The Nation Newspaper

Tag: media

  • How my media usage has changed- Rita Dominic

    How my media usage has changed- Rita Dominic

    Nollywood actress Rita Dominic who was among Nigerian entertainers that attended the just concluded Toronto International Film Festival for screenings and a media tour of the Nigerian movie ’76, revealed that meeting with Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg and his team, became an eye opening for her on how to connect with her fans.

    The actress as stated has therefore during her tour created a digital journal for her fans, which she has been engaging them on her activities.

    The actress presently with over 3 million social media fans explored a new form of engagement with her fans using the Facebook live option with which she sends regular video updates from her events and appearances.

    Each of her videos as revealed by her team, reached millions of people within 24 hours.  “After meeting with Mark Zuckerberg and his team recently, I realised that there are so many ways to deepen the connection I have with the millions of people who follow me online and constantly show me love,” she said.

    “It has been exciting sharing everything at TIFF from all the media tours to the movie premieres and red carpet events.”

    The actress has also been receiving rave reviews for her stellar performance in the movie ’76.

    Now Toronto describes her character as ‘the pregnant rock’ in Ramsey Nouah’s corner while Hollywood News describes her performance alongside co-star Ramsey Nouah as “natural performers full of morality with commitment to their situation.” For Steven Mayne of Flick Feast, “Dominic does an excellent job at working her character up into lather without hyperbolic emoting.”

    ’76 which stars Rita Dominic and Ramsey Nouah, which was first screened on September 11, according to report was a sold out.

  • UNICEF, media join forces against malnutrition

    UNICEF, media join forces against malnutrition

    Nigeria is battling with several problems, among which is child malnutrition. The future of her children is being threatened by malnutrition; a silent killer which is decimating them in millions annually. ODUNAYO OGUNMOLA reports that the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the media have just launched a campaign to tackle the menace.

    This is not the best of time for infants in Nigeria. They are exposed to disease, sanitation problems, environmental deterioration, hunger; all triggered by insurgency, in the Northeast, militancy in the Niger Delta, kidnapping in almost all states of the federation and other social ills afflicting the society.

    Malnutrition has become a threat to the survival of the Nigerian child but a campaign has just been launched by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the media to tackle the menace.

    Concern for the survival of the Nigerian child and how to find solution to the threat posed by malnutrition was the focus of a Media Dialogue organised by the UNICEF, a specialised agency of the United Nations which has welfare of children as its major mandate, for reporters in the Southwest.

    The media practitioners, who came from print, electronic, social and online platforms brainstormed with stakeholders such as officials of the UNICEF, health professionals, caregivers, policy makers and beneficiaries of the agency’s intervention where issues bordering on malnutrition were dissected.

    The UNICEF recognises the media as an important vehicle of advocacy and a strong partner to propagate the message of best nutrition practices to boost child health through editorials, documentaries, features, informed commentaries; special reports, interviews with policy makers, community workers and mothers.

    The forum reached a  consensus that malnutrition is a general problem which is not peculiar to any region in Nigeria; as virtually all the six geo-political zones are battling with the problem. As it affects children of the poor, malnutrition also afflicts children of the rich, which many would find incredible.

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, whose opening remarks was delivered by the Head, Child Rights Information Bureau, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Mrs. Rose Madu, described the problem as one that is common.

    He urged journalists to use their platforms to educate policy makers so that the right budgetary allocations are made and funds released on time to tackle the challenges of malnutrition.

    The minister, who revealed that similar forums had been held in Sokoto, Calabar, Kano and Owerri said bringing journalists together was an important step towards battling the scourge because of their roles as nation-builders.

    According to him, statistics has shown that malnutrition has become a huge threat to children both in the North and in the South; hence the need for all Nigerians to join hands with the government to save the future of the younger generation.

    UNICEF Communication Specialist in Abuja, Mr. Geoffrey Njoku, said the problem of malnutrition required urgency because of the increasing infant mortality rate attributed to it.

    He expressed shock at the findings made during a similar media dialogue held in Owerri, where it was discovered that a good number of infants in Imo State are suffering from malnutrition.

    Njoku said: “I was at the Owerri dialogue and I was shocked at the level of malnutrition of children in Imo State. In the Southwest as well, we have issues of malnutrition and Nigerians expect that reports coming out of here would help address these issues.

    “The use of social media has helped tremendously because both the Senate and the House of Representatives are talking about it; so it had become a national issue.”

    Njoku revealed that 22 per cent of children under five years in the Southwest zone have stunted growth, saying it was erroneous to believe that malnutrition only affects the northern part of the country.

    Quoting a 2013 survey, Njoku stressed that studies revealed that malnutrition was prevalent among children of the rich in the Southwest under the age of five, adding that research also showed that 13 per cent of children born to rich families also suffer malnutrition.

    Giving an overview of Nutrition Intervention in Nigeria, Dr. Chris Isokpunwu, of the Federal Ministry of Health said there was need to give children balanced diet at infancy before much damage is done.

    Represented by Mrs. Omotayo Ogunbunmi, Isokpunwu noted that “nutrition has a powerful influence on the child’s growth, development and productive life.”

    Quoting statistics from the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, Isokpunwu revealed that Nigeria has the highest number of stunted children under the age of five in sub-Sahara Africa and second highest in the world with 37 per cent of all children stunted, 18 per cent wasting and 29 per cent underweight.

    According to him, the infant mortality rate was 69 in every 1,000 live births while only 17 per cent were exclusively breastfed.

    In her presentation, UNICEF Nutrition Specialist, Mrs. Ada Ezeogu, revealed that 50 per cent of infants in Nigeria die as a result of malnutrition, even as she advocated exclusive breastfeeding for children from age zero to six months.

