Godwin Haruna
29 September 2008
Lagos — Nigeria is the sixth largest producer of crude oil in the world, but about 70 per cent of her population are impoverished. Nigeria's underdevelopment has often been traced to massive corruption and the greed of a few privileged persons and their cronies. But, how can the media rise up to the occasion to bring these issues to the front burner of public discourse? This was the issue at a recent training for journalists in Lagos.
Everyone who spoke expressed strong reservations about the perception that corruption has become endemic in the Nigerian society. The apparent decay arising from corruption had become systemic and institutionalized and many are worried that there might not be an end to the vicious circle. A country like Nigeria, which is so endowed, but a majority of her citizens are living precariously below poverty level, presents a classic case of how the evil of corruption can manifest itself.
In all these, how can the media be put to effective use as change agents in the effort to cleanse the Augean stable? This was topical at a two-day training for journalists organised by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in Lagos penultimate week. A number of veterans in the industry were at the training to provide resource and tips for reporting corruption in the country.
However, before they offered their views, Justice Emmanuel Ayoola, Chairman, ICPC, warned the Nigerian media that it would lose its credibility unless it pays attention to the quality of its reporting both in terms of accuracy and truthfulness. In his opening remarks, Ayoola said the media was very important to any organisation that needs to reach the public not only in terms of public enlightenment and public education, but also for the purpose of transparency and openness of its activities.
"It is for this reason that qualitative and honest reporting is of paramount importance to an organisation like the ICPC, which is not only an organisation with mandate to inform the public but also one that puts great premium on transparency of its activities," he said.
He added that nothing destroys the credibility of the media than careless, biased and speculative reporting and at the extreme end of the vices, deliberately false and dishonest reporting. He accused the media of not acquitting itself in the reporting of matters relating to the president, especially as it concerns his health.
"I have always believed that where the media is not sure of its facts, it should be honest enough to say so. Speculative reporting, sometimes verging on fiction, not only destroys public confidence in the media, but can also be dangerous to the stability of the nation," Ayoola said further.
However, he said the Nigerian media must be given credit for its fearless reporting despite occasional recklessness and insensitivity. "The Nigerian media has a responsibility in its reporting of events to realise that until we attain a level of objectivity and widespread integrity in our society, some may set out to use the media to vilify their adversaries and damage their reputation," he said.
He said while the ICPC adopts a culture of openness in its operations, it is also conscious of the need to protect the citizen from unjustified vilification until there is clear prima facie certainty that he may have committed an offence. Sensational reporting of corruption cases, he added, sometimes even before investigation has started, might hamper the course of investigation.
According to him, prospective witnesses and evidence may be tampered with and the suspect could resort to all sorts of antics to evade investigation, including litigation. Ayoola assured that the ICPC places much value on collaboration with the media, adding: "The fight against corruption needs the support of the media if it is to succeed. A strong honest media is essential to that success." He promised to replicate the training in other parts of the country so that more journalists could benefit.
Mr. Gbenga Adefaye, President, Nigerian Guild of Editors, who spoke immediately after Ayoola disagreed with the insinuation that the media reported the president badly. Adefaye declared that most of the reports the media carried in Nigeria had been feasted upon by the foreign and online media. He said in the absence of information from the presidency on the state of health of the nation's leader, the media was merely left to piece together what was available to them because the public deserved to know.
He said the health of the president was not similar to that of an ordinary individual, because his office carried the destiny of over 140 million Nigerians. Adefaye said further that the media always meant well for Nigeria as a group that was in the vanguard of the restoration of democracy to the country. If anything, he insisted, they could not destroy the house they built and urged government officials to be more proactive in their information management.
Speaking on the topic: the Role of the Media in Anti-corruption Reporting, Prof. Lai Oso of the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State advised journalists to also turn the searchlight on corruption in the corporate sector as much as they were doing on the public sector.
Oso declared that the media has a cultural role of mediating institutions in the polity. He said Section 22 of the constitution specifically assigns the media the role of monitoring governance. He counseled media proprietors that profit making should not be mixed with its social responsibility to the society in which they operate.
Advising journalists generally, Oso posited that investigative journalism is researched-based and it beholds on a practitioner to unravel facts having assumed the responsibility of an agenda setter for the society. He stated that without access to the right information, rumour mongering would take. To forestall against such situation, Oso declared that the Freedom of Information Bill must be necessarily passed to create a conducive environment for the journalist to operate. He added that the media could only be the medium of change, but it could not force a change.
