Speeches

2011 Convention Of The Nigerian Guild Of Editors

Jan 15, 2011 - When the Chairman of the Guild, Mr. Gbenga Adefaye called to inform me of the decision to invite me to speak at this year's event, many thoughts raced through my mind.

I knew that I could not decline the invitation from the Guild. I hold the Guild and Mr. Adefaye in very high esteem since our paths crossed when I took my first steps towards political office as a gubernatorial candidate.

My mind was conjuring up the many possible reasons why I was the choice of the Guild remembering that I had been here before to speak about our media management.

While I was still agonizing about the possible reasons why the Guild chose me again, Mr. Adefaye transformed my temporary misery into a prolonged one when he broke the long silence on the phone and said to me:

"You made some observations the last time you spoke to us, we want you back to come and give us your assessment if there has been any progress".

Then I knew that he had put me right in the middle of a rock and a very hard place.

I have since that day been agonizing about what to say. In an election season when one is often expected to be everybody's friend, was the Guild ready for an unfavourable verdict if that was the result of my assessment?

I reconciled myself with the impossibility of declining the invitation, and resolved to do only one thing; to present the assessment as I see it for two reasons; the first of which is that this is the only way I know, to say what I feel or say nothing at all; and secondly because I believe that the observations I made at my maiden presentation were relevant to improve the media practice and profession and our country's image and I believe that Mr. Adefaye and the Guild understood me in that sense and agreed that there was need for self appraisal and improvement.

Ladies and gentlemen, you do me a great honour by inviting me, so here I am.

My assessment will cover three broad areas; namely engagement with Government and public officers, offensive material to the public at large and reputational issues.

In terms of engagement with public officials and Government, I like to start with my earlier suggestion that today's media albeit a direct or subsequent product of the media of colonial times, must necessarily change its DNA from the media of that period.

Whereas, in the colonial period, the media was confronted with changing an alien Government and largely European public officials whom it could not remove in a democratic manner, and later in the Military era the media had to deal with many military Governments, and Nigerian public officials under military rule, whom it could not also change by democratic means, the Government of today is neither military or alien, even if it has some military hangovers and still is not fully democratic as long as elections are still supposed to be do or die.

Essentially therefore, I think there is a strong case for a slight change of strategy which can produce better results, if the purpose of media engagement is the development of society.

I think the old "combative" DNA has become counter-productive in the sense that it has not got the public the result they expect in terms of Governance. I think that a constructive, challenging and sometimes persuasive and inspiring approach may bring on results.

I think that we have seen our Governments and our officials in a way that encourages us to highlight only their weakness without highlighting their strengths in sufficient measure.

Indeed, while I am not suggesting that no solution to problems are being offered by the media, I would venture to canvass that we should dwell more on offering solutions to problems we want our Government to pursue before condemnation.

Let me attempt to illustrate with an example.

Since I was elected and even before then, there was no debate that there was a lot of work to be done, if we must improve the quality of education.

While there was unrestrained condemnation of Government and public officials, one article written by Yusuph Olaniyonu proffered a solution about how to attempt to solve the problem.

He argued sensibly that we should all go back to our schools, and put something back. That article prompted me to think, to challenge my colleagues, and this led to the enunciation of a State policy called "Adopt-a-School" by which individuals, corporate and NGOs could participate in a co-ordinated manner to rejuvenate school infrastructure.

This has provided for the first time a platform for school intervention and engagement by members of the society in addition to the traditional one of the religious missions.

This policy has become the forerunner of many other policies and reform initiatives such as the Eko Education Programme with the World Bank, free books, new desks and benches, teachers' training and motivation, voluntary clubs and many more that are leading to a gradual but sustained turn around in education delivery in Lagos State.

In 2007, 7% of our students passed the WAEC exam while the number went up to 10% in 2008, 18% in 2009 and 21% in 2010.

In its assessment report of 2010 on the Eko Project, the World Bank in its words rated the project performance as:

"highly satisfactory given the high intensity of the project implementation and results".

This assessment was informed by its findings of "…very good results from the Lagos project student standardized tests in English, Maths and Science which improved dramatically in the recent end of year tests compared to the baseline assessments done at the beginning of last year".

The report concluded that "…the strong showing in the first year gives us hope that over the life of this project, we will see more dramatic improvements".

Very recently, it was the same Yusuph who in expressing concern about the lingering disruption in our State University wrote in a conciliatory manner that the lecturers and the Government must yield ground to find a solution in the interest of the students.

Some other commentators have simply taken sides with either Government or the Unions in a manner which did not help to improve discussions.

I assure you that as a head of Government, I did not need any telling that conciliation and negotiation was the way out, and although I had held three meetings with the Unions in the committed pursuit of an amicable and sustainable solution, Yusuph's article added value in the sense that, it enforced my belief that I was doing the right thing.

I convened another meeting on the 31st December 2010, the very last day of the year and this was the meeting that led to the end of that strike.

There could be many more examples, but I believe these two illustrate the point about the strategy of engagement, and the value of offering solutions to problems.

I only would wish to conclude this point by reinforcing the fact that Government is an artificial legal entity. Its efficacy depends on human beings who are vulnerable just like all of you.

Government officials are actors on the stage of life.

Unlike actors in a movie who have scripts to work with, who can re-shoot a bad scene or have it edited, as public officers taking decisions on a daily basis, having to exercise a judgment one way or another, we seldom have our scripts with us, and very often never have the privilege to re-shoot or have our bad scenes edited.