    Refering to the data prepared by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Mrs. Ezeogu also urged women not to deny babies in the age bracket breast milk on grounds that their breasts would sag.

    She said the infant mortality rate could be reduced through adequate nutrition, adding that exclusive breastfeeding would boost mental capacity of babies and would help Nigerian children to become adults with great intellect in future.

    Mrs. Ezeogu explained that babies did not need water when they were being fed exclusively with breast milk because 80 per cent of breast milk contained water while the remaining 20 per cent contained the needed nutrients for babies’ optimal growth.

    She said: “Every child should be exclusively breast fed for the first six months. Breastfeeding lowers the risk of chronic conditions later in life such as obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes; childhood asthma and childhood leukaemia.

    “Breastfed infants do better on intelligence and behaviour test than formula-fed babies.”

    At the dialogue, some children who were hitherto malnourished but had overcome the scourge after the intervention of UNICEF field officers in their respective localities were presented.

    Hassan and Hussein are promising twin boys who were deprived of the opportunity of enjoying breastfeeding by the death of their mother.

    Health workers diagnosed them of acute malnutrition in August last year at their Gaa Ayegbade Settlement in Ibarapa East Local Government Area of Oyo State.

    Six months after the children were fed on soya-based enriched complementary food and guide corn; babies who could hardly sit are now walking and eating other foods

    “That they are alive today is a miracle; they did not develop well, they were only feeding on infant formula,” said their grandmother, Hawawu Musa.

    Abigail Babarinde, at the age of one, was unable to sit or walk but respite came her way when she was referred for treatment and her mother commenced feeding her with soya-based enriched complementary food prepared at Oyo State Nutritional Rehabilitation Centre, Oni and Sons Children Hospital.

    Her mother, 21-year-old Aminat Babarinde, told reporters at the forum that she breastfed the baby for one month, claiming that the baby refused to be fed on breast milk.

    She explained that Abigail’s rejection of breast milk affected her growth but she was taken to Eruwa General Hospital where the child was referred to a nutritionist who administered special diet on her.

    The story of Abigail, Hassan and Hussein who looked lively during the forum, was a testimony to efforts of nutrition officers to prevent children from having stunted growth.

    In her presentation, a Nutrition Officer in Oyo State Ministry of Health, Dr. Khadijat Alarape, explained that 13.2 per cent of children in the state are underweight; a percentage which she said was a significant decline from the previous 17.7 per cent few years ago.

  • IICC seeks media intervention

    The Insurance Industry Consultative Council (IICC) is seeking the help of the media to gauge public opinion and boost insurance penetration.

    IICC President/Chairman, Lady Isioma Chukwuma, who made this known at a media retreat in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, said media aids national development.

    She said that insurers believed that the media is a veritable purveyor of public education on insurance and financial issues.

    According to her, the industry recognises the role of the media in projecting its ideals and has continually engaged the media in propagating same. I must appreciate the important role the press is playing in making sure that insurance forms part and parcel of our national consciousness.

    She said the media provides a platform for better insurance awareness and penetration.

    “The media has always been perceived as invaluable stakeholders in governance in all its ramifications. Therefore, your contributions to nation building cannot be over-emphasised. In particular, your roles as arbiters and the epitome of the nation’s conscience will continue to place you in the forefront of constructive criticism of all national discourse. Every media organisation should continuously brace up with the onerous challenges of achieving national development.

    “Nigeria’s transformation process as you are aware is evidenced by a flurry of activities across both public and private sector operations in the national economy. These include agriculture, transportation, power, petroleum and the financial services sector. All of these, to say the least, engender greater risk factors beyond what is presently conjectured by insurance practitioners,’’ she added.

  • MTN partners Rhodes varsity on media confab

    MTN Group is collaborating with Rhodes University to hold a conference as part of activities marking the 20th Anniversary of the Highway Africa this weekend in Grahamstown in Eastern Cape, South Africa.

    Highway Africa is the continent’s yearly journalism conference, which drives conversation and debate on key issues in the media and Information Communication Technology (ICT) on the continent.

    With the theme The internet and media – Celebrations, reflections and the future, Highway Africa 2016, the two-day event is to explore the impact of the internet on journalism and media, including film, music and books.

    “This year’s theme is one that resonates with MTN. As an organisation that is extending connectivity and providing digital services across Africa, we know that ICT is changing how we consume media. In addition, it is enabling greater access to information and to services in our communities, which is part of the positive narrative around this continent. We believe that Africa has many good news stories to tell and that platforms like Highway Africa go a long way to boost the media sector so that these stories can be shared. We have been part of this conference for the past fifteen years and our continued support is based on our commitment to the development and advancement of journalism on the continent,”  General Manager for Corporate Communication and Stakeholder Management, MTN Group, Xolisa Vapi, said.

    As part of its support of Highway Africa 2016, MTN pledged to sponsor journalists from media houses in seven of its markets to attend the conference.

    “We are humbled and grateful that MTN is once again partnering with us on this journey of development for African journalism. We have seen many changes and immense growth of the conference over the years. However, it is thanks to the support of our partners, that Highway Africa has been so successful and remains relevant to our media stakeholders across the continent,” says Chris Kabwato, Director, Highway Africa.

    Using keynote addresses, plenary sessions, panel discussions, workshops, book launches and networking dinners, Highway Africa 2016 will be at one level a celebration of 20 years of the existence of Africa’s premier journalistic assembly, and at another level an occasion for reflection on internet and society.

  • Nation’s open sore: Media as antiseptic

    Apparently tired of the old tactic of charge-and-bail of suspects, Nigeria’s security establishment resorted to a tool that looked rather extreme in novelty sometime in 2014 against the entire fourth estate of the realm. Beginning from the midnight of the D-Day, along key highways across the federation, troops ambushed circulation vans of media houses and held both consignments and personnel captive for the better part of the day.

