Category: Lekan Otufodunrin

One bad thing telecommunications network companies should stop doing is calling subscribers numbers randomly and marketing their various supposed offers of free airtime and data.

It can be very annoying answering a call only to find out that it is your service provider trying to get you to patronise them more than you are already doing with your limited resources as if airtime and data is food.

When as usual their offers ends with terms and conditions apply, one should know that there is more to their “unlimited, berekete” promos than they seem.

One of such calls last Friday that started with an old song Nigeria Go Survive by Vero Marioghae however got me thinking for a moment. Instead of cutting such calls immediately like I usually do, I waited to listen to the song which the rave years ago.

The worry about the future of the country is not recent. Veno in the song back then must have been inspired to assure Nigerians and Africans that “All will be well” despite the various crisis all over.

We did, and that is why we are still, to use the slogan of the second republic National Party of Nigeria,  stuck together as”one nation, one destiny”. Notwithstanding the terrorist attacks and take over and recovery of territories in the north,  the clamour for Biafra in the East, Yoruba nation in the West and agitations by the Niger Delta militants, we are still stuck together somehow.

Despite the apparent inability of the federal and state governments to guarantee lives and property, our leaders and officials have continued to assure us that they are on top of the situation and there is no cause to worry.

While terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and hoodlums are having a field day despite the best efforts of our security officers and men, the official claim is that they have been decimated and we will soon stop hearing of them.

One cannot but commend the gallant efforts of our military, police and other security forces, with many of them losing their lives and getting maimed, but the terrorists and criminals seem to be multiplying by the day instead of surrendering their arms and repenting their evil deeds.

They are getting more daring and many Nigerians will rather be cautious about moving around the country than believe any official assurance that there is nothing to be afraid of.

The ordinary Nigerians who don’t have the kind of security protection government officials and political appointees have, know better that the level of insecurity in the country has reached an alarming stage that going out and returning to their homes safely is not guaranteed.

Kidnapping has become attractive for criminals and payment of ransom is now the best option for those who don’t want their loved ones killed.

While politicians are more concerned about getting elected for various positions, good governance is at its lowest ebb with the standard of living deteriorating.

The economic situation is getting worse and daily survival is a struggle for many Nigerians.

Midway into writing this column, I went to fill our gas cylinder and I bought what I used to buy for N4,000 for N9,000. The state of infrastructure decay is another major concern with the consequent increase in the cost of transportation.

As much as I want to be optimistic that we would survive as the song reminded me, I must confess that I shudder to think about the future of the country.

We must not take our survival for granted. We all must be worried enough to raise our voice about our gradual slide to a failed state. We are sinking and our leaders cannot pretend not to know that they have a major crisis on their hands that demands urgent solutions.

YOU don’t participate in the Female Reporters Leadership Project (FRLP) by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism and remain the reporter you were before being selected if you fully imbibe the key lessons from the various presentations and admonition.

The yearly fellowship for female journalists since 2017 is an intentional programme to equip female journalists with the skills, finesse, support and tools to take bold steps that will help position them for the highest leadership positions in their various media houses considering the wide gender imbalance in the leadership of media organisations in the country.

Virtually all fellows of the programme have not only lived up to expectations considering the amazing career progress they have made and the leadership projects they have implemented and continue to do long after the training and coaching they received.

Many have taken to heart the Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer of WSCIJ, Mrs Motunrayo Alaka’s challenge that leadership positions may not always be available, but there are endless leadership opportunities.

On October 16, the TVC (Television Continental) Women Network led by Sharon Ijasan of the 2018 batch showed exemplary leadership with the finals of the National Female Debate Championship for secondary school girls held in Lagos.

After months of conceptualising, planning and finally holding the event along with doing their daily assignments, the team showed the leadership stuff they have and everyone, including the Chief Executive Officer of TVC, Andrew Hanlon, Wife of the Lagos Governor, Dr Ibijoke Sanwoolu and other dignitaries commended the initiative of empowering the female students.

We all talk about empowering the girl child and indeed the debate is a very practical opportunity for the students to speak up on national and issues that affect them which they did at the various stages across the six geo-political zones of the country before winners emerged.

The debate is indeed in a class of its own with N1 million overall winner’s prize, N600,000 for first runner up and N400,000 for the second runner up. The fourth and Place participant also got N200,000 each.

I’m not sure how many educational competitions in the country have such monetary prizes which is a way of making the youths look beyond entertainment programmes to be rewarded for their knowledge.

