There was a very pathetic incident on the Port Harcourt road where a commercial bus crashed into an abandoned truck. Eleven people died in the accident. There have been similar occurrences in various parts of the country.
Having travelled by road to all the states and the Federal Capital Territory(FCT), I have seen many hazards caused by various obstructions. These include broken down vehicles, abandoned vehicles, accident vehicles packed on the roads by Police Stations, containers that fell off from articulated vehicles, fallen electricity poles, uncleared accident vehicles, bush on road shoulders, abandoned construction equipment, unused heaps of coal tar and sand by road construction companies, unmarked and disjointed mobile blocks used for road partitioning, refuse dumps and refuse bins by roadside, fell trees or tree branches, burst tyres and materials that fell off from vehicles, sand washed into the road surface, loads and checking point drums without adequate warning signs, among others.
Statutorily, it is the function of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) to promptly and regularly clear obstructions. While pleading with the FRSC to be more active and prompt in the clearing of obstructions from the roads and road shoulders, I would like to suggest the following:
That any driver whose vehicle breaks down or had an accident should promptly contact the FRSC office nearby or call the 122 emergency number of FRSC to report and request for help. This will facilitate the prompt removal of such obstructions.
Consequent upon the fact that road safety is everybody’s responsibility, members of the public should promptly report cases of obstructions by calling the emergency number of FRSC.
The FRSC officers working in the emergency response room should take matters of reported obstructions as serious as road crash cases because prevention is better than cure.
The public should act the good Samaritan by removing any obstacle without contravening any law or endangering their lives.
FRSC must acquire more equipment for the removal of obstructions and also focus adequate attention to discovering and removing obstacles as they do to drivers not using seat belt.
FRSC must fine and where necessary prosecute any Individual or organisation that caused and form of obstruction on the road.
By promptly removing obstructions, many accidents will be prevented, thereby reducing the rate of road traffic crashes, injuries and deaths on the roads. Prevention is better, easier and cheaper than cure.
Apart from the usual hazards of the profession which all journalists face, Faith Yahaya highlights peculiar challenges, especially sexual harassment, which female journalists cope with on the job.
Until she got married and later pregnant, Josephine Ella-Ejeh, formerly a staff of an Abuja-based newspaper had no problem with her bosses at work. No one doubted her capacity to discharge her editorial assignments.
Even though she remained as productive as she was despite her new condition, she suddenly got reassigned without being told why.
“They just woke up one day and asked me to leave my beat for someone else and that I would now be assisting an editor on the weekend desk, ” Ella-Ejeh recalled in an Interview with The Nation.
“This new ‘responsibility’ was without official letter or anything. It was not clearly stated and when I tried to ask questions, I was told to either proceed on the new assignment or resign. From the look of things, I felt they were just looking for a soft way to let me go without the fingers pointing directly at them.”
She eventually had to resign because according to her, “I felt I was being witch-hunted for getting married and pregnant.”
Apart from the circumstance that led to her resignation, the beats she covered, which included the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and other security-related beats exposed her to sexual harassment. Some of her sources withheld information and were unwilling to give it to her until she gives them her body in return.
Although her case may not be typical, Ella-Ejeh’s plight represents some of the major challenges female journalists have to contend with in the newsrooms and on the beats the cover.
Ifeyinwa Omowale, President, National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ)
Interviews with Female journalists, including young and experienced professionals revealed that more than the usual hazards every journalists face at work, there are some gender related ones, including sexual harassment, lack of prospects like their male colleagues and unfriendly maternity conditions of service.
Some of those interviewed for this story declined to be named to avoid being targeted by senior male journalists who may not like their views on the issue.
A female journalist, who didn’t want to be mentioned for fear of being sacked in her present place of work, was also forced to resign her job in her former work place when she got demoted for daring to ask for equal pay and conditions of service with male counterparts who were earning more than her.
