On the 26th of July 2009, I woke up to the most heinous repulsive sights I hope never to see. The entire Police Headquarters was littered with corpses. It was the first time I saw a human corpse. However, there wasn’t even the slightest nudge in my spirit to feel pity for these lost souls because had they not been stopped, I probably wouldn’t have written this piece. They most definitely did not deserve my sympathy. That was the first in a series the vicious campaign of terror that North-eastern Nigeria has grappled with. As a Nigerian, especially one that has lived in Borno state, my heart has bled for so long about the lugubrious reality my compatriots have had to endure over the past five years as a result of the Boko Haram insurgency.
The government was uncompromising, some would say downright brutal in its initial offensive against Boko Haram in 2009. The four years that followed have witnessed its metamorphosis into a vile nihilistic excrescence threatening the livelihood of many Nigerians and the territorial integrity of the Nigerian state. For four years the plight of the people of Borno and Yobe states (and also Kaduna, Abuja, Kano Niger and Plateau states) became a game of political ping pong with leaders vacillating between various cheap political points while Nigerians were left in a state of irrational irritability. The kidnap of over 250 girls from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok seems to have confounded even the most nonchalant elements within the government. Nigerians had had enough of Shekau’s atrocities and perceived government lethargy towards extinguishing the threat of insurgents. The tears of mothers and fathers from Chibok had percolated the hearts of Nigerians and the international community. Whilst the government continues to rightly face immense scrutiny for its lacklustre performance in providing security for the most vulnerable within society, the Nigerian media deserves should share in this scrutiny too.
The media has a hugely significant role in any “democratic” society, serving as an intermediary between government and the people by keeping the populace informed about the goings-on within government. Another important responsibility of the media is agenda setting-helping to determine what issues are most salient to the citizenship and keeping certain burning issues in national and global consciousness. The Nigerian media over the past couple of weeks appears to have failed in its obligation to the Nigerian people.
Any Nigerian who watched the latest episode of the presidential media chat must have slumped into a brief episode of pessimism about the state of the nation. The abject and inept brand of journalism on display did not inspire any hope of redemption for the beleaguered government of President Goodluck Jonathan. The probing from the panel did nothing to assuage the angst that the nation suffered from. The president was given an easy ride by those who should hold him accountable on behalf of the people. It almost felt like there was a deliberate attempt not to put the president on the spot even when the lives of over a hundred Nigerians had been lost and about 300 girls was on the line. The role of agenda setting seems to have been abdicated by the Nigerian media instead opting to engage in ego massage exercises with the ruling class. We cannot hold our leaders to account with the calibre of journalism on show during the presidential media chat.
Fortunately, the anguish of the people of Chibok resonated across the rest of Nigeria and the ensuing protestations of Nigerians and friends from farther afield brought Nigeria into the eye of the international media. This time Nigerian leaders could not hide. The coverage of the search for these young Nigerians has seen Presidential spokesmen Reuben Abati and Doyin Okupe and even Information Minister Labaran Maku answer to interrogation and scrutiny from the international media with obvious exasperation, something they are not used to. Nigerians are aware of the importance of stealth and discretion in the fight against insurgency. The government has the sole prerogative to withhold sensitive information from the public so as not to compromise the efforts of our security agencies. The truth is that after such series of national tragedies (Nyanya bomb blasts and the Chibok kidnapping), the lack of bite by the Nigerian media especially during the presidential media chat was abysmal.
The optimist in me believes there is a lot of good that will come from this tragedy and my heart goes out to the parents of these young girls and families of Nigerians that have lost their lives during this insurgency. However, when the international spotlight dims on Nigeria will it be business as usual? We cannot continue to rely on the good will of the international journalists to tellNigerian stories. The Nigerian media has to pick up the gauntlet and hold public office holders to account.
The fourth estate of the realm has to wake up from this self-induced coma and champion the cause of a better and more secure Nigeria.
God bless Nigeria!
The views expressed above are solely that of the author and not of Omojuwa.com or its associates.