    Following the outrage expressed by media owners and the general public over the unprecedented assault, the reason advanced by the office of the National Security Adviser was no less odd. It was only a preemptory step, it stated in an accustomed haughty tone, against the new strategy by Boko Haram to ferry IEDs across the country. (In normal times, press vehicles enjoy preferential treatment at police check-points.)

    But only Sambo Dasuki and his master would believe that yarn. The reason was simple: if the hunt was indeed for BK and its lethal wares, how come the press vans and passengers were still held indefinitely when no such contrabands were found besides, inside or beneath the day’s copies neatly wrapped as usual in white sheets torn off the reel stubs?

    Of course, there was more to the melodrama on the highway. A few incidents had happened in frighteningly rapid succession a few days earlier. Tension had arisen over a story of land grab broken by the Abuja-based Daily Trust. The murky tale starred several Army hierarchs and some powerful figures in the security chain. Against the backcloth of the ludicrous theory bandied by the NSA for the highway siege, the popular thinking was that it probably had more to do with the expectation, if not fear, in high places that a more damaging follow up was underway.

    Of course, the clampdown continued, though now sporadically across few locations, for several days in what seemed an improvisation of the Goebbelsian tactic against the public mind. Tell or act a lie repeatedly, according to Adolf Hitler’s inimitable propaganda marshal, and it begins to appear or sound like verity.

    As the account – perhaps the most probable of all the speculations – put it, in their desperation to explain the perfidious act on the first day away, the fraternity of Big Men of Abuja so implicated could not think of a better counter-strategy than drag BH into the mix. (Indeed, just anything could be explained away in those giddy days in the name of fighting BH, the same way $15b carted from public treasury and shared among PDP leaders was boldly documented as funds expended on arms to fight the BH.)

    Anyone with the faintest idea of the use and misuse of naked power in Abuja then would readily attest the dailies actually targeted by the mastermind of the highways lockdown were not more Daily Trust, Leadership and, of course, the heavyweight of the “opposition” press and understandably the nation’s widest-circulating newspaper, The Nation. The trio was seen as the most implacably opposed to the high comedy going on in Abuja then disguised as governance by Jonathan and his people. So, other publications so caught in the middle only suffered what they call “collateral injury”.

    Interestingly, that 2014 lockdown would become the fodder for a sadder story a year later when a section of the print media was dragged into Dasukigate in the name of “compensation” for the losses incurred at the hands of troops on the highway. But once it became clear the provenance was tainted, The Nation, arguably the biggest casualty of the 2014 ambush being the widest-circulating, did not only rush to disclaim the arrangement in the strongest language possible but elicited further applause from the ethicallyminded by being the first to return to the Federal Government the N10m cheque it earlier received as “compensation”, thus imposing a moral obligation on others to follow.

    By returning the N10m cheque, The Nation not only identified with a country mindlessly betrayed by those entrusted with public trust, but must have also made peace with its own corporate conscience. To act otherwise would be a negation of the letter and spirit of its own very motto, “Truth in defence of freedom”. That would be inconsistent with the very lofty value it espoused from the outset, the defence of which it had toiled, even fought, relentlessly in the past ten years.

    Still, by that singular act, it demonstrates powerfully the moral obligation of the media beyond the beauty of the printed word and the smell of fresh inks. As the conscience of the society, the media should strive to live above the social average. Only then can its words make any meaning or its voice carry any moral weight.

    Indeed, in the past week, accolades have continued to pour in torrents for what is easily acknowledged today as Nigeria’s most successful newspaper in the past decade. Overall, those given to reductionism would perhaps be quick to ascribe that to the perceived deep pocket of its promoters. While it is true that enough cash is indispensable in newspaper undertaking, perhaps even more critical is the value it espouses and the cause it chooses to fight and defend.

    If money is truly all that matters in the business, a publication like Compass that had surfaced soon after The Nation and made no pretense about its sole mission to be seen as the arch rival would still be kicking today. The truth is, on top of the mountain of cash, a paper should stand for something. How socially relevant that is will ultimately define its character and brand worth. It determines how it connects with the people and how long that intercourse lasts. That sort of emotional asset is something all the cash in the world cannot buy.

    While it is true the promoters were fateful at the teething stage, it should however be stressed that The Nation’s survival in an industry where mortality rate is high is also rooted in its value of modesty and sobriety. Its continued vitality is only because it evolved not from life on the fast lane, but the old-fashioned way of earning its own existence from only returns from copy sale and still modest advert revenue grown from zero base.

    Little wonder then that from the humble beginnings in the even more humbling neighborhood of Ladipo, Lagos, The Nation has morphed into a big lion whose roar echoes far and wide. The species immortal French hero, Napoleon Bonaparte, says should be dreaded by powers-that-be more than a thousand bayonets or a standing army.

    Doubtless, part of its appeal is a formidable commentariat leaning heavily towards the progressive ideology. Though liberal in creed, the stable is however fanatical in the pursuit of the values it professes. Part of the beauty of its own progressivism is that its advocacy elides all Nigeria’s known ancient fault-lines: ethnicity, sectionalism and sectarianism. Though headquartered in Lagos, The Nation has consistently spoken and fought for pan-Nigerian interest even when some competitors don’t mind being profiled as championing sectional interest.

    Depth has also paid off. Following the wise counsel of the famous American publisher, Joseph Pulitzer, The Nation is not only content with merely printing news. After breaking the stories often in a dramatic fashion unique to it, its voice is never mute or muffled thereafter in the moments of national dilemma. And the position it takes is never inconsistent with the defence of the common man. An instinctive affinity with the underdog.

