On Tuesday, 20th September, the public presentation of the book, “Nigeria’s Aborted 3rd Republic and the June 12 Debacle: Reporters’ Account“, written by eminent journalists who covered the political transition programme of the Ibrahim Babangida administration and the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election will be held in Abuja.

The book according to a press statement by the Chairman of the Launching and Publicity Committee, Dr Emeka Nwosu, renders a first-hand account of the issues in the implementation of the controversial programme which culminated in the fiasco of the June 12 annulment by the journalists who were members of the National Association of Political Correspondents (NAPOC).

It also offers a deep historical insight into the character and content of the transition process and the web of conspiracies that were deployed by key political actors in the military and their civilian collaborators to scuttle the June 12 election.

“The book reveals so many issues that have never been in the public domain, including the intrigues surrounding the emergence of MKO Abiola and Bashir Tofa as the presidential candidates of the defunct SDP and NRC respectively.

“The 242-page book provides a gripping account of many of the behind-the-scenes manoeuvres by President Babangida and his henchmen that set the stage for the infamous annulment. The narratives are compelling and unputdownable,” Nwosu stated.

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As a former political editor and member of the Whatsapp group where the publication of the book was conceived, topics agreed on and the editorial board constituted to work on the various contributions, I fully agree that the assertions about the book by Nwosu are true.

It is commendable that about 30 years after the events captured in the book happened, members of the association are retelling them as eyewitnesses with fresh details and perspectives for the benefit of especially non-political actors of that era and members of the public who need to know more about what actually happened back then.

I know how much effort and sacrifices went into making the book a reality. It’s a worthwhile investment of time and resources which has produced a very valuable historical reference source on major historical moments in our political history.

The synergy deployed to produce the book by the old political reporting warhorse team members based across the country and abroad is a tribute to the power of networking that old and young journalists can maximise for enhancing the profession.

Coming on the heels of the preparation for the commencement of the campaign for the 2023 general elections, the book will be a good flashback to the politics of old highlighting the roles played by top politicians, some of whom are still active in the present political dispensation.

Present-day political correspondents and editors will also find the book very useful in understanding their crucial roles in reporting political issues in the country for the sustenance of democracy.

It is necessary for journalists to be impartial in reporting the various political parties and their candidates. They need to report in a way to help the electorates make an informed decision on the right candidates to vote for.

Politicians need to know that the media will hold them accountable for their electoral promises and performance in office and when their tenure is over.

Following the recent announcement of the revocation of the licence of 52 broadcast stations over non-payment of various sums in fees by the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC), there have been lots of criticism of the decision.

Some major media groups and Non-Governmental Organizations condemned the decision as harsh, insensitive and ill-timed, especially because of the economic situation in the country that has affected the fortune of the organizations.

The revocation order has however been suspended according to the NBC following positive responses from the debtor Licensees, including big players in the broadcast industry.

“The Commission is not unaware of the difficulties this shutdown must have caused the operators and other stakeholders but must state that the Commission will always operate within the National Broadcasting Commission Act, Cap. N11, Laws of the Federation, 2004,” NBC stated.

Considering the efforts earlier made by the Commission to get the defaulting organizations to pay the outstanding due, dating back to 2015 in some instances, it is understandable while it was left with no option to invoke its powers to revoke their licences.

Since many other stations had paid up, the Commission could be accused of double standards if it does not compel the others to pay. Arguments that the fees are too much or no need for payment of renewal fees can be canvassed, but while they are yet to be reviewed, the stations are bound to pay. The stations have been aware of the fees and it’s not a case of the commission pulling any surprise on them. The payment of the fees are part of their corporate obligations which they should have priotised.

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The economic situation in the country is indeed tough for business and no sector has been spared. I agree that the media industry as a whole have been negatively impacted, but that should not be an excuse for defaulting on the payment which is the basis of their continued existence under the law.

While it is acknowledged that the media is a social service, with the stations performing the crucial roles of informing and educating the citizens, they are also business entities that should be well managed in accordance with corporate governance principles and profitably.

