democracy in Nigeria
Written by Onukaba Adinoyi Ojo
Nigerian Guardian
THE Nigerian media have been in existence for more than 150 years. Its eventful history began in the 1850s when the various Christian missionaries eagerly embraced newspaper publishing as a means of evangelization. From the early 1900s to independence in 1960, the Nigerian media played a crucial role in the struggle for freedom from colonialism. Newspapers proved to be a powerful weapon in the hands of some of our nationalists, such as Herbert Macaulay, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Anthony Enahoro and so on.
This paper takes a critical look at the performance of the Nigerian media since the advent of the Fourth Republic in Nigeria in 1999 until date. It argues that the media have become an indispensable compass for navigating the world today and that the media play a crucial role in the promotion and sustenance of democracy in Nigeria and elsewhere.
The media have played a leading role in the post-independence struggle against weak and corrupt civilian governments and against a succession of brutal military regimes. Indeed, it can be said without any equivocation that the Nigerian media and other critical stakeholders mid-wifed the current democratic dispensation which has endured for 15 years – the longest in our history. The blood and sweat of many patriotic media men and women watered the tree of democracy that we are all enjoying today.
As Prof. Umaru Pate rightly observes, “the mass media have remained in the forefront in the struggle to promote the rights of our people through a credible democratization process. This is hardly surprising. Democracy provides a fertile ground for the media to operate. Tyranny constrains media practice and growth. Democracy too flourishes when the media are free and unencumbered to play their sacred role of sustaining and entrenching democratic values.
The media provide a forum for debate of national issues, create political awareness and mobilize the populace to participate actively in the affairs of the country. The watchdog role of the media is critical to the survival of democracy, especially where as in the case of Nigeria the other arms of government as well as public institutions are weak, dependent and vulnerable.
Professor Sam Oyovbaire has argued that the media have “a constitutional mandate in the advancement of the political and democratic process”. But he went on to add that “it is equally true that the nature and character of the democratic process greatly impacts upon the performance of the media.”
The media are part and parcel of the society. They reflect the political, economic and social structures of the society. As much as we wish sometimes that they should play a leadership role, the media cannot rise above the society that creates them. The media bear the burden of society’s imperfections, limitations and anxieties as they reflect its achievements and aspirations.
Oyovbaire sees the relationship between the media and the emerging democratic process in Nigeria as “dialectical by the fact that the media grew in the mould of hostility towards government and the political establishment, while government in its turn appeared not to trust the media and therefore desirous of taming or containing it”
This is why, he believes, that “in all Nigerian constitutions, the media is hardly mentioned in the manner in which the executive, legislature and judiciary on the one hand and the federal, the state and the local governments on the other are documented with legal instruments’. Nevertheless, he argues that “the philosophy of modern governance and especially of modern democracy conceives the media as a monumental force and as an institution similar to the tiers of government in Nigerian federalism and to the arms of constitutional government.”
This is why the Nigerian media are often referred to as “the Fourth Estate of the Realm” after the Executive, Legislative and Judicial arms of government. The media are, as Oyovbaire puts it, “a monumental force” in representative governance. Democracy needs a free flow of information to function optimally and to be able to impact and change lives. Information empowers people to be actively involved in the affairs of their country, to make informed decisions in life, to rediscover themselves and realize their full potentials in life, and to hold their leaders accountable.
It is the media that provide such information that empowers people and lead to fundamental social change. It is the media that keep people well-informed and propel them towards a better future. Therefore, the role of the Nigerian media in upholding and deepening the country’s nascent democracy cannot be over-stated.
This is why the framers of the Nigerian Constitution specifically charged the media in Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution thus: “the press, radio, television and other agencies of the mass media shall at all times be free to uphold the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy contained in this Chapter and uphold the responsibility and accountability of the government to the people”. Indeed, the 1999 Constitution is very clear on the task it assigned to the media in the polity. The media are to serve as the watchdog of the society and to hold the government accountable to the people. This is a sacred responsibility that goes beyond merely chronicling everyday events.
The Constitution tasks the media to point the way forward, to be the pathfinder. It empowers the media to set agenda for a stable, peaceful and prosperous future and to work with other institutions to transform our country from its perennial under-achievement to becoming a more hopeful place to live.
How well have the Nigerian media carried out this important responsibility since the country’s latest attempt at representative government? First, let us look at what Nigerians expect of their media in a democracy.