“I was demoted to a Senior Correspondent from the rank of Assistant Editor. I had to leave because my male counterparts, who were supposed to be my junior at the workplace, were getting higher pay.
“The environment was just not conducive for me as a woman. When I was pregnant; the management probed and tried to get me to disclose my Expected Date of Delivery (EDD) which was my private information before giving me maternity leave. I just had to leave,” she explained.
Even when she joined another media outfit and she was offered the position of a Deputy Editor, her male boss didn’t want her; he wanted a man because he had the mindset that women are incompetent for the job.
“When ministerial screening was on, as a deputy editor, he made me monitor the televised screening. He was not giving me the job I was supposed to do. Even as a reporter I didn’t monitor news, but I was made to do that and I felt he thought I was incompetent because I am a woman.”
For Juliana Francis who started her journalism career in 2001 and is presently a Crime Editor with New Telegraph Newspapers, she had more than her own ‘fair’ share of sexual harassments and stigmatization that almost forced her to quit the beat she was covering.
“I was single when I started working, so I had a lot of sexual challenges and harassment and I could not take it because I am a rape survivor,” Francis who is now married with kids recalled.
“I met sexual harassment in journalism. Crime beat is actually a beat where you would find very few women. Then, we were not more than four on the beat and everybody was making advances. You are being sexually harassed in the office, you are being sexually harassed on the beat and an average uniform man is amorous.
Juliana Francis
“Some of them want to give you information and they want you to pay with sex. In the office, you get to hear made-up stories that you have slept with virtually everybody. In fact, the story I got was that I had slept with nine men. I don’t understand why it should be like that.
“Sometimes, the senior people you are looking up to would take you out and the next thing is to take you to hotel. It is on record that I was the only junior reporter that went to a very senior person and I told the person to stop it because I was single and he was spoiling my chances of getting married and he was shocked.
“On the police beat they would try to touch you inappropriately but I never allowed it. At a point, people even said I was sleeping with a former Inspector-General of Police. But we were not and in all honesty the man never talked to me in that way to show that he was interested in me. That gave me problem and at a point I thought of quitting the beat.
“I made move towards it but my boss said I was going to meet it on every beat because I am a woman journalist which means he knew what I was talking about because he has been there for decades before I came in. For him to say that, I decided to toughen up and I started covering the beat.”
Based on her experience, Bunmi Yekini of Radio One, Lagos also said female journalists are also stigmatized by male colleagues and the public as loose women.
“They feel it is a male dominated area and when they see women come into it, the first thing that comes to their mind is that they are prostitutes, especially if you are already at the top. They feel you have sold your body in exchange for the promotion or position. They forget that female journalists have brains too just like the male counterparts.”
Beyond sexual harassment, Francis noted that marriage is also a challenge for female journalists.
Most female journalists according to her are single mothers not because they don’t want to keep their marriage, but lack of understanding of what journalism entails by the men they married.
“You are likely to find out that some female journalists who have successful marriages are married to male journalists because they understand better. Sometimes, my husband asks why men call me more but that is what the job entails. There are more men in the newsroom and even on crime beat, your sources and the people we meet most are men.”
Another female journalist in the print media who claimed to have passion for the job said the profession has denied her some things she would have loved to do as lady and caused her emotional trauma.
“I can’t count the number of outings and dates I have cancelled because of impromptu assignments. Journalism is the kind of job that you wake up sometimes and you cannot ascertain where you would be or what you would do because the job itself is unpredictable. I don’t attend church services the way I want to, no thanks to this job.
“The most painful challenge I have faced as a woman journalist is menstrual pain. Most media managers are men and they don’t understand what it means to be in such pain. All they are bothered or concerned about is the job.
Another thing that I have observed in the media is the fact that most women don’t get to the top, this makes a female journalist to lose her morale because she thinks that at the end of the day, she is not so likely to be given the top position.”
A female journalist in the broadcast media who covers the National Assembly complained that her organisation sent her there as a way to bring in advert which would generate revenue for the company.