    Of course, fighting for the poor invariably means opposing the establishment which is never always a materially rewarding adventure for both the newspaper and its workers. Not only would the newspaper be blacklisted from official patronage, its journalists would not be welcomed at some functions. From the foregoing, it then becomes easier to understand why The Nation kept a slender weight for many years on end in terms of advertisement even when verifiable industry records began to show it had overtaken the competition on copy sale.

    From the beginning, the unwritten rule wherever PDP was in charge or had influence was deny the paper patronage. And many a top player in the corporate world simply followed suit, afraid of official backlash.

    It is therefore a testimony to the forbearance of its promoters in not giving up and the loyalty of workers not yielding to material temptation that The Nation survived all the trying moments in the past decade. Their only consolation perhaps being the awareness that by the outstanding stories published steadily the paper was growing where it mattered most: registering in people’s minds more and more, even if the big advertisers still chose to keep their distance.

    In toasting its tenth anniversary today, what should be celebrated also is the price paid for principle by the management led by the self-effacing Victor Ifijeh and the character shown by workers in the face of temptation all the way. It is a testament to that uncommon strength of character that The Nation, till the end of PDP’s naira regatta last year, simply refused to mortgage its soul for the mega fortune in wrap-around adverts. (The source of which has now been traced to the $15b blood money Dasuki shared.) Nor has it been implicated in the cash-for-award scam now so endemic in the industry.

    Indeed, if any media house deserves plaudits today for serving as intellectual clearing-house for the peaceful dethronement of PDP as ruling party last year thereby turning a giant page in Nigeria’s political history, it is undoubtedly The Nation. Even with APC now controlling power at the centre, the paper has not stopped firing.

    By dutifully fulfilling its own part of the social contract in the past decade, the newspaper has in a way helped in nurturing a better society.

  • CJN pledges partnership with media

    CJN pledges partnership with media

    The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed, has pledged continued partnership with the media to protect the independence of the judiciary.

    Justice Mohammed gave the assurance at the end of a two-day workshop organised by the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) and the National Judicial Institute (NJI) in Abuja yesterday.

    The two-day workshop with the theme: ‘’The Role of Judges in the Fight against Corruption” began on July 18.

    Panelists discussed “The Judiciary and the Media, Effective Response to Media Threat and Judicial Independence”.

    Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), the Chairman of PACAC, said the workshop was to empower judges and enable them take charge of the courts and totally improve confidences of judicial officers.

     

     

     

  • Opposition, media and Aregbesola’s legacy

    Editorials and news analysis are meant to promote critical thinking, drive consciousness, influence public opinion and sometimes compel people to take action. It is generally an expression of a well thought-out position of news publications on pertinent issues of public good.

    Over the years, editorials have informed and shaped public policies in a manner that has greatly influenced the course human history. With published editorials, reputations have been earned and lost. The currency, depth and content of such publications had conferred authority on a sizable number of media organizations across the world, with Nigeria certainly being no exception.

    It has however since become a powerful tool that cannot be left in the hands of the non-retrospective person that will lend himself readily for hatchet jobs.

    However, like all news reportage and analysis, it is basic that all sides to an issue and shades of opinions are accommodated before any position is rolled out in print. And indeed a lot more is required for the editorial as it is the voice of the media institution.

    It is against this background that one finds it difficult to understand the motivations behind the recurring reports and media commentaries that have been making mountains out of molehills in an attempt to reduce the entirety of Osun State and the outstanding accomplishments of the incumbent governor, Rauf Aregbesola to a singular event in one corner of the state.

    In a recent pronouncement, an Osun State High Court precluded the state from hindering public school students from expressing their religious preferences as indicted the use of hijab in a school in Iwo, one of the many towns in the state. The sensational treatment given to the reactions to this verdict suggest that some sections of the media readily lent themselves as a tool in the hands of those seeking political capital from the issue. According to some of them, this untoward development has now become the legacy of Aregbesola in Osun State.

    It is rather unfortunate that institutions that have a responsibility to drive development will relegate apparent positive index to the background and play up the opposite. This only amounts to taking the easy route to drawing conclusions despite the men and facilities at their disposal to do a more thorough job.

    Two things are however pertinent here. The first is to put the events surrounding the controversy in proper perspectives, and the other is to highlight the accomplishments of Aregbesola that earned him a second term in a hotly contested election and has continued to endear him to the people of the state despite the harsh economic conditions confronting most states across the federation.

    In his irrepressible manner, Aregbesola does not hide the fact that he is a Muslim. He has however conducted his public and private lives in a way that openly embraces people of all faiths that even the long-sidelined traditional worshipers are accorded official recognition only in Osun State.

    That the governor has made the future of the state the main focus of his administration by investing massively in education and infrastructural development does not deserve any notice or commendation. It will not serve their narrow, selfish agenda.

    To provide conducive learning environment for students in public primary and secondary schools, the governor has at today delivered 170 modern schools across the state in a work in progress mode aimed at touching every school in all nooks and crannies of the state.

    He has also elevated the quality of learning by providing students with digital text books known commonly as Opon Imo. The device, a tablet contains the entire Senior Secondary School Ssyllabus, including Yoruba traditions, past questions of the West African Examination Council (WAEC), National Examination Council (NECO) and Joint Administration and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for 10 years.

    Today, in Osun, school children are being provided free school uniforms to promote unity and uniformity in the state. No fewer than 3,000 tailors and craftsmen are engagedlocally for the sewing of new school uniforms and the batik imprint.

    In the same vein, the state is also the unique reference for the school children feeding programme that has just been adopted for nationwide implementation by the Federal Government. The O’MEAL initiative, aside from providing much needed nutrition for children, inputs are generated locally boosting the economy and indigenous people are provided gainful employment as caterers.