While the stations as a group can ask for wavers where necessary for importation of some of its equipment or even bail out as some sectors have done, it’s important that they have the moral right to hold the government and others accountable in accordance with their constitutional roles.

The media cannot justifiably demand for accountability if it defaults on payment of fees, taxes, pensions, salaries and entitlements as it with many organisations in the country.

More than ever before, media organizations need to be better managed and crucial business decisions made about their operations. Some of the defaulting stations may well be operating beyond their capacity. Must some of them have as many multiple stations as they presently have? If some of the stations are not profitable, they should be shut down and the remaining better equipped to offer better service to earn maximum revenue. There is no point claiming to be a nationwide organization if they don’t have the resources to do so.

Like many other things in Nigeria, owning a broadcast station is gradually becoming a status symbol. Some people got the licence without understanding what is required to run them.

While the country needs as many broadcast stations as possible to ensure dissemination of essential information for the citizens, only well managed organisations will serve that purpose.

I’m trying hard not to be scared about the situation in the country, but the more I try not to worry, the more I’m confronted with the realities of the looming danger we face.  I’m naturally an optimistic person, but the country is at a critical stage now when no one is sure what can happen sooner or later.

I pride myself on being a patriot who will as the words of our national pledge stated,  be faithful, loyal, honest and serve the country with all my strength, but I’m no longer sure if the country cares about me in the ways I do.

Government officials and politicians can carry on as if all is well and there is no cause for any alarm, but the tension across the country is palpable.

We are literarily sitting on a time bomb on many fronts which we all know, but we are hoping for a miracle that it will not explode even when many don’t believe in God and are not abiding by His inductions which would have saved us from sliding dangerously into a crisis that can consume us as a nation.

Early this week I and some colleagues had the ordeal of listening to a data-based frightening presentation of the state of the country regarding the state of insecurity and some key development indices by the Executive Director of Africa Center for Development Journalism, Rotimi Sankore and we couldn’t clap at the end of the sobering gloomy reality he highlighted.

Unlike the data from international organizations which government officials are quick to fault, Sankore’s reality-check presentation was from the National Bureau of Statistics and state governments.

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I and others had always known we are in what the Americans call ‘deep shit’, but we didn’t know it was as deep as the data revealed.

The insecurity in the country is so bad that anyone travelling by road on long-distance risks being kidnapped. Not even the train is safe with the kidnapping of passengers on the Abuja-Kaduna train, 31 of whom are still being held.

Kidnapping has become big business with various gangs extortion various sums of ransom from families of kidnapped persons and some being killed despite the payment of ransom.

Reading about people being killed by unknown gunmen, bandits and terrorists have suddenly become the norm as the Police and other security agents appear incapable of protecting lives and property as they should, despite their commendable efforts in bombing the terrorists’ hideouts.

Despite repeated assurances by President Muhammadu Buhari and directives to security chiefs, there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight to the endless kidnappings and bloodbaths. Not even the President himself is safe with the audacious threat to kidnap him too by the terrorists.

Apart from the security challenges, the economic meltdown Nigerians have to contend with has worsened the standard of living of the average citizens. The cost of living has skyrocketed with rising figures unemployment which has forced many professionals to seek more lucrative jobs abroad.

I listened briefly to a Twitter Space discussion on Thursday tagged operation JAPA (escape abroad) and many of the speakers living outside the country shared harrowing experiences that forced them to travel out and how they are earning and living better than they can ever be back home.

How do we convince the youths that their future matters when public universities have been shut for over four months due to the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)? Reluctantly I have opted to send my last child to a private university unlike the first three who attended the University of Lagos. I wish I didn’t have to do so, but I’m left with no option as the strike remains unresolved.

There are so many things to be worried about in this country. We cannot continue to pretend that all is well. Eru mbami (I’m scared).

While watching Information Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed responding to the documentary by the BBC Africa and Daily Trust TV on terrorism in the country, I could feel his worries and pain, though he tried hard to put up a bold face with the threat to sanction the two media organisation.