We need more educational competitions like the National Female Debate Championship with substantial prize awards and mentoring opportunities to empower students to excel in their studies and not be distracted by various vices in society.

As they say, it seems impossible until it’s done. Instead of waiting to be in government or having one political position or the other, we all can leaders at whatever level we find ourselves.

Mrs Alaka was around to witness one of the major outcomes of years of empowering the female reporters to be the leaders they should be in their media houses and she could not hide her excitement about how glad she was when she spoke.

Take a bow, Sharon Ijasan. Well done to you and your team.

As a mentor on the FRLP, I’m very proud of you and all the fellows for shattering the glass ceilings in every way you can.

Thank you for the privilege of being one of the judges for this prestigious award.

Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr Femi Falana was on September 30 the guest speaker at the University of Lagos Mass Communication Alumni Association Distinguished Lecture series during which he spoke on Communication strategy: Options for Youth Leadership, Reflections on ENDSARS.

As one of the three discussants to the lecture, I noted that Falana expectedly did justice to the topic with insights on circumstances that led to the protest, government responses and prevailing situations which need to still be addressed to prevent a reoccurrence.

Like Falana right stated, the use of new media played a major role in the strategy of the youths which the government is yet to fully acknowledge its dynamic nature. The Government should by now have realised that there is a limit to which it can control the dissemination of information as proven by the use of VPN despite the suspension of the operations of Twitter.

In the present global village we live in, no government or country can be an island to itself and must be ready to engage its citizens based on good governance and listening to their demands.

It is also necessary to recon with the views of the youths and not dismiss them until they resort to protest that may degenerate to the kind of situation we had during the ENDSARS protests. Although the government had largely accepted their demands, there are indications that the police and security agencies have not sufficiently learned their lessons based on how some of them are behaving again.

Listening to the youths also include allowing them to be innovative in the kind of work they want to do irrespective of what they studied in higher institutions.

Read Also: #ENDSARS: One year after the mother of all protest

Like Falana advised, youths should be interested in political and governance issues but should not do so based on ethnic and religious agenda of politicians. They must remain untied like they were during the protest.

They however need to moderate their language and not engage in unnecessary name calling or ethnic profiling that can diminish the real essence of their demands. They should know enough of past struggles for good governance, acknowledge them and ensure a synergy between the old and new generation.

Falana’s closing submission during his lecture is reproduced below:

The ENDSARS youth movement demonstrated that the use of the media, especially ICT is not only fundamental to the success of governance, business, social relations and  protests, but also, that government can no longer shutdown the media space as it pleases.  On June 2, 2021 the government tried its hand on banning social media by suspending Twitter indefinitely. But it has been like trying to hold down the rainbow as Nigerians who wish, simply bypassed this by connecting to the Virtual Private Network, VPN.

It also taught that in communication, there should be some verisimilitude in language even if it be propaganda, otherwise, it fails.

Again, the protests showed that communication needs to be relevant to the recipient if it is to be impactful.

It also taught that  it is not only the message that is important, the messenger also should  be; a person seen as untruthful or unworthy will not be believable even if he is telling the gospel truth.

But one great truth the ENDSARS youth taught is that a focused, united and determined movement can exert the change they desire in society.

The greatest lesson is that the youths did not allow the State to divide them along ethnic and religious lines. Therefore, the youths should frustrate the desperate moves by the political class to turn the 2023 election into a regional affair. Politicians should not be allowed to divert the attention of the Nigerian people from the crisis of underdevelopment confronting the nation.

The politicians must be compelled to address the rejection of electronic voting, insecurity of life and property, poverty and unemployment, lack of access to education, health and other social services, infrastructural decay, control of the national economy by imperialism etc. Every political party should make a commitment to the observance of human rights and implementation of the fundamental objectives enshrined in Chapter two of the Nigerian Constitution.

Finally, permit me to call on the youths, workers and other oppressed people to be involved in the affairs of the country.  Since a people united can never be defeated the youths and all patriotic forces should get organised to end police brutality, extrajudicial killing of innocent people by State agents, terrorists and gunmen.

By Lekan Otufodunrin

I’M not sure anyone, except President Muhammadu Buhari’s speechwriters and other close aides, knew of the announcement of the conditional lifting of the suspension of the operations of the microblogging website, Twitter in the Independence Day broadcast of Friday.