As far back as March 1991, the Ota, Ogun State-based Africa Leadership Forum, a non-governmental organization founded by former Nigerian leader, Olusegun Obasanjo, organised a Farmhouse Dialogue on “The Role of the Mass Media in Democracy in a Developing Polity”. The decisions, conclusions and recommendations were later published under the title, “The Press in Democracy” with Prof. Akin Mabogunje as editor. The Dialogue listed the role of the mass media in a democracy as including the following:
• To convey information to the people with a view to letting them know how the mandate they gave their representatives is being discharged;
• To provide a forum through which the governed could then react to government policies and activities;
• To provide such analysis as would enable the people to secure an adequate understanding and background to events;
• To assist in the articulation and pursuit of the national interest;
• To help strengthen the economic, social and political fabric of the nation;
• To provide informed criticism and viable alternatives to public policies;
• To monitor the performance of government with a view to preventing their deviation from clearly stated objectives;
• To provide the medium for transmitting knowledge and for educating the populace;
• To function as an agent of modernization; and
• To assist in setting an agenda of priorities in the social, cultural, political and economic development of the nation.
I have taken the liberty to list the 10 tasks that the participants assigned to the media because of its comprehensiveness and continued relevance today. There is a link between the ability and capacity of the media to perform the aforementioned tasks and the quality of governance in a country. When the media are well-equipped, unfettered and committed to the highest standard of the profession, they will be able to promote democratic values, strengthen public institutions, protect the rights of citizens and defend the rule of law.
Reporting recently about a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)-sponsored needs assessment of the Nigerian media, Rosemary Nwaebuni concludes that the media and political system are “involved in an intricate nexus of relationship, cooperation and complementary activities, all geared at promoting individual and collective interest of the society. In the performance of these roles, both estates exert considerable influence on one another”.
Not only do they exert considerable influence on each other, both the media and the political system work towards the same end in the society: ensuring good governance, providing a sense of direction and exercising control over the affairs of a state, protecting the rights of citizens and defending the rule of law.
In assessing the performance, progress and challenges of the Nigerian media since 1999, we have to first consider the political, economic and social space in which the media operate in Nigeria. The Nigerian environment is tough and challenging not only for the media but for other institutions as well. It is an environment in which public institutions are weak and inefficient, one in which the rule of law is often abused, one in which impunity reigns, and it is an environment characterized by violence, insecurity, poverty, corruption and the personalization of state power. The space in which the media operate in Nigeria is increasingly getting heated by the voices of ethnic champions and religious bigots. It is a space dominated by the politics of desperation, intolerance and winner-takes-all mindset. These are some of the challenges the Nigerian media face.
• To be continued
• Adinoyi Ojo delivered this (excerpts) at a three-day training/workshop for journalists in Imo State from December 3 to 5, 2014 in Owerri, Imo State. It was jointly sponsored by the Office of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria.
Nigerian Guardian
THE Nigerian media have been in existence for more than 150 years. Its eventful history began in the 1850s when the various Christian missionaries eagerly embraced newspaper publishing as a means of evangelization. From the early 1900s to independence in 1960, the Nigerian media played a crucial role in the struggle for freedom from colonialism. Newspapers proved to be a powerful weapon in the hands of some of our nationalists, such as Herbert Macaulay, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Anthony Enahoro and so on.
This paper takes a critical look at the performance of the Nigerian media since the advent of the Fourth Republic in Nigeria in 1999 until date. It argues that the media have become an indispensable compass for navigating the world today and that the media play a crucial role in the promotion and sustenance of democracy in Nigeria and elsewhere.
The media have played a leading role in the post-independence struggle against weak and corrupt civilian governments and against a succession of brutal military regimes. Indeed, it can be said without any equivocation that the Nigerian media and other critical stakeholders mid-wifed the current democratic dispensation which has endured for 15 years – the longest in our history. The blood and sweat of many patriotic media men and women watered the tree of democracy that we are all enjoying today.
As Prof. Umaru Pate rightly observes, “the mass media have remained in the forefront in the struggle to promote the rights of our people through a credible democratization process. This is hardly surprising. Democracy provides a fertile ground for the media to operate. Tyranny constrains media practice and growth. Democracy too flourishes when the media are free and unencumbered to play their sacred role of sustaining and entrenching democratic values.
The media provide a forum for debate of national issues, create political awareness and mobilize the populace to participate actively in the affairs of the country. The watchdog role of the media is critical to the survival of democracy, especially where as in the case of Nigeria the other arms of government as well as public institutions are weak, dependent and vulnerable.
Professor Sam Oyovbaire has argued that the media have “a constitutional mandate in the advancement of the political and democratic process”. But he went on to add that “it is equally true that the nature and character of the democratic process greatly impacts upon the performance of the media.”
The media are part and parcel of the society. They reflect the political, economic and social structures of the society. As much as we wish sometimes that they should play a leadership role, the media cannot rise above the society that creates them. The media bear the burden of society’s imperfections, limitations and anxieties as they reflect its achievements and aspirations.