In his welcome remarks, Mr. Folu Olamiti, media consultant to the ICPC, said the training was designed to re-awaken and reposition the media towards a better performance of its professional responsibilities. "Even though it is observable that most people are cynical or even apathetic to anti-corruption activities, in our present society, the media unarguably plays a prominent role in public awareness of the evils of corruption. It is imperative therefore, for all of us to be constructive in our reportage of ICPC's efforts at combating this menace as corruption has crept into virtually all aspects of our nation," Olamiti said.
In a paper titled: "Media, Corruption Reporting and Governance", Mr. Bayo Onanuga, editor-in-chief, The News Magazine and P.M. News, said in many studies conducted on Nigeria, corruption has been found to be the greatest problem militating against its progress. Quoting from published reports, Onanuga said the three tiers of government shared N16.445 trillion in eight years.
Then he wondered: "Our reflection should be on what on earth this huge money was used for. It was certainly not for the people, in the face of collapsed infrastructure in many parts of the country. It could only, at least the bulk of it, have disappeared into the pockets and bank accounts of political office holders and the civil servants, who collaborate with them to loot the treasury."
He stated that since corruption was a vice that impedes good governance, the media in Nigeria continue to beam their searchlight on it, in a way that has become repetitive, boring, frustrating and fruitless as the tenacious corruption refuses to go away, despite the creation of ICPC and EFCC. He cited several cases of media expose of corruption, which the authorities ignored. However, he said regardless of the frustrations, the media must continue to perform their role to hold everyone saddled with public responsibility to give account of their stewardship.
Also speaking on the second day of the training, Mallam Mohammed Haruna, a famous columnist in Nigeria, said the amount of money that accrued to the three tiers of government in the last eight years, was enough to banish poverty, insecurity and violent crime that pervades the land today. He said the ICPC's impact in curbing corruption was marginal despite the initial hope raised by its establishment. He said its records of filing 103 cases involving 204 individuals in courts and six convictions between 2000 and mid-2007, clearly showed this.
He said to succeed; ICPC and EFCC need the collaboration of the judiciary in the prosecution of alleged criminals. Mohammed regretted the fact that the courts are notoriously slow in dispensing justice. He also called for the partnership of the media in the fight against corruption. This, he said, was imperative because most communication in any society is mediated rather than face to face.
Quoting Abraham Lincoln, former American President, he said: "Public sentiment is everything. He who moulds public opinion goes deeper than he who executes statutes or pronounces decision. He makes statutes or decisions possible or impossible to execute."
Mohammed espoused further: "Obviously, we need information to fight corruption. For the fight to be successful, the information must have integrity. Free speech and free access to information are conditions for media integrity. However, they are not enough to guarantee media integrity. As well as free speech and free access to information, there is the need for the media to be impartial."
Also speaking, Mr. 'Funmi Coker-Onita, editorial board member of Daily Independent Newspaper, noted that corruption posed a serious developmental challenge and in the political realm, it undermines democracy and good governance by subverting formal process. He stated that the ability to convey or withhold information represents the media's greatest power, adding: "Their perception of situations and their ability to disseminate same accurately constitute a veritable instrument of enlightenment and education."
He said the nation was on the threshold of positive change and all anti-corruption agencies were left with no alternative than to play their part well. He assured that the media would be willing to play its part.
Significantly, last week, Nigeria moved up twenty seven places on the global Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2008, ranking 121 out of 180 countries surveyed by Transparency International (TI), the global anti-corruption watchdog. Nigeria, which TI described as having improved significantly in her corruption perception ranking, obtained a score of 2.7 out of a possible 10. She was also ranked 22nd out of the 47 nations surveyed in Africa, in terms of level of perceived corruption, having placed 148 in 2007 and 153 in 2006, out of 180 countries globally.
According to Transparency International, the CPI measures the perceived levels of public-sector corruption in a given country and is a composite index, drawing on different expert and business surveys. It also noted: "Recent developments, however, show that Nigeria's reputation as seriously committed to transparency and accountability is dependent on the resolve of political leaders to back anti-corruption pledges with concrete action, including ensuring the independence of anti-corruption agencies".
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