Your field reporters are after us with their recorders at many places and expect us to say something sensible and newsworthy every time. We simply cannot get it right all the time.

Sometimes as I have said before, they seem to take delight in headlining photographs of public officers when they succumb to the pressure of work and their humanity and sleep overtakes them at public functions.

The truth is that no public officer in today's Nigeria who truly wants to get things done can afford the luxury of more than 4 hours sleep. Nature will take its toll.

As regards the issue of offensive material, I think the Guild has its work cut out.

Apart from the many negative stories that damages our public image and which affects us when we brandish our passports at international borders and ports, there are significant graphic images of violence, deaths and blood in all our media which I believe we must consciously tone done.

The reports may be newsworthy, but I think we can all spare ourselves and our children, the gory images of dead road-accident victims, burnt corpses, an assassinated alleged kidnap kingpin which was the most recent.

We can report the incidents and spare ourselves the gory details of human blood and dead bodies which in my view diminishes all of us. It sends a negative image about us, as to the value we place on human lives.

In the pursuit of the headlines that will lead the market, I will urge that we exercise more restraint in brandishing the smoking gun.

I will attempt yet again to illustrate this with an example.

In the last three and half years, our Government has made it a policy to be as open as possible. For example, we have placed on our website, a list of all projects awarded, the cost, the amount paid, the name of the contractors and the progress of work.

We were not forced to do this; we did it because we have nothing to hide.

Regrettably, this information has been used for what I think may be a self-serving purpose by listing projects awarded to one contractor and coming to the conclusion that because all the projects had not been finished and one contractor was beneficiary of a number of contracts, this without more, was evidence of corruption.

This is the first time in all my working life that I have been accused of corruption because I chose to serve.

The truth is that I remain undeterred and always ready to account for my stewardship.

On the other side of the Atlantic when British parliamentarians were actually caught dipping their hands in the public till and the Daily Telegraph Newspaper blew the allegations open, I do not re-call any instance when the British media seized the smoking gun and screamed "corruption".

I recall vividly that the word many of them used as "political expenses scandal". While it is true that a "scandal" may be an euphemism for "corruption", the media in that country was cautious in coming to that conclusion.

More recently, when the Cable News Network (CNN) was reporting our plea bargain deal on the Haliburton case; it did not mention corruption. It was not even a major news item when I saw it. It was relegated to the scroll bar at the base of the screen and all it said was "Haliburton settles Nigeria Bribe claim".

Again, my message here is intended to be simple. We can report and expose unacceptable behavior without damaging our national image.

Finally, and without taking too much of your time, my last issue has to deal with reputational issues.

All I simply wish to say is that when advertorials are presented for publication, the pecuniary benefit should not be as important as damage to people's reputation.

I know that when they are reports, from your field reporters, a significant level of care is exercised, but I think that while advertisements finance papers, and keep them out of the red, it must not be enough to settle for an indemnity and proceed to publish.

I would urge that where allegations of misdeeds especially those bordering on crimes are contained in such publications, it cannot be asking too much to request that you insist on seeing some proof that substantiates in any way the allegations you are paid to advertise.

I make this suggestions for many reasons not the least of which is the fact that it is difficult to find a public officer who has not been accused in the media of being corrupt but the proof is not that frequently forthcoming.

Tragically, in the absence of proof these are the same public officers who represent you and I in the global community of nations.

Truly, who should know them better other than us? If we call them thieves without proof, what else can their counter-parts from other countries think of them as?

At the advent of the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor's appointment and the "reforms" he embarked upon, I read with concern, repeated advertorials alleging several misdeeds against him. Yet this man that we vilified was recently honoured abroad. That honour does not belong to him. It is an honour for our country.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, leaders of the fourth estate of the realm, you hold in your hands a great asset for national re-development and you are critical pillars of Government and society even if you do not benefit from public funds or get appropriation.

I know that your role is critical. It is been pivotal to our work in Lagos and will continue to be so valued as we aim to reach new frontiers of development.

Before I conclude, I will like to use this forum to make an appeal for your support for our security initiative.

Even if you cannot donate cash or vehicles to the Security Trust Fund, you can donate media space that helps inform our people about our toll free numbers of 767 and 112 for us in times of emergencies.

You can highlight the activities of the Lagos State Safety Commission about tips and reasons that help prevents accidents and save lives.

You can inspire our security agents by giving prominent coverage to their acts of heroism, gallantry and patriotism when they foil crime or apprehend criminals.

You can help reinforce in the consciousness of our people that we have ended the rainy season with its hazards of flooding and entered the dry season with the harmattan and its dry winds that creates a large quantity of combustible material that can provoke incidents of fire outbreak.

This is the season when our citizens need to be particularly careful about the management of electrical appliances and inflammable materials to prevent incidents of fire.

Furthermore, as the national Voters' Registration exercise commences this morning, your contributions through your various medial towards mobilizing our people to participate will be most invaluable.

Indeed, my dear friends, there seems to be almost nothing you cannot do if we are persuaded to change the strategy in the manner that I have advocated.

I will therefore like to conclude here by saying that while I found myself between a rock and a hard place, I find no comfort in being buffeted against either, but I hope I have spoken frankly enough without being myself guilty of what I believe we should all seek to improve upon by moving away from being only critical without offering alternatives or solutions.

Thank you for listening.

Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN
Governor of Lagos State