“They feel I should use what I have to get what they want,” she said.
Another female journalist who struggled to open up to The Nation said she was tired of the job but cannot leave because of the alarming rate of unemployment and little job opportunities.
“I am really tired of this job because the rate of sexual harassment in the newsroom is too much. You would be shocked to find out that my boss has sexually harassed most of the females who were and who are in the organization as IT student, Corp members and even the female staff.
This is what I live with daily but I cannot leave because leaving would mean me joining thousands in the labour market seeking employment. It is painful that he does whatever he likes and gets away with it because he is the boss. ”
Lara Owoeye-Wise
Lara Owoeye-Wise of Africa Independent Television (AIT) who has been on the job for over 25 years said her major challenge was the work environment. “I had to grapple with the challenges of what I call the tools of trade because it is already a daunting challenge being a female and married with children and combining all that with professional job. It is more daunting that the things that should make your job easier for you, you don’t have them and that becomes double ‘wahala’.”
She said she had always clamored for crèche in media houses because according to her “there is no way a nursing-mother would give her best knowing that her child is miles away and at the mercy of the house help.”
While acknowledging the special challenges women have to cope with on the job, Moji Makanjuola, a celebrated TV journalist and President of Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Mrs. Funke Egbemode offered suggestions on how overcome them and excel.
“Women need to assert themselves and those coming must know that it is hard work. It has to do with your brains and tenacity. It is not administrative or filing job. As a journalist you have to be versatile. Read and learn. Seek your knowledge. You must broaden your horizon and you must report from a point of knowledge because that way, you would make your own name” Makanjola said.
Egbemode who is Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief, New Telegraph said female journalists are special and must marry special partners, noting that their divine assignment hinders them from carrying out their professional role as expected.
Egbemode
“A woman is a woman and she has duties that are assigned to her by God. So, she takes time off to make babies, she takes time off to nurse her marriage and ensure that things don’t go wrong. Because a woman has to do all of that, she doesn’t have the luxury of time to pay quality attention as men pay to their career,” she said.
Although other female professional may face similar situation on their jobs, Egbemode noted that journalism is a bit more tasking mentally and physically.
“We have no working hours; a woman has to contend with that to rise in the newsroom. There is also the issue of the kind-of partner she ends up with. I always say that a journalist is a special kind of woman, she is a special kind of professional, and she needs a special kind of man.
“Ordinary men can’t marry journalist. So in choosing a partner, you must acknowledge yourself as a woman that you are special because your needs are special, so you must find a man who can help you grow, who can nurture you and who is very comfortable in his own skin. He does not have complex issues, and does not think that you taking a photograph with a minister mean that you know the minister.
“You need a man who would know that whatever you become, whoever you are and whatever you do, you are part of him and that your achievements are his achievements, your failure and strength are his. If you want to rise to be Editor in Chief, you cannot marry a man a man who sees you as a business woman who should open a chain of restaurants because that is not what you want to be but that is what he wants you to be and there will be friction, tension and stress, ” Egbemode advised.
On sexual harassment, Egbemode said it is not peculiar to journalism and urged female journalists to take necessary precautions in the newsroom and on the beat. “You do not have to do what you don’t want to do and an Editor will use a good story. If you are faced with sexual harassment, you should use your feminism and smartness to your advantage.”
While the newsroom and the job is not generally gender sensitive, Egbemode’s counsel is that female journalists should be ready to prove to that they are indeed capable ‘gentlemen’ like their male colleagues.
“The job just has to be done. So you can’t come into the newsroom, wanting to feel like a woman and expecting that certain things would be handed to you as a woman. You just need to prove yourself that you can hold down the job. You need to plan. The job is tough but if you stay focused you will make it.
“That is why a lot of women can’t continue and you can’t blame them because it is very difficult. For women who are just coming into the newsroom, you should just know that the men are not going to hand you anything on a platter of gold. They are not going to give you special concession. In fact, when you ask for concessions, they begin to look down on you. You need to find a way to get your own job done.”
