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Mobilising the electorate for 2007
Three years to the next general elections questions on how best the
electorate can be effectively mobilised for the poll continue to dominate
national discourse. IHEANACHO NWOSU, in this analysis argues that newspapers
remain one of the most vital tools for achieving such objective.
WITH
three years still left before the 2007 general elections, Nigerians have found
themselves unconsciously bringing to the front burner issues that should
ordinarily gain relevance during the period of the polls.
Apart from prospective aspirants to
various elective offices building political bridges and intensifying their
campaigns, a number of pro-democracy organisations and even religious bodies are
now anchoring their seminars and workshops on matters relating to the elections.
This development has elicited flaks from
critics who argue that the precipitate politically charged situation is not in
the interest of the nation, since it is coming barely a year after the last
general elections in 2003.
But political analysts attribute the
development to ripples that still trail the 2003 polls. Director, Social
Communication, Lagos Catholic Archdiocese, Rev. Fr. Gabriel Osu, said the
situation is an expression of the public’s dissatisfaction with the last
election that ushered in the incumbent administration.
"It shows clearly that Nigerians are
unsatisfied with the last elections. Everybody wants to look ahead," the priest
said.
Osu, who spoke at a seminar organised by
the archdiocese on "Mobilising the Electorate for 2007 Elections" for
stakeholders, admonished democracy groups and churches to step up effort in
ensuring that the electorate get a better deal in the next election.
Osu’s views seem very valid. Beyond any
other group, however, the task of ensuring effective mobilisation of the
electorate for the next national polls seem to fall more on the laps of
newspapers and sundry media forms. By their very nature, the media has
responsibility to harness and convey the critical information that will shape
political debates in the heady campaign days to come. Without doubt, there will
be shades of opinion that will contest the primacy of newspapers in influencing
opinions and views in political affairs. Those who hold such views will of
course, have their reasons. But even those who may take that path will hardly
argue that newspapers in the country have become the most authentic voice and
vehicle for reaching out to all the nooks and crannies in the country.
Agreed that the illiteracy level of
Nigeria, according to recent survey by the Federal Ministry of Education is at
45 per cent. This means quite alright that the nation’s rural communities
especially are still substantially peopled by individuals who can hardly read
and write and who are most likely to depend on radio for every information.
Still the truth remains that newspapers still command great respect among
Nigerians and are viable instruments of moulding opinions and shaping debates on
national issues.
Former Minister of Information and
Culture, Dr. Walter Ofonagoro said the nation, including the highly educated
segments, believes strongly that everything that emanantes from newspapers is
the true picture of events.
"We believe everything we read in
newspapers. We hardly question anything", he said. Ofonagoro believes that with
such image, newspapers, far more than any other medium are in a better position
to serve as a tool to enlighten the electorate politically.
"If real political education, real
enlightenment of the electorate on their political rights can be done in this
nation, newspapers stand a better chance of doing it well."
Election monitoring groups including the
European Union that monitored last year’s election, had noted in their reports
that there was large scale electoral malpractices. The observers further
reported that many people especially in rural areas displayed high degree of
apathy towards the elections.
Political analysts and social affairs
commentators attribute the situation to low political education prior to the
elections. "Electorate especially at the grassroots did not get all that they
ought to have been told about the 2003 elections. In some communities, some
eligible voters did not register their name on the voters list because they did
not know the implication of that", Dr. Emmanuel Omesiri, National Co-ordinator,
Democratic Rights (DR) told Daily Champion.
Omesiri was however quick to admit that
newspapers and by extension the media as a whole did a lot in their reportage of
the election.
To many analysts, though credit is due to
newspapers for their performance in the 2003 elections, the expectation is that
they will perform better in the 2007 elections.
There is reason for feeling this way. The
2007 elections are considered very critical to the continued unity of the
nation. For instance, weighty issues like which zone of the country will produce
the next president and the allegation that some sections of the country are
disenfranchised have continued to dominate the nation’s political space. If
these issues are not well managed by the media, analysts say, they have the
potential to tear the nation apart.
No doubt, the tension already engendered
by these issues can be doused by commentaries and balanced newspaper reports.
Prof. Pat Utomi, a university don and
renowned social affairs commentator, urged newspapers to tailor their stories on
2007 elections in such a way that they will douse tensions created by
politicians.
"Newspapers should go beyond mere
reporting of news and craft their stories in such a way that they will promote
unity and cohesion in the country," he advised.
Utomi, who is also an expert in newspaper
management, anchored the success of the 2007 elections on the handling of issues
about the elections by the media. "We need not over-emphasise that what
newspapers report and how they report them will determine the success of the
2007 elections," he said.
Top on the list of challenges awaiting
newspapers include explaining and analysing the electoral law, manifestoes of
different political parties and issues raised by contestants to different
offices. Right now, even though the electoral law has existed for some years,
few people are yet to understand what the law is all about and why some people
are clamouring for its amendment.
Omesiri said "millions of Nigerians do not
know anything about the electoral law. They do not know whether it is in their
interest or not".
Apart from the electoral law, one of the
accusations against politicians in the country is that they do not dwell on
issues during their campaigns. Media experts believe that the situation has
remained unchanged over the years because newspaper writers had hardly taken
them to task. "We don’t put them to task. We allow them to make wild promises.
They promise heaven on earth without telling the electorate how they will
achieve it", Prof. Raph Akinfeleye, former head of department, Mass
Communication, University of Lagos, observed.
He, therefore, charged newspapers to churn
out informed commentaries on the 2007 elections. Added to the prescription of
Akinfeleye, newspapers will achieve greater impact on the issue at stake if
reporters and news managers play down on the promordial practice which make them
to slant newspaper stories along the line of tribes where their owners hail
from.
According to Ofonagoro, we must go beyond
seeing everything from tribal lenses and work for the interest of the nation. We
have to see that political discourse is taken - beyond promordial beliefs".
Also germane is simplifying language and expressions in
such a way that messages being passed would be easily understood, especially by
those at the grassroots. In doing this, jargons that seem to have become part of
the daily styles of print media would be done away with.
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