Oyovbaire sees the relationship between the media and the emerging democratic process in Nigeria as “dialectical by the fact that the media grew in the mould of hostility towards government and the political establishment, while government in its turn appeared not to trust the media and therefore desirous of taming or containing it”
This is why, he believes, that “in all Nigerian constitutions, the media is hardly mentioned in the manner in which the executive, legislature and judiciary on the one hand and the federal, the state and the local governments on the other are documented with legal instruments’. Nevertheless, he argues that “the philosophy of modern governance and especially of modern democracy conceives the media as a monumental force and as an institution similar to the tiers of government in Nigerian federalism and to the arms of constitutional government.”
This is why the Nigerian media are often referred to as “the Fourth Estate of the Realm” after the Executive, Legislative and Judicial arms of government. The media are, as Oyovbaire puts it, “a monumental force” in representative governance. Democracy needs a free flow of information to function optimally and to be able to impact and change lives. Information empowers people to be actively involved in the affairs of their country, to make informed decisions in life, to rediscover themselves and realize their full potentials in life, and to hold their leaders accountable.
It is the media that provide such information that empowers people and lead to fundamental social change. It is the media that keep people well-informed and propel them towards a better future. Therefore, the role of the Nigerian media in upholding and deepening the country’s nascent democracy cannot be over-stated.
This is why the framers of the Nigerian Constitution specifically charged the media in Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution thus: “the press, radio, television and other agencies of the mass media shall at all times be free to uphold the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy contained in this Chapter and uphold the responsibility and accountability of the government to the people”. Indeed, the 1999 Constitution is very clear on the task it assigned to the media in the polity. The media are to serve as the watchdog of the society and to hold the government accountable to the people. This is a sacred responsibility that goes beyond merely chronicling everyday events.
The Constitution tasks the media to point the way forward, to be the pathfinder. It empowers the media to set agenda for a stable, peaceful and prosperous future and to work with other institutions to transform our country from its perennial under-achievement to becoming a more hopeful place to live.
How well have the Nigerian media carried out this important responsibility since the country’s latest attempt at representative government? First, let us look at what Nigerians expect of their media in a democracy.
As far back as March 1991, the Ota, Ogun State-based Africa Leadership Forum, a non-governmental organization founded by former Nigerian leader, Olusegun Obasanjo, organised a Farmhouse Dialogue on “The Role of the Mass Media in Democracy in a Developing Polity”. The decisions, conclusions and recommendations were later published under the title, “The Press in Democracy” with Prof. Akin Mabogunje as editor. The Dialogue listed the role of the mass media in a democracy as including the following:
• To convey information to the people with a view to letting them know how the mandate they gave their representatives is being discharged;
• To provide a forum through which the governed could then react to government policies and activities;
• To provide such analysis as would enable the people to secure an adequate understanding and background to events;
• To assist in the articulation and pursuit of the national interest;
• To help strengthen the economic, social and political fabric of the nation;
• To provide informed criticism and viable alternatives to public policies;
• To monitor the performance of government with a view to preventing their deviation from clearly stated objectives;
• To provide the medium for transmitting knowledge and for educating the populace;
• To function as an agent of modernization; and
• To assist in setting an agenda of priorities in the social, cultural, political and economic development of the nation.
I have taken the liberty to list the 10 tasks that the participants assigned to the media because of its comprehensiveness and continued relevance today. There is a link between the ability and capacity of the media to perform the aforementioned tasks and the quality of governance in a country. When the media are well-equipped, unfettered and committed to the highest standard of the profession, they will be able to promote democratic values, strengthen public institutions, protect the rights of citizens and defend the rule of law.
Reporting recently about a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)-sponsored needs assessment of the Nigerian media, Rosemary Nwaebuni concludes that the media and political system are “involved in an intricate nexus of relationship, cooperation and complementary activities, all geared at promoting individual and collective interest of the society. In the performance of these roles, both estates exert considerable influence on one another”.
Not only do they exert considerable influence on each other, both the media and the political system work towards the same end in the society: ensuring good governance, providing a sense of direction and exercising control over the affairs of a state, protecting the rights of citizens and defending the rule of law.
In assessing the performance, progress and challenges of the Nigerian media since 1999, we have to first consider the political, economic and social space in which the media operate in Nigeria. The Nigerian environment is tough and challenging not only for the media but for other institutions as well. It is an environment in which public institutions are weak and inefficient, one in which the rule of law is often abused, one in which impunity reigns, and it is an environment characterized by violence, insecurity, poverty, corruption and the personalization of state power. The space in which the media operate in Nigeria is increasingly getting heated by the voices of ethnic champions and religious bigots. It is a space dominated by the politics of desperation, intolerance and winner-takes-all mindset. These are some of the challenges the Nigerian media face.
• To be continued
• Adinoyi Ojo delivered this (excerpts) at a three-day training/workshop for journalists in Imo State from December 3 to 5, 2014 in Owerri, Imo State. It was jointly sponsored by the Office of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria.
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