    The 20, 000 young school leavers which included university graduates engaged through the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (OÝES) as an intervention to mitigate the high unemployment in the state will forever appreciate the ingenuity. Same applies to students in all the five state-owned tertiary institutions in Osun State whose tuition fees were slashed by 50 per cent so that the children of the poor will not be left behind.

    With a befitting facelift, Osogbo today appropriately wears the look of a state capital with Aregbesola as the first in the history of the 25-year old state to construct and reconstruct 28 roads in the metropolis within a period four years. It is also remarkable that no part of the state is excluded from the massive infrastructural renewal.

    With 61 township roads covering over 128km and inter-city roads and about 294km that have been completely rehabilitated in the ancient cities of Ilesa, Ile-Ife, Modakeke, Moro, Ashipa, Ipetumodu, Osogbo, Ikirun etc, produce from remote farm locations can now access commercial centres in good time providing fresh food in the cities and yielding timely good returns for farmers.

    The Omoluabi Garment Factory (OGF) attracted to the state by the administration has significantly helped to boost Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and contributed significantly to the reduction of unemployment.

    The remodelled Ede waterworks has been rehabilitated to double existing production capacity and increase the supply of potable water to the city of Ede and adjourning communities.

    The Osun State that Aregbesola inherited was just putting up with the bare tools available to the Nigeria Police Force, but today, police commands in Osun are better equipped withfleet of patrol vehicles, kits  and other gadgets complemented for the first time in the history of the state, by 10 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC),a helicopter for security surveillance, rapid responseand aerial  cover for crime fighting in the state.

    In the healthcare sector, 74 new primary healthcare centres built by Aregbesola are also out there providing services most especially women and children in the various communities in the largely rural Osun State and he has ensured no critical sector is left behind in delivering services to the people.

    Driving through Ilesa earlier this week, one cannot but marvel at the quantum of ongoing works on the extensive Ita-Balogun-Wesley-Hospital-Bolorunduro- Ilesa/Akure Expressway.

    I make bold to assert that under Aregbesola, Osun State has never had it so good. This is a verifiable claim that any newsman desirous of raising the stakes and other interested parties can unravel by undertaking an independent tour of the State of the Living Spring.

     

    • Adeyemo writes from Alimosho, Lagos.

  • What do the South-West Media Want?

    So much for Objective Journalism! Don’t bother to look for it here—not under any byline I can think of. With the possible exception of things like box scores, race results, and stock market tabulations, there is no such thing as Objective Journalism. The phrase itself is a pompous contradiction in terms.”

     By Hunter S. Thompson, (Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72)

     

     Preamble

    The above quotation is probably much more relevant to Nigeria than any other country in the world. Like any other thing that has to do with decency, journalism in Nigeria has become a mockery of itself. Its three fundamental norms of information, education and entertainment have been turned into misinformation, mis-education and distraction.

    With the coinage of vocabularies like ‘maginalization’ and ‘Islamization’ (words that   cannot be found in any English dictionary), Nigerian journalists have blindly and ignorantly polarized the country’s social strata along tribal and religious lines. And with this queer professional whim, they have tacitly drawn a visible battle line among existing ethnic groups on the one hand and religious groups on the other (a euphemism for a furnace of implacable enmity).

    Thus, the prospect of a potentially great country becoming a nation has virtually been turned into a mere day dream that can hardly be linked to reality. If anything is antithetical to Nigeria’s cohesion as a country with potential greatness, it is the Nigerian media. And all these damages are being done in the name of press freedom.

     

    Ember of Discord

    In its usual act of beating the drum of war in the country, the Nigerian media recently started chorusing another sour song aimed at leaving another sour taste in the mouth of Nigerians. It has started classifying the recent appointments made by the current regime into that of North-South dichotomy. That is its new way of igniting a new war between the northern part of the country and the South. And, as usual, the drum beats are vividly coming from the south-west.

    It is sometimes amazing what the real agenda of the south-west media is. In 1999, two main presidential candidates were presented to the country on the platform of two main political parties. The two candidates were from the South-West and they were Christians. One of them emerged as the country’s President with majority of Muslim votes and there were no grudges from the Muslims even as he completed his two terms of eight years.

     

    Memory Lane

    At least, it can still be remembered that the man (Bashorun MKO Abiola) who won the 1993 unprecedented Presidential election that was annulled by military fiat and was eventually killed in detention was a Muslim from the South-West. It can also be remembered that the man (Ernest Shonekan who was appointed by fiat to replace Abiola as an interim President was a Christian from the South-West. Yet, the Muslims did not complain then as they did not complain when a former Vice-President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan of the South-South succeeded the late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua (from the North) to complete the Northern slot of the Presidency. And he (Jonathan) later won another election with Muslim majority votes for a term of four years.

    Now, with another President from the North in the saddle, the senseless brouhaha has started again at the instance of the South-West media despite the fact that the current Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osibajo (a Pastor) is from the South-West. What exactly do the South-West media want?

     

     Reactions

    In a swift reaction to the new furnace of political war emanating from the South-West media, Sen. Eta Enang, Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on National Assembly Matters (who is of course a Christian), has said that the claim by some Nigerians of lopsided federal appointments in the country was untrue. He said that President Muhammadu Buhari followed strictly the principles of Federal Character in all federal appointments.

    Enang went further to state that “He (Buhari) has given us (in the South-South) the Chief of Naval Staff, a very high ranking officer in the Federal Security Council. He has also given us the minister of Budget and then, my humble self as the Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters. He has also given us the minister of Niger Delta Affairs.

