We can enable ‘political must’ in Nigeria by reporting until something happens
Strategic collaboration between the media and the rest of civil society can help midwife good governance and social justice
In 1999, Nigeria finally saw the end of a 29-year military rule, with 10 years of broken elected governments sprinkled in. Freedom was achieved on the platter of a long drawn out battle that saw various sectors of civil society — non governmental organisations, trade unions, women’s groups, social movements, student unions, faith-based organisations, professional organisations, academia, community groups, coalitions, international development organisations and the media — pull together their prowess, numbers, and resources to stand against internal oppression as they had against external oppressive forces of colonialism.
Like it was in the colonial and military eras, the media remains a clear leader in Nigeria. For one, it has 160 years of structured existence to its advantage, making it one of the longest standing institutions in the country. It also has unique access to the mass of the people, including all of civil society and government, along with specialised training that enables it to perform its duties of holding power accountable for the benefit of the people with facts, fairness and independence.
Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution lays out the media’s role as an accountability mechanism for democratic institutions. Section 22 of Chapter 2 states:
“The press, radio, television and other agencies of the mass media shall at all times be free to uphold the fundamental objectives contained in this Chapter and uphold the responsibility and accountability of the government to the people.”
As an active participant in initiatives at the intersection between journalism, good governance and civil society in Nigeria in the past 14 years, I have joyfully watched collaborations between the rest of civil society and the media win some battles. This long list includes negotiating fuel pump price hikes, the passing of the freedom of information law, the fight against Ebola, licensing of the first set of community radios in Nigeria and increases in the minimum wage.
The question of how we can scale strategic collaboration between the media and the rest of civil society to attain a true democracy where leaders are held to their responsibilities is my focus in my year as a John S. Knight (JSK) Fellow at Stanford University. Since early September, I have been spending time working on a project I call Report Until Something Happens (RUSH). I am taking advantage of a community of some of the best journalists in the world, an unbelievable array of learning options provided at Stanford University and a super competent and supportive JSK staff team to think through RUSH.
The initiative is based on the premise that journalism is a force for change because of its accountability mechanism and that we can make good governance, a staple of our democracy, happen by uniting behind this possibility. I envision RUSH as an in-depth, issue-focused, facts-based media strategy enabled by story follow-up advocacy, continuous engagement, social media and technology. The goal is to report on issues until they generate public interest that puts the government and other authorities under pressure to respond. I am pitching RUSH as a vehicle for helping journalism fully own its responsibility by holding the elected officers at all levels responsible for upholding the social contract called democracy.
Twenty years into its democracy, Nigeria is still fighting for good governance because the politics of the country is not delivering on all its promises to citizens. Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says of the country’s over 200 million people: 23.1 percent of those between the ages of 15 and 64 are unemployed, an average of 62.6 percent are very poor and 30 percent of infants die of malaria before they are five years old. The bureau also says the country contributes 10 percent of maternal mortality in the world, amongst other scary statistics. There is little to show for democracy in Nigeria.
Those who want democracy to fail have sophisticated tactics. Their strategies mostly include the hijacking and/or stifling of the media showing the political class clearly understands the power of the media. In this age of misinformation and disinformation, there is a deliberate attempt to distort the truth and fabricate lies. We in the media and the rest of civil society in Nigeria, have a responsibility to help move our emergent democracy from the realm of political will (a term suggesting that leaders may choose to be irresponsible), to political must (the compulsory responsibility that goes with holding power in trust for others), by reporting until something happens.
Please send your thoughts on RUSH to alakamo@stanford.edu