I’m not sure what he meant that the stations will not get away with what they did by showing the faces of terrorists as if they were Nollywood stars, but I have an idea that it may be the usual illegal clampdown as usual which will attract lots of condemnation.

As the minister rightly said, publicity is indeed the oxygen terrorists need to intensify their nefarious activities. The more visibility they get for their endless killings, kidnappings, attacks and threats, the more emboldened they are.

It’s not for nothing that they churn out videos and voice messages to give a peep into their camps where they are holding innocent persons to make them appeal to their families and the authorities to pay a ransom, they need to reinforce the impression about how supposedly deadly they are.

They need to appear as vicious as possible and brag about what they have done and are capable of doing even when they don’t have the capacity to do some of the things they are credited for.

Unfortunately, the media is caught in the dilemma of broadcasting the terrorists’ images to indicate the true state of the terrorism in the country and being retrained as Mohammed and many others want them to.

If the minister has his way, the media should give the terrorist atrocities a blackout. He and other governments’ spokesmen would rather the media report the claim that the terrorists have been decimated and are on the run. Available evidence however does not suggest that the government is on top of the issue as it claims.

Every day we see evidence that the terrorists are getting bolder and can carry out their threats including abducting the President and Kaduna State Governor which. If they could storm the supposedly fortified Kuje prison in Abuja and kill some members of the Presidential elite guards, there is a need cause for everyone to be alarmed about the looming danger.

How can many of the passengers on the Abuja/Kaduna train attacked by terrorists months ago still remain in detention and some family members and associates are being forced to pay millions of naira to secure the release of their loved ones despite the security meetings held by President Mohammed Buhari on the matter?

The attack and many others should not have happened in the first place if the government is to be believed that our security forces have what it takes to cut the terrorists to size. Not even the President’s home town, Funtua and state have been spared in the rounds of killings across the country.

I share the minister’s concern about the possible glorification of the crime committed by the terrorists with the documentary and interviews, but this is definitely not what the media organisations set out to do and it may not be right to accuse them of such.

As much as the media need to provide insightful reports on major issues like terrorism, it is necessary that media organisations in accordance with the ethics of the profession “not present or report acts of violence, armed robberies, terrorist activities or vulgar display of wealth in a manner that glorifies such acts in the eyes of the public.”

Instead of fishing for how to sanction BBC Africa and Daily Trust, the federal government should find useful insights in the reports that can help in its efforts to curb terrorism in the country. The media organisations should not be seen as “enemies”, but as partners in the anti-terrorism battle.

Students of St. Kizito High School, Iwopin, Ogun Waterside should be grateful to whoever took their picture while writing their promotion examination sitting on the floor and shared it on social media. That they now have tables and chairs to comfortably sit and write their examination and afterwards use for the regular class sessions is the outcome of the outcry that greeted the sharing of the shameful picture of the state of facilities available for students of the school.

It is commendable that the state government responded swiftly, but it didn’t have to wait to be embarrassed to do what it should have done earlier.

What kind of education is the state government providing that basic facilities like tables and chairs are not available for the students?

The state government through it Zonal Education Boards cannot claim not to know before the sharing of the pictures that there are no tables and chairs for the students to write with as the case is in some other parts of the state and others in the states in the country, but it must have been ignoring the requests from the school authorities. I can imagine how embarrassed the state governor is over the incident and hope some overzealous government officials will not hide under one guise or the other to penalise the school Principal or anyone suspected to have facilitated the taking of the picture.

Government officials have to come to terms with that in the very digital times we now live, there is a limit to what can be covered up and it is necessary to ensure the right thing promptly.

Contrary to their claims of prioritising education and understanding its importance for overall development, many state governments are failing to budget adequately or release funds to ensure quality education for students at various levels.

Many schools across the country are in various stages of dilapidation. Apart from not having tables and chairs like in the case of St. Kizito High School, the classrooms are falling apart, some roofs are leaking and some have no roofs. Some students gather in the open under trees to learn, there is no equipment for practical learning and there are not enough needed teachers to teach some key subjects.