    “In the entire South-South region, he went further to say that “he (Buhari) gave us Minister of Transportation in charge of about three ministries merged together. He also gave us the Minister of Petroleum and that of budget”.

    He added that President Buhari had visited Cross River State, despite his very tight schedule, to inaugurate construction of the international super highway from Cross River to Cameroon and other countries in the West and Central Africa. Enang did not forget to recall that “President Buhari also provided N6 billion to dualize the road from Calabar to Itu, enroute Ikot Ekpene, to Aba in Abia State.

     

     Further Reactions

    Another South-South cabinet member of the PMB government, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita: the Head of Service of the Federation, also debunked the unfounded allegations of appointment lopsidedness being projected by the South-West media. She said that insinuations that the president unduly favoured a section of the country in appointments were wrong and concluded that the appointments so far made by the president were based on merit and competence. In her words: “President Buhari allows competence and merit to be brought to the fore in his appointments and we are very happy about that. This means that “a door way has been opened for appointments based on merit. If it could happen to me, it could equally happen to anyone else”.

     

    Reaction from the South-West

    If the above reactions from the people of the South-South are seen as a way of keeping their jobs, what can we say of that of an elected Senator from the South-West? In his own reaction to the mischievously damaging media propaganda from his region, a prominent Senator from the South-West, Professor Olusola Adeyeye had the following to say: “This rehash of the prominent positions held by Muslims in Nigeria is mischievous and quite unfortunate. It is the typical Nigerian game of chasing needless shadows rather than focusing on the arduous task of nation-building”.

    He went further: “Until recently, some so-called Christians held commanding heights of the economic governance of our Republic. The Presidency, Headship of National Assembly, Secretary of Govt of the Federation, Head of Service, Ministry of Works, Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank, the NNPC, the Stock Exchange etc were headed by so-called Christians. Tragically, they reprobately superintended the profligate looting of our common patrimony. The lone voice of courageous warning belonged to a certified Muslim, Sanusi Lamido, who succeeded Soludo and was hounded for his courage to expose the cult of looters comprising so-called Christians”.

     

    His Analysis

    In his analysis, Senator Adeyeye stated as follows: “Yes, the metastasis of economic ruins in Nigeria was gestated by these Christians. They reduced Pentecostalism to a reprobate pente-rascality (sic) whereby the Dukes and knights of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria and the Christian Association of Nigeria became errand boys in the corridor of accursed political power. Their private jets were the conveyors of stolen money!”

    “Tunde Fashola is a Muslim. He now heads what used to be three big ministries. Was he chosen because of his religion? He was chosen because of his track record!”

     

    Prediction of Succour

    “The dust will settle in Nigeria. Change will come despite predictable resistance from reactionary principalities and forces. Hackney references to issues that divide rather than unite us whether by Muslims or Christians, are age-long stumbling blocks to progress.

    It really is a shame when well-educated Nigerians, whether Muslim or Christian, wobble themselves in religious intolerance. Unfortunately, the intolerance is nursed by some imams and pastors mouthing poorly considered facts. Even if seemingly compelling, facts degenerate into half-truths when they are placed, as is often the case, outside of proper context”.

    “The toxicity of half-truths rarely emanates from the profligacy of falsehood but rather from the subtle distortion of truth!  Blatant falsehood is intuitively obvious and as such easy to reject. By contrast, when truth is softly bent, it takes great discernment to perceive its toxicity.

    The Constitution of Nigeria enshrines that every state must be represented in the Cabinet of the Federal Government. Even those of us who feel that this, by itself, creates a cabinet that is too unwieldy, must tolerate such a provision until our pluralistic, multi-ethnic and multi-religious republic evolves into organic nationhood. As such, whoever is the President of Nigeria must have a minimum of 36nMinisters”

     

    Facts and Figures

     

    Of the six ministers representing the Southwestern states, two

    (Fashola from Lagos and Shittu from Oyo) are Muslims while four others (Adeosun from Ogun, Adewole from Osun, Fayemi from Ekiti and Daramola from Ondo) are Christians. All the five ministers from the Southeastern states are Christians as are all six ministers from the states of the south-south. In other words, of the 17 ministers from southern Nigeria, 15 are Christians while 2 are Muslims”.

     

    Analysis on the North

    According to Senator Adeyeye: “In the North-Central, Audu Ogbe from Benue, Solomon Dalong from Plateau, James Ocholi (now deceased) from Kogi are Christians. The remaining three ministers from that zone are Muslims. Even if all the ministers from Northeastern and Northwestern states are Muslims, we are left with a Federal cabinet comprising 18 Christians and 18 Muslims! We have a devout Muslim as President and a no less devout Christian as Vice President. The current composition of the Federal

    Executive Council is one in which only liars will complain that Christians have been marginalized. When in the history of Nigeria has a traveling President transmitted power to the VICE PRESIDENT? That is what Buhari does each time he travels”.

     

     The Legislature

    Senator Adeyeye went further: “Now, let us move to the legislature. Of the 10 Principal Officers of the Nigerian Senate, only three (Saraki, Ndume and Na’alla) are Muslims! The remainder (Ekeremadu, Adeyeye, Alimikhena, Akpabio, Aduda, Bwacha and Olujimi) are Christians! Adeyeye and Bwacha are lay preachers. The House of Representatives is headed by a Christian. With such a composition, the Nigerian Legislature is not a place where

    Christians can be said to be marginalized. In fact, few people realize that there are more Christians than Muslims in the Nigerian Senate”.

     

    The Judiciary

    And in his analysis of Nigerian Judiciary, Senator Adeyeye had this to say: “Now, let us go to the Judiciary. How many judges of the Supreme Court has Buhari appointed? The answer is Zero! Is it fair to blame him for appointments that predated his own election into office? The fear of God, the love of country and basic human decency dictate that we reject an amalgamation of intellectual sophistry with the dereliction of truth”.

