Re: Nigeria celebrating what?
PLEASE allow me a space in your widely read newspaper,
Daily Triumph, to air my views about an article titled: �Nigeria
celebrating what?� which was published by Abba Anwar on Friday, October 1,
2004.
If I may quote the writers' piece: "The level of
inadequacies, internal wranglings, disappointments, inept leadership,
corruption, skirmishes and above all, the development of underdevelopment in
the nation called Nigeria, sends shivers to the nerves and uncertainty to
the mind of a responsible human being.
All the above negative assessments are some of the proven
features of the Nigerian nation state today."
As a journalist what did you do to stop any of the above?
I thought, the writer would be fair to this country and suggest ways to
tackle any of the problems he associated with the 44 years of Nigeria�s
independence. With the burning issue of polio eradication in the state, and
the visit of presidents of Niger, Tchad, Sudan and Cote d'Ivoire, I was
expecting the writer to alternatively package the government, the people and
the community leaders to the international conference on polio eradication
which took place on Saturday October 2, 2004.
Now set the public elections idea aside and come down to
the write-up. Journalists are to be blamed, because they are the watchdog of
the society. Journalists are to be persistent in uncovering rather than
covering any inadequacies, internal wranglings, disappointments
inept-leadership, corruption. Skirmishes etc. As part of it concept, of
journalism it produced practical result in America when ex-president Richard
Nixon became the first American president to be forced to resign the
presidency. It was due to the persistent investigation by two reporters from
the Washington Post, Bernsktein and Woodward about watergate scandal.
Furthermore, about an institutionalized setting, which
the writer mentioned NAFDAC as the only organisation at the national level
which is workable and efficient. The Director General, Dr. Dora Akunyili, is
doing her possible best to keep to her professional ethics, but I bet you,
there are problems with NAFDAC. These problems are closely associated to the
nation's journey of 44 years. There were reports of attempts to assassinate
the Director General and many NAFDAC properties were set ablazed. If NAFDAC
is a workable and efficient organisation why should there be attempts to
assassinate the D-G and set its properties ablazed?
The problems of NAFDAC is poor public relations. To
explain, what is public relations? The first definition is that by editors
of Public Relations News who defined "public relations as a function of
management which evaluates public attitudes, identifies the policies of an
individual or organisation with public interest and executes a programme of
action to earn public understanding and acceptance.�
A second definition which is by Professor Sam Black
refers to public relations as "the establishment of two-way communication to
resolve conflict of interest and the establishment of understanding based on
truth, knowledge and full information�. The third definition defines public
relations as "a deliberately, planned and sustained effort, to maintain
mutual understanding between our organisation and its publics".
On the contrary, an individual or organisation will
definitely suffer a setback caused by the public relations executives
inability to do his or her duty well.
Back the Nigeria as a nation with 44 years journey after
independence and all the writer mentioned in his write-up; add to that, I
blame the media because whosoever might be off the track in the society, the
media could have called him or her to order. The print media started in this
country before independence on 1st October 1960.
The earliest newspaper was the Iwe Irohin founded
in 1859 at Abeokuta by Rev Henry Townsend. The truth of the matter is that,
the Iwe Irohin exerted its greatest influence as a political weapon.
Information, enlightenment and literary education were the diversified
motives but politics and propaganda became the dominant force rocked in the
traditions of British anti-slave-trade movement, which placed great enemies
upon pamphlet and newspaper publicity and propaganda.
To continue, what are the functions of the media? The
functions of the media are to collect and distribute factual information
about the state both in and outside the society. This is what communicators
do when they gather and publish "news". It coincides with the information
role of the media in updating the people with full and comprehensive account
of events in the society.
What's more is correlation which involves the
interpretation of information about the society in a context that gives its
members clear meaning and suggesting appropriate responses to social
changes. This function is fulfilled through the editorial, opinions and
features usually with the purpose of educating the populace. But the media
could have worked harder since 1st October 1960 to make the 44 years journey
worth celebrating.
The third function of the media is to transfer and
sustain the people's culture as expressed in various forms of entertainment
and relaxation as well as life styles. Now that, we have periscoped the
functions of public relations executive and the functions of the media, as a
journalist you have to call disorder to order by blowing the whistle
persistently when you discover some kind of misfortunes and inept leadership
etc. so that the Nigerian nation can be sound and stronger
ABDULLAHI MUHAMMAD is of No. 667 K/Nassarawa Kano.
