A Professor of Mass Communication and Deputy Dean, Postgraduate School, Baze University, Abuja, Abiodun Adeniyi has urged the Nigerian government to provide a conducive environment for media to carry out it constitutional role as the fourth estate of the realm.
Professor Adeniyi made the remarks on Monday in Abuja at one-day capacity training for journalists organised by the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) FCT Council and sponsored by Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL).
The university don, who spoke on the topic “Media In Developing Countries: Nigeria As A Case Study”, emphasised the need to allow the media to probe and set agenda for the government by speaking truth to power through its reportage. He said any attempt to gag the media will not bode well for the country while calling on the media to carry out it duties with every sense of responsibility.
He however added that unlike the during military era, the media is enjoying some sort of freedom in the current political arrangement.
“Nigeria as a developing country needs the media more for the ability of the media to highlight deficiencies of the system on an ongoing basis and to call the leaders to action and to speak truth to power realising the potency of power if it is properly spoken to and the media is the conscience of the system. And if that conscience fails and if that system is corrupted, then there is of course it becomes endangered. And that is what I think we should try to avoid.
“Of course there is better freedom now. In some cases, you may put freedom in context, but we know that we have some level of freedom guaranteed in the books for us. Freedom is integral to democracy. Not just freedom of speech but freedom of expression. They are all integral to democracy. And of course if we see any attempt to affect or to impact negatively on this freedom that is innate to democracy, of course alarm would be raised and even global attention can be called to it and there could be move to remedies.
“In the military it was a different ball game. People were missing anyhow. People were being imprisoned and without trial. People were being kidnapped, killed and all sorts of things were happening. It is not to say that it is uhuru yet but where are saying that it is slightly better and of course, there is still place for improvement.”
The General Manager, Policy and Government Affairs, Chevron, Mr Esimaje Brikinn who was represented by the Manager, Corporate Communication, Victor Anyaegbudike said the role of the media in the society cannot be overemphasised while harping on the need for media practitioners to be trained and retrained to improve their skills and understand the world around them. He said such training would enhance their capacity to perform and work better.
“The reason Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) is engaging and sponsoring the media capacity building is because we know the values that the journalists bring to the society. Most of the things that we do and we hear is what comes out from media. And in that sense, the media becomes the agenda setter for the society and mould the opinions of the people.
“That is why we say when you educate a journalist, you have educated the society. And that is why we are here and that is why we are making this investment in the training and the capacity building for the media. We want the skills of the journalists to be improved, their world view because things are changing in the society.
“So for you to really educate the people, you must be educated yourself. And that is what we are trying to do to make sure that the journalist understands the real thing going on in the society, understand the changes that are happening in the communication world.
“Chevron Nigeria Limited embarked on this partnership as we believe in the value derivable from developing human capital. I appreciate you for the quality of work you do in generating the contents that not only inform, but also educate and enlighten the society. As members of the fourth estate of the realm, your role as agenda-setters and opinion moulders cannot be over-emphasized. That is why CNL sponsors the Advanced Writing and Reporting Skills (AWARES) programme in collaboration with the Pan Atlantic University, Lagos. Over 120 journalists have benefitted from the programme since its inception in 2014.
“Through programmes such as AWARES, we help to improve professional capacity and build lasting partnerships with our media stakeholders. We are also partnering with the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) to organize capacity building programmes that will involve an increasing number of journalists in Lagos, Asaba and Abuja before the end of this year.”
The Chairman, NUJ, FCT Council, Osaretin Osadebamwen, called on the journalists to make good use of the opportunity presented by the sponsors to improve their skills by making sure that whatever they push out to the public is the truth without any form of bias.
“We expect that with this training, our knowledge and capacity would have been boosted and be able to reinforce that ethical demand and make sure that what we are sending out is the truth and just the truth, the fact of the issue and nothing more without any form of bias and we did not fall victim of any social media manipulation which is one of the greatest fights against the information mix today,” Osadebamwen said.
The 30 participants, drawn from across print, broadcast and the new media in the FCT, were presented with certificates of participation.