    “Unfortunately, it is quite easy for detractors to pick and choose their facts in a manner that allows malignant campaigns of calumny.

    Professor Adeoye Adeniyi, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, was a deacon at Oritamefa Baptist Church Ibadan. He was the Chairman at my wedding. He was also our pediatrician. When he was leaving the University of Ibadan to head the College of Medicine at Ilorin in 1978/79, he handed Oluwatobi (our daughter) to a Moslem doctor in his Department. I asked him why he did not hand us to a Christian. Professor Adeniyi smiled and said, “you do not need a Baptist or for that matter a Christian doctor; you need a pediatrician who will respond even if you call after midnight! “May God guide our Muslim President aright as we wade through the fierce storms…”

    The above facts and figures have spoken for themselves. What do the South-West media want?

  • Lagos community media owners set for revitalisation

    Community media operators in Lagos State are going back to school this week (7-9 July) to rethink their business for revitalisation and sustainability.
    An initiative of the Communities and Communications Department of the Lagos State Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs, the programme is being facilitated by The Journalism Clinic, which vision is “to raise the next generation of first-rate journalists in Nigeria.”
    Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor Kehinde Bamigbetan says: “It is our hope that, with this training, the community newspapers and magazines would become reference points to the communities. That’s not happening now.”
    ” We need for them to connect with the people; to help the people make informed decisions about their lives and living, about the authorities, and their environments. They should ‘affect the society in a progressive way.’ Done right, they should also become profitable.”
    Secretary to the State Governor Tunji Bello, a journalist, is expected to declare the workshop open and deliver a goodwill message from Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, whose mantra is “to leave no one behind.”
    Workshop Co-ordinator and Founder, The Journalism Clinic Taiwo Obe, said that there will be sessions on impact news reporting, graphics design, media buying, digital marketing, business management, mobile journalism and consumer insights.
    Resource persons include Niyi Obaremi, a quintessential newsman; Ogbenyi Egbe, a creative/art director up-to-date with computer graphics; Omomeda Ashofor, a seasoned media strategist and planner; Funke-Treasure Durodola, a broadcaster of distinction; Pelu Awofeso, a social media buff and award-winning travel journalist and author, and Akin Omorodion, an accountant well-heeled in business rehabilitation and insolvency and an array of financial management services.
    Others are: Gani Kayode Balogun, Jr, a seasoned newspaper space sales and marketing specialist; Abiola Ayankunbi, a newspaper marketing expert and Kayode Awobadejo, a specialist in business development, production planning, marketing, and credit control in the media sector.

  • Hijab: Nigeria’s Media Conspiracy

    Hijab: Nigeria’s Media Conspiracy

    “The relationship of religion to Truth is like that of a menu to a meal. By describing the meal as best as it can, the menu points to something beyond itself. When we use the menu as a guide to the choice of our meal we do it the deserved honor. But when we mistake the menu for the meal, we do it and ourselves a grave injustice.”
    By Reb Yerachmiel

    Preamble

    It was not the intention of yours sincerely to write about the Osun State hijab crisis again in this column today. But doing so became inevitable as a way of clarifying some issues shamelessly but deliberately muddled up by some Nigerian reporters/correspondents who have connived to throw the ethics of their profession to the winds seemingly for the sake of bread and butter.

     

    In Retrospect

    About three years ago, a supposed Nigerian journalist of Yoruba stock from the Lagos/Ibadan axis of Nigerian media (name withheld) boasted to yours sincerely. He said that “you veteran journalists only spent the most active part of your professional lives to work assiduously for the stability of journalism in Nigeria while we, the touting journalists of today are here to reap the fruit of your labour.  Now, we do not labour much before riding in jeeps and living in mansions”. In response to that puzzling comment, I merely grinned in amazement.

     

    Update

    It was only last Tuesday, when Nigerian newspapers were awash with a glaring false news report of a press conference at which I was present that I came to grasp the esoteric meaning of the boasting comment of that unnamed pseudo journalist.

    The syndicated falsehood was filed to the various print media houses by the members of Ibadan-based glorified correspondents’ chapel including their so-called Chairman (a Pastor in a foremost Pentecostal Church). Embarrassingly, that report was the direct opposite of the statement made at the press conference in which I, as a veteran journalist, was involved. It was a clear evidence of professional abuse for which some of those correspondents are well known.

    The connotation here is that quackery has come to replace professionalism in Nigerian journalism. And, in truth, that much is very manifest in the current practice of what we used to proudly call ‘the noble profession’. The quality and dept of reportage these days serve as evidence of no thoroughness either in terms of proper training or those of professional ethics.

     

    The Missing Dignity

    In any modern society where normalcy holds sway, a journalist is seen like an arbiter who, through his reportorial, moderates fairly among conflicting parties without reflecting an iota of bias. If such an arbiter is the first to start a street brawl, how can he retain the dignity of an arbiter?

    Today, neither the nobility of journalism profession nor the pride of its practitioners exists any longer. Thus, genuine journalism can be said to be dead in Nigeria with average reporter becoming like a vulture hanging anxiously around the corner to feast undeservedly on the carcass of a comatose prey. Professionally speaking, journalism in Nigeria has unprecedentedly reached its dead end. What remains of it in the real sense is the shameless ‘pick and chop’ game in which the half-baked, so called reporters/correspondents are actively but greedily engaged.

    If the so-called ‘Fourth Estate of the realm’ could descent to such a notorious level within the same realm, one can imagine how much doomed has the realm itself become. With this crop of quacks parading themselves as journalists in Nigeria today, only a few patriotic parents would want to encourage their wards to become journalists anymore especially since journalism is fast becoming a symbol of falsehood. I may be one of such parents.