There have been various investigative reports about the sorry state of many schools in the country, but there have not been adequate responses to address the problems. It is not surprising that the quality of education in the country keeps declining and the governments at all levels are paying lip service to reverse the alarming trend

The Iwopin-based secondary school is not the only one in Ogun State that needs urgent provision of tables, chairs and other facilities, the government should attend to outstanding requests from others and not wait for another embarrassment before responding.

I’m glad to read that the State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Professor Abayomi Arigbabu who confirmed that the deplorable situation at Kizito was the state in which most public schools were when Governor Dapo Abiodun assumed office in 2019 has approved 25,000 sets of desks and chairs for public schools in the state out of which 14,000 have been distributed.

Hopefully, the rehabilitation of the schools in the state will be pursued vigorously and the state of emergency declared in the education sector by the government will achieve its goal of providing adequate human capital development and a conducive environment for learning in the state.

Imagine attending a commemoration Service ahead of the burial of a colleague on Monday morning. That was what I did last Monday when I attended the service for the late Director of Publication of the Nigeria Baptist Convention, Dr. Adelokoji Okejimi Ijaola who died recently in Ibadan.

It’s been a while I heard from him, but while scrolling through my Facebook timeline days before the service, I saw the announcement of his death by someone who had worked closely with him on how he had transformed the publishing work of the church.

On Wednesday, I was at another Wake-Keep service for another close associate, the Provost of the West African Theological Seminary (WATS), Pastor Oluwafemi Martins who also recently died after a successful operation on the day he was to be discharged. What a week!

Like Dr Ijaola, I have not been able to meet Pastor Martins for a while, though we exchanged text messages and I have been hoping to visit him only to get a message that he passed on.

Dr Ijaola and Pastor Martins are two of some of the people I know very well who have died this year.  Others are Dr Olunike Ashaolu of the department of Mass Communication,  Yaba College of Technology, a popular columnist wth The Telegraph Newspapers who was my former colleague at The Punch and The Nation, Michael Awe ( Michael West), another colleague at The Punch who later worked with THISDAY, Afolabi  Lawal and former Chairperson of the National Association of Women Journalists ( NAWOJ) in Lagos, Hajia Raheemat Momodu.

While trying to get over the death of one, I get to hear of the other and sometimes I get so confused that I don’t know what to say. I was on a webinar when another colleague asked in a Whatsapp chat if I heard of Awe’s death.

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I remember asking him recently to contribute a write up to a book I was coordinating on memories of former staff of The Punch where we were once both Assistant News Editors at a time. We bounded well even when his appointment could have generated some animosity between us. I was so short of words on his passage, and couldn’t bring myself to write a tribute detailing our relationship that all I wrote on Facebook with his picture was Awe: Ko ye mi rara ( I don’t understand).

I first met Dr Ijaola in Singapore at an international Christian print media conference and really appreciated the good work he has been doing regarding various publications by his church.

He invited me for a training and created a Whatsapp group that has been a networking channel for Christian Writers and publishers in Nigeria.

Monday morning is not a day many will want to attend a commemoration Service but the New Jerusalem City Baptist Church in Ikotun Egbe, Lagos where he was a Pastor for about ten years before his appointment as Director of Publication was filled beyond capacity.

The solemn occasion was a celebration of the unforgettable impact Dr Ijaola made in the Church and other places he has served.

Pastor Martins got the kind of wake keep he deserved for what I know  him for as a member of Journalists for Christ and outstanding service in many capacities at WATS. Even as a student his commitment to the development of the institution was such that he was appointed into the governing board, later served as Director of Communication and Fund Raising and eventually the Provost.

Such is the acknowledgement of his outstanding performance as Provost that founder of the institution, Gary Maxey hoped it will be possible to find someone like him.

Afolabi died in United States where he has been based after working with THISDAY as the Bureau Chief. I remember our meeting in Washington during a visit and have been looking for the picture we took. I remember my Afolabi, my friend and gentleman former Aso Rock correspondent who shared with me some off the things that goes on in the seat of power reporters can’t write about. I remember Afolabi my boss when for some months we managed The Punch newsroom as Deputy News Editor and Assistant News Editor.