To curb the high rate of sexual harassments in the newsrooms, participants in the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship organized by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism called for anti- sexual harassments policies in media houses.
The National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) was urged to take up the challenge of demanding for this policy and others that will make the media environment more conducive for female journalists.
“We need to speak out because the more we keep quiet, the more the harassment will thrive,” a participant stated.
A leader literally and figuratively occupies the space in the front of the line. That space is riddled with uncertainties and perils. In battle, the leader faces the enemies, whose goal is to shoot and kill. If the enemies are skilful, you may be hit. If they are not, they can misfire. There are also land mines on your path, just in case the machine guns miss you.
As you lead, your followers are behind. If you are lucky, and they acknowledge and respect your leadership skills, they will give you cover and watch your back. If they don’t, or they envy your frontline position, they can orchestrate your downfall. In the heat of the battle against the enemy, they may plan a mutiny, or they may simply abandon you to your fate. Of course, you may also be an unwitting cause of your fate.
As in war, so it is in politics, which has led some to find a fitting analogy between war and politics.
Fortunately, the perils of leadership are balanced by the opportunities that it affords for providing fresh insights for the greater purpose of achieving lasting success for the organisation, be it private, public, or national. Ideas matter, and leadership with ideas inspire. Examples also matter, and leadership with personal stories of effective leadership under grave circumstances with ideas proven to work can galvanise pragmatic steps toward the achievement of shared goals.
This intertwining of leadership hazards and opportunities has always played out at various points in our national history. Recall the First and Second Republic partisan brickbats within and between party hierarchies. We have also seen a similar trend in the present republic, again within and between the major political parties. For Master History, repetition does not connote failure.
Yet the way the interconnection played out in the last one week has especially been quite dramatic and hilarious.
First, let us bring to the fore evidence of the danger of leadership, including the desperation of the opposition coupled with its unskilful use of ammunition. Two related stories caught my attention in this regard. First, on April 2, THISDAY newspaper carried a story headlined “PDP Caucus Accuses Tinubu, EFCC of Conspiracy to Destroy Senate.” Naturally, I was interested in the story. But as I got into the middle, it became clear to me that something was not right.
The article reported that the Senate PDP caucus was upset that Tinubu was involved in a conspiracy with the EFCC to destroy the Senate and impugn the integrity of its members. Surely, if this was true, PDP caucus had the responsibility to raise the alarm as members of the Senate. The justification is that even though the caucus is in the minority, it sees itself as a good corporate citizen of the chamber. Good for the Senate PDP caucus, I said to myself.
As I read on, however, I saw less than circumstantial evidence in the allegation against Tinubu. Media agencies associated with him carried critical reports or comments on Senate leadership. Oba Akiolu vowed to deal with Senate. And there was a “savage” attack on Senator Peter Nwaboshi, who had moved a motion on the “refusal of the executive to respect Senate resolutions.” THISDAY also reported that its source contented that Tinubu and his friends “were not happy that senators supported President Muhammadu Buhari, when he was away. They thought we will help them bring down the government because of their ambition.”
Now, this last accusation is strange when it is combined with the accusation by the same “source” that Tinubu’s friends had attacked the Senate because of its motion on the refusal of the executive to respect Senate resolutions. In one breath, Tinubu and his friends were accused of attacking the Senate (i) because the Senate supported the Presidency and (ii) because the Senate opposed the Presidency. The accusation is a classic case of self-contradiction.
On top of this, there is no reference to any named individual who made the accusations, only to anonymous “sources”. The most bizarre of this is that no word or statement, written or verbal, was attributed to Tinubu as basis for the allegation of his war against the Senate. It is a case of guilt by association. By which it means that none of the individuals and organisations mentioned as having something to do with the grievance of the PDP caucus can act freely and independently. Their actions or statements must be authorised by Tinubu.
