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The Role Of The Media In The Proposed National Dialogue
By
Paper presented at the 2013 NewsNow Magazine Merit Award Ceremony on the 23rd of November, 2013 in Yola.
On the 1st October, 2013, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan addressed Nigerians on the occasion of our 53rd Independence ceremony. In the course of the address he told Nigerians that he has acceded to the calls for a National conference or Dialogue. He promised to empanel an advisory committee to work out the modalities for the conference. Being an opponent of a National conference or dialogue, the President needed to justify his new found support for the process. And in giving the reason for it he made a confession to the effect that we are today more divided along Ethnic lines, along Religious lines, and along Economic lines than we were 53 years ago. This is an indictment of the entire ruling class in Nigeria for failing in the task of Nation Building. I believe the President got it all wrong in assuming that dialogue will address the identified divisions. Our divisions along Ethnic, Religious and Economic lines are products of a systematic political manipulation by self-centered, unpatriotic and greedy ruling elite. These elites are bankrupt in ideas and not committed to the welfare of the people or progress of the nation and I don’t think a dialogue by them will solve our ills. As if to prove that it is going to be an elite thing, designed of the elite, by the elite and for the elite, the advisory committee is made up of people: Who are close to the President or the political tendency he represents. Who have campaigned for his continued leadership Who have shown open hatred for some sections of the country and Who have justified several wrong doings of the political elite in Nigeria. At the initial stage, the President promised to give the committee a timeframe of 4 weeks. But at inauguration he added two weeks making it 6. It is to the credit of the President though that he gave the committee an open ticket to canvass all matters and discuss all issues with no no-go areas. But will six weeks be sufficient to do a good job as required? We wait to see. The committee was given a four-point terms of Reference made up of: 1. To consult and draw out the agenda for the conference/dialogue. 2. To recommend the structure and modalities of the conference. 3. To decide on representation at the conference. 4. To determine the timeframe for the conference. Even before the conference committee got to work, the President himself put some spanners in the works. He was quoted as saying that the conference will not have sovereign powers and that the outcomes of the conference will be sent to the National Assembly for debates and endorsement or otherwise. What happens where the Nigerian people decide that our over paid and often absentee legislators who hardly visit their constituents are the problem? Will they endorse such a decision? Even a decision to change our National assembly from a bi-cameral to a uni-cameral Legislature may not be endorsed by the current National Assembly. It is not just the President that took an initial false start. Even the committee took its first step wrongly. In consulting Nigerians, a committee of 13 people decided to move together instead of breaking into six sub-groups to consult widely. This forced them to visit only designated centres. In the North-East for example, it was Bauchi and Maiduguri. This has cut-off a lot of people from participating in the consultations. Unfortunately, the committee engaged in hard sell propaganda in place of effective public enlightenment and reach-out to the populace. The only news sponsored by the committee is those of support and acceptance of the views of a few persons. Positions openly canvassed by the likes of Edwin Clark, Idongesit Nkanga and retired Col. Tony Nyam were downplayed. But these are powerful figures with a close affinity to the President. Their views may eventually constitute the core resolutions of the conference. Since we are going to discuss the role of the media in the proposed National Dialogue, it will be necessary to identify those organs of information dissemination referred to as the media of mass communication. These include Newspapers, Magazines, Books, Journals, Radio, Television, Cinema, Theatre, The Internet and the World Wide Web. According to Dennis Mcquail (2005) one of the foremost communication scholars in the world, the journalist (and by extension the media) plays the following key roles in any society; to connect, to point the way and to integrate. These are major ingredients of social stability in any society. Mcquail (2000) again observed that; The information, images and ideas made available by the media may for most people be the main source of awareness of a shared pastime and of a present social location. The media are also a store of memories and a map of where we are and who we are and may provide materials for orientation to the future. The media to a large extent serve to constitute our perceptions and definitions of social reality and normality for purposes of public, shared social life and a key source of standard, models and norms. Mcquail (2000) went further to opine that: In a secular society, in matters of values and styles, the mass media tend to take over from the early influences of school, parents, religion, siblings and companions. We are consequently very dependent on the media for a part of our wider symbolic environment. It is the media that are likely to forge the elements that are held in common with others since we now tend to share much the same media source and media culture. One of the major failures of both the Nigerian ruling elite and the media is in defining the factors that will determine right and wrong in our societies. Today right and wrong are defined by: Who canvasses for it, where it is canvassed from, why it is canvassed, when it is canvassed and how it is canvassed. It is because of our inability to define right and wrong that the pronouncement of the National conference/dialogue became mired in controversy with the media actively promoting such controversies. The conference has been variously identified as: A political diversion, a Greek gift, a tenure elongation tactic, a huge deception, a necessity or a recipe for the separation of Nigeria. This is the biggest challenge for the media under the circumstances. How do we in the media prove to the public that the optimism expressed by the President and supporters of the conference are justified. Alternatively, how do we prove that the fears and misgivings of opponents of the conference are genuine? We ought to have a clearer picture of the proposed conference either as a positive necessity or an idea to be discarded before its commencement. The media needs to come up with the merits, benefits and effectiveness of the various representation modes canvassed by Nigerians so far. These are: Representation based on ethnic nationalities Representation based of interest groups such as Trade Unions, civil society groups, women, youth etc. Representation based on professional groups and Associations. Representation based on population. For me, the Noblest of all roles to be played by the media before, during and after the conference will be to serve as a voice for the voiceless majority who are oppressed and suppressed by self-centered, unpatriotic and greedy ruling elite. These are the poor who are mostly illiterate, jobless and often hopeless; who will never get nominated or elected to sit at the conference venue. Hence their needs and interests may never be considered let alone discussed. I am not fatalistic about the proposed conference. I am optimistic that something positive may after all come out of it. But I believe that those who think some of us are going there as parasites begging others to let us enjoy their wealth are totally wrong. We are not parasites and shall not be. The Media should give every section of the Country the confidence to feel that we are equal partners in a collective enterprise called Nigeria. In these few lines I have attempted to share my thoughts and views on the media and the proposed National conference with you. Where you feel I am right I am grateful to you, where you feel I am wrong, please forgive me. I did not intend to wrong you at all. My intention is to add value to the process. I hope and pray that I have done that even if it is just a little value addition. |