    What Transpired at the Press Conference?

    On Monday, June 27, 2016, most Ibadan-based media correspondents (about 27 of them) assembled at the grandiose Islamic Center situated on the famous Awolowo Road, (Housing Corporation Area), Bodija, Ibadan, on the invitation of the Muslim Ummah of South West Nigeria (MUSWEN). The latter, being the umbrella body of all Muslims in the South West region including the State Muslim Councils of those States as well as the League of Imams  Alfas of Yoruba land had planned a Press Conference at which to express its own reaction to the judgment given two weeks ago on the hijab case in Osun State.

    Meanwhile, as the noise kept raging on that judgment and loudly echoed with unambiguous partiality, as usual, by Nigerian media, MUSWEN remained calm and cautious as it kept consulting with the Muslim stakeholders in the region before arriving at the decision to hold a Press Conference on the issue to explain its position to the world on behalf of the South West Muslims.

     

    Presentation of Facts 

    Following the presentation of facts in an 11 page written statement read by the Executive Secretary of MUSWEN, Professor D. O. S. Noibi, OBE, DSc, FISN, FIAC, questions and comments were thrown open while the full text of the read statement was given to everyone of the correspondents present at the occasion.

    As a veteran who is well familiar with the nitty-gritty of reportorial, yours sincerely seized the opportunity to counsel those correspondents on the professional implication of editorialization and cautioned them against it. However, despite that counseling, the usual short cut was adopted in writing, syndicating and filing falsehood to their various newspapers. It was a shame beclouding the right sense of judgment.

    The Contents of the Press Statement

    For the benefit of the fair-minded readers of this column and numerous others the especially Muslims of the South West who may have been deliberately misled by the by some fanatical reporters present at that conference, the full text of MUSWEN’s statement is re-presented here below. Please, read on:

    “A judge can’t have any agenda, a judge can’t have any preferred outcome in any particular case and a judge certainly doesn’t have a client. The judge’s only obligation – and it’s a solemn obligation – is to the rule of law.”

    Samuel Alito (US Supreme Court Justice)

     

    Opening Remark

    Gentlemen of the Press, on behalf of the leadership of the Muslim Ummah of South West Nigeria (MUSWEN) and indeed all Muslims in the South West region of Nigeria, I want to warmly welcome you all to this all-important Press Conference.

    As we are all aware, MUSWEN is the umbrella body for all Muslims, Muslim organizations and Muslim institutions domiciled in the South West region of Nigeria. The body aggregates the aspirations and interests of all Muslims in the region.

    It is thus part of our primary obligations, not only to propagate Islam and defend the interests of Muslims, but also to promote the cause of peace and peaceful co-existence among the people, irrespective of their faith and ethnicity, in the region.

    This press conference becomes imperative against some recent happenings with regard to the use of hijab in public primary and secondary schools in Osun State. We wish to state that this is not the first time that MUSWEN would be addressing the media on the issue of hijab in Osun State public schools. The first conference was held on 20th February, 2014 when the issue was at its infancy.

     

    The Background

    The Osun State Muslim Community and the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN) on February 14, 2013, dragged the Osun State Government to court seeking an order of the court to allow female Muslim students enjoy their fundamental right to use hijab in public primary and secondary schools in the State pursuant to Sections 38 and 42 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999.

    The suit which was directly instituted against the State Government also had the State Commissioner for Education, Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, among others, as respondents. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Osun State Chapter, its chairman and other interested Christians voluntarily joined as respondents.

    The applicants told the court that female Muslim pupils/students were being harassed by the fourth and fifth respondents (Principal and Head teacher of a public secondary and public primary school respectively), insisting that such was a clear discrimination and infringement on their fundamental rights.

    The applicants premised their argument on a decision of the Court of Appeal, Ilorin, in The Provost, Kwara State College of Education, Ilorin & 2 Ors vs Bashirat Saliu & Ors, which noted that female Catholics wear hijab, while Mary, the mother of Jesus was always depicted as wearing hijab on her head.

    However, the respondents insisted that only beret and face cap were recognized and that students should abide by the government’s directives. They insisted that allowing students to wear hijab in schools where Churches are located was alien to their religion and thereby urged the court to dismiss the application of the applicants.

     

    The Judgment

    In his judgment on June 3, 2016, Justice Jide Falola of the Osun State High Court observed that religion was introduced to the case when the CAN and others joined the suit, noting that he decided to deliver the judgment after all pleas to settle the matter amicably had proved futile.

    In a 51-page judgement, Justice Falola ruled that the use of hijab by female Muslims is their fundamental human right to freedom of religion, conscience and thought, and as such no female student should be molested or sent out of school for wearing it. Premising his judgment on Section 38 of the Nigeria Constitution and Article 8 of the 2004 policy published by the state Ministry of Education, Justice Falola held that female Muslim students were not exempted from the freedom of religion, conscience and thought.

    He ordered that the respondents should be restrained from disallowing the use of hijab by female Muslim students, adding that the students who wear hijab should ensure that it is in the colour prescribed by the first to fifth respondents. He said since the respondents had failed to cite any relevant authority in their response, he would be bound by the decision of the Appellate court in Ilorin which the applicants had cited in their application.

    Quoting copiously from Article 8 of the Guidelines on Administration and Discipline in Public Schools in Osun State which was issued by the State Government in 2004 which says “there are no mission school presently in Osun state as all schools have been taken over by government in 1975,” Justice Falola upheld all the prayers of the applicants and held that no student should be prevented from enjoying his or her right.

     

    To be continued next Friday in sha’Allah.