But the story itself has no legs and it disappears into the thin air as quickly as it appeared. By the following morning, it was gone and this time, there was at least one credible source. The leader of the Senate PDP caucus, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who should know, “said the caucus did not discuss Tinubu at any time.” “It is far from the truth”, he said. “We did not at any time discuss Tinubu at our meetings and nobody accused the EFCC of anything.” Just like that, “the handwork of mischief makers” as Abaribe put it, was discredited. Like the wiretap claim of one that will remain unnamed, this too fell flat.
But who are these “mischief makers”? One THISDAY reporter “broke” the original baseless story. It was another THISDAY reporter that nailed its coffin with a new reporting. Did the first reporter make up the story? To what end? Was the fake story planted by Tinubu’s political opponents who found a willing journalist to publish it? Shouldn’t the journalist confirm the story with the Senate PDP caucus before going to press? Or did the PDP caucus decide to wriggle out of an embarrassing story?
It is telling that even the second reporter avoided mentioning the original reporter or the fact that THISDAY published the debunked story. Whatever answers there are to these questions, the story itself confirms the hazard of leadership. Tinubu has come a long way to be acknowledged as a major issue in Nigerian politics today. The territory he occupies is also the aspiration of others who feel threatened by his intimidating presence. I have no doubt that he gets it that to feel secured and stable in your own skin due to the power of your ideas is one of the most important assets of a leader. Hence his penchant for idea-powered leadership.
This takes me to the other side of the linkage, the opportunities of fresh insights and ideas for the greater purpose of the organisation. With no time for the frivolity and theatrics that characterise the everyday outing of some politicians and the cat and mouse relationship that politics seems to nurture, Tinubu has taken on the task of regular intervention, with the power of ideas, in the national search for greatness since the beginning of the Fourth Republic.
The inauguration of a colloquium series that focuses on issues of national significance is a confirmation of Tinubu’s stature in the politics of ideas. Needless to add, great ideas and a dogged pursuit of their execution are what makes a nation great— not dictatorship, not mindless populism, certainly not malicious accusations that have no foundation.
In his address to his namesake colloquium, Tinubu again demonstrated his grasp of what turns the wheel of economic advancement: shape the economy for the benefit of the people. This is basic, but have we fully embraced its logic?
If we did, millions will not be out of work today. And tens of millions will not be underemployed. One way we have failed and pursued the opposite of what is required is conform ourselves to the rentier mono economy which makes us consumers rather than producers. We even outsource the production of our only product to multinationals and whine that they defraud us. Hopefully, we have learnt the important lesson from this ongoing recession, that if the lives of our young ones are not to be wasted in their prime, if we are to help them realise their full potentials, we need an economy that works for them, a diversified economy that develops our indigenous resources for what we and the world need.
The Federal Government and World Bank have said they would spend $18.5 million to tackle hazards caused by Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) to the environment.
World Bank Country Director in Nigeria Ms Marie Francoise Nelly gave the hint in Abuja during the launch of the PCB project.
She said the Global Environment Fund (GEF) has provided $6.3 million, while the Federal Government is to contribute the counterpart funding of $12.2 million for the elimination of environmental and health risks posed by PCBs.
Nelly, who spoke through the World Bank’s Senior Operations Officer, Mr Badrul Hague, said the environmental and health risks come from the release of PCBs from the active and decommissioned electrical equipment in Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) facilities as well as from other industries that have PCB stocks, such as dip refineries, airports and textile mills.
“Safe disposal of wastes reduces the environmental and health risks, and this is the objective of the PCBs project. In particular, the project will strengthen and harmonise hazardous chemical and waste management system, and facilities safe disposal of hazardous wastes.”
“Through timely intervention of the PCB project, an environmental and health risks in Nigeria could be reduced substantially by safe disposal of the existing stockpiles and development of a management system for safe disposal of future toxic wastes,” she added.
