Chairman, Gaskia Media Ltd
I want to thank the members and leadership of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, the Bravo Zone, organisers of this event, for the special honour and privilege of standing before this distinguished audience at this sacred spot of Nigerian journalism. As you all know, it was here in 1859, that the first newspaper in Nigeria, Iwe Iroyin, was published. Since then, from generation to generation, there is no stopping us the inheritors. We salute the courage of the Reverend Henry Townsend of the Church Missionary Society, for his pioneering effort in starting the Iwe Iroyin Fun Awon Yoruba ati Egba. By tackling the problems of contemporary journalism here, we are actually seeking inspirations from our professional ancestors to get us solutions to lingering problems. We are here to discuss journalism at this challenging times.
Coming here to Abeokuta for me is not just a visit to the sacred grove of journalism where Henry Townsend and his colleagues found inspiration to start the journey of Nigerian journalism. For me, Abeokuta represents a special terminus in my career as a journalist. After I graduated from the University of Lagos in 1981, I was posted here for my compulsory National Service. I did my national service with the Ogun State branch of the National Youth Service Corps as the NYSC Public Relations Officer. Our office was then on Nawar ur Deen Street in the heart of the old Abeokuta. As the NYSC PRO, I collaborated with the Information Officer to produce the NYSC regular newsletter. We also produced the magazine called Corps Torch. It was an exhilarating period when one of the titans of our profession, Chief Olabisi Onabanjo, was the elected governor of Ogun State.
It is also on record that the second elected Governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba, is also one the living legends of journalism. Chief Osoba had the distinction of serving as chief executive of three national newspapers: the Nigerian Herald in Ilorin, the Sketch in Ibadan and the monumental Daily Times in Lagos. Chief Osoba remains a great inspiration to many of us especially those who have the courage to plunge into politics. In 2006, I sought to become the Governor of Ekiti State. It was Chief Osoba who took me to the legendary Alhaji Babatunde Jose so that I can receive the right spiritual impartation from the highest ecclesiastical personage of our profession. I remain eternally grateful to both Chief Osoba and Baba Jose.
At the heart of what we are discussing today is what has happened to journalism that we now have very few of our colleagues gunning for high elective offices. During the last general elections, only few of our colleagues sought high elective offices to become President, governors, state or federal legislators. In Ogun State here, our distinguished colleague, Modele Sarafa Yusuf, made an attempt to become the governor, but her ambition was aborted. We now found that the Fourth Nigerian Republic has very few journalists in high elective political offices. You ask yourself where are the Bisi Onabanjos, Lateef Jakandes and Segun Osobas of this era? Last year, one of our distinguished colleagues and one of the best-known Nigerians all over the world, Basorun Dele Momodu, sought to secure the presidential nomination of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Momodu lost his nomination bid. He did not have access to enough fund which is now the main weapon of political contest in contemporary Nigeria.
Yet this is the same country in which many top journalists have played prominent roles in the past. Indeed, the founding fathers of our republic have used journalism as their staging post. Herbert Macaulay, the Father of Nigerian Nationalism, though trained as a surveyor, was also a man who used the newspaper as his weapon against the British colonial power. Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the West African Pilot, was the first President of Nigeria and first Premier of the defunct Eastern Region. The first Premier of the defunct Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, was also a former reporter for the Daily Times and the founder of the Nigerian Tribune, now the oldest surviving privately owned newspaper group. The first and only Prime Minister of Nigeria, the late Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was a broadcaster. We also had many top journalists who served during the First and Second Republics in important positions. Chief Anthony Enahoro, former editor of the Southern Nigerian Defender, was the hero who moved the motion for Self-Government for Nigeria in 1953. Enahoro later played a prominent role during the Nigerian Civil War and was the leader of the opposition National Democratic Coalition, which led the struggle against military dictatorship culminating in victory and the birth of democratic dispensation in 1999.
The truth is that journalists have been involved in every important stage of Nigerian history. In the last struggle against military rule, many media houses were at the forefront of the struggle. Mention must be made of media houses like the TELL, The News, Punch, Guardian, African Concord, Newswatch and the National Concord. Many top journalists were sent to prison, and many were hounded into involuntary exile. Some of our colleagues, like Baguada Kaltho of the TheNews paid the supreme sacrifice. Many journalists including the likes of Niran Malaolu, George Mba, Ben Charles Obi, Femi Ojudu, Onome Osifo-Whiskey, Nosa Igiebor, Soji Omotunde, Osa Director, Chris Anyanwu, Kolawole Ilori, Ayo Akinkuotu, Kunle Ajibade, Bayo Onanuga, Dele Omotunde, and many others suffered imprisonment, detention without trial, exile, persecution and brutalisation. In the end, our beloved country is now free from military rule and any form of tyranny. As we celebrate the 64th year of our independence, we should not forget also those heroes who made freedom from military rule possible. Without that freedom, we will not be gathered here today. If we dare, we can sure that operatives of the State Security would be waiting in the wings to take some people into detention.
However, with the seizure of power by the military on December 31, 1983, the situation changed gradually for the worse. The new military regime cut down on the privilege of public officers to newspapers and magazines. This led to drastic reduction in the print run of media houses. By the coming of democracy in 1999, the practice of public officers having access to copies of newspapers and magazines have been stopped in most establishments. This stoppage was also copied by the private sector. Therefore, bank managers, factory foremen and sundry elites also stopped buying newspapers. Today, ignorance has become a fashionable pandemic in our country.
We who have not crossed the Mediterranean should be wary about some of our colleagues who have become enslaved by moral bankruptcy. They would not write a story or report an event unless they are bribed. They think journalism is an avenue for cheap money. Such moral bankruptcy is aided by the financial inability of many media houses to meet their obligations to their employees. This is a debilitating and corrosive situation that is digging at the foundation of journalism and undermining its professional integrity. I appeal to our leaders in the NUJ to confront this problem and reclaim the loss grounds of our professional reputation as the Fourth Estate of the Realm.
We have a duty to create a future for journalism that would be better and greater than the past. At the height of his glory and power, Alhaji Babatunde Jose, the chairman and managing director of the Daily Times was said to have been offered the post of Prime-Minister in the military government of General Yakubu Gowon. That was in those days when diarchy, that is a combination of civilian and military regime, was being suggested for Nigeria. Jose was reported to have rejected the offer with the flat statement that “I would rather be the Managing Director of the Daily Times than be the Prime Minister of Nigeria.”
Those were the days of yore. Now let us move forward to create a future greater and better than that past.
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