In my last Sunday’s column, I had asked how soon the second soon promised for the lifting of the suspension of the ban by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed would be considering that his earlier promise had remained unfulfilled.

When I saw the headline announcing the lifting of the suspension by the President I was shocked, but somehow relieved that finally, the government has yielded to the voices of reasons over the unwarranted decision.

What could have been a good public relations stunt for the government unfortunately was a conditional approval which is not different from what the Minister has been repeating.

The same sweeping generalisation of the platform being misused to organise, coordinate and execute criminal activities to propagate fake news, and promote ethnic and religious sentiments which was not an issue until the president’s tweet was deleted.

Muhammed had twice told us of the meeting of the federal government’s committee with the Twitter officials. “We are just dotting the I’s and cross the T’s before reaching an agreement. It’s just going to be very, very soon, just take my word for that,” the minister claimed in his last briefing and one would have thought that for the issue to come up in the presidential broadcast, the matter has been resolved.

What whoever made a case for the inclusion of the conditional lifting of the suspension has done is exposing our country to unnecessary ridicule on our independence day when the attention of the world would be on us.

What’s the point of trying to justify a draconian decision which had been widely faulted globally by other governments, organisations and individuals who expect us to be a role model for democracy in the continent?

If the federal government really appreciates the importance of social media as a useful platform that has enabled millions of Nigerians to connect with loved ones, promote their businesses, socialise, and access news other information as the President stated in his broadcast, it should not have gone for the ‘kill’ to call Twitter to order to express its grievances which it has continued to deny.

It should have been obvious to the government now that its decision is not enough to stop all Nigerians who want to use the platform from doing so. With the use of VPN, some Nigerians have continued to use the platform in the limited way they can and only those who have opted to abide by the suspension are fully cut off.

The government has the right to complain about what it is not pleased with, but it must not resort to muzzling access to information and freedom of expression just to show its might at the expense of the citizens. The government has made whatever point it wants to make and it’s time to lift the suspension considering the understanding shown by Twitter on the matter.

IF you are tired of reading and listening to never-ending stories of problems and crises in the country and worldwide in the media, I understand why.  Such stories can be very depressing and fearful.

They leave one very confused and hopeless about the future. I know people who have stayed away from the media because they just want to retain their sanity and would prefer good news instead of what makes the headlines.

But the media cannot be blamed for the supposedly negative reports they give prominence. The numerous problems are real and there is no need to deny their existence. They need to be highlighted for the government and other concerned organisations and individuals to solve the problems.

Being the watchdog of society and holding the government accountable requires that the media should not shy away from drawing attention to crucial issues, no matter how unpalatable they may be for the authorities concerned and their audiences.

However, what the media needs to do more of is to be equally interested in highlighting the solutions to the problems and challenges people have to contend with.

Read Also: Enugu and white elephant projects

Sometimes, the situation may not be as hopeless as it seems based on media reporting. There are solutions to social problems worldwide which people should know about to reflect the totality of our existence.

Various organisations and individuals have come up with solutions to which journalists should give equal attention in their reporting while still subjecting them to critical evaluation.

Solutions journalism practice which is much needed more than ever before as aptly defined in Wikipedia is an approach to news reporting that focuses on the responses to social issues as well as the problems themselves. The stories are anchored on credible evidence, which explains how and why responses are working, or not working.

It involves rigorous investigation. It is not promotional or praise-singing reports so that no one is fooled about any claim. Solutions stories according to the Solutions Journalism Network do not celebrate responses to problems, or advocate for specific ones; they cover them, investigating what is done and what the evidence says worked and didn’t work about it and why, including the limitations.

I’m intrigued by how media reporting of the myriads of problems in Nigeria can be improved through Solutions Journalism and I am glad that I was recently named as one of the inaugural fellows for the Solutions Journalism Africa Fellowship under the Solutions Journalism Network’s Africa Initiative.

My project tagged West Africa Solution Journalism Hub will involve having a dedicated section of the website of the Media Career Development Network which I head for story ideas, reports, links, and career resources related to solution journalism. I will also be working with a network of journalists from West Africa, including writers with disabilities to produce content for the hub.

Four other Nigeria colleagues and Five Kenyan journalists will also be implementing various Solutions Journalism projects which will definitely impact journalism practice in the continent and as David Bornstein, one of the Co-founders of the Network said at the inauguration of the fellowship, build a better news ecosystem, “to move us out of the direction of fear and more in the direction of credible hope.”