Nigerian Journalists: The Endangered Species -By Abdulkadir Salaudeen

We have come to a stage in our national life where Journalists are attacked, molested, and even jailed for doing their job. However, it is at this critical junction of our history that the Nigerian government unveiled a new secondary school curriculum that introduces journalism as part of a core subject to be taught in our schools. If that curriculum sees the light of the day, every student in senior secondary school would be taught journalism. It does not matter if such student is a science, commercial, or art student.

While this is laudable, it seems not to occur to the government that it is about to train and teach students to be doing what it wouldn’t like them to do. Journalists, by their profession, cannot afford to look the other way when abnormalities become the norm. It is their duty to report. It is the duty of Journalists to report every good, ugly, bad, worse, and worst incident. It becomes even more of professional obligation to report incident that requires government intervention—either to tell government to do what it fails to do by addressing its shortcomings or to adjust what it (the government) has overdone.

A journalist in Kebbi State is in trouble for doing his work. The journalist Hassan Mai-Waya Kangiwa was reportedly arrested for revealing the ugly side of Kangiwa General Hospital. Going by the journalist’s name, it is most likely he is from the community. Kangiwa cannot wait to see his parents, children, relatives, neighbors, and friends die in a hospital that lacks basic amenities. He should be praised for drawing the attention of the government to the plight of his people. That is patriotism. But in our ailing and chaotic democracy, patriotism is a crime.

What exactly did the journalist do? He exposed what the government does not want the public to know. In his exposé, as seen in a viral video, an elderly patient was seen lying helplessly on a bare iron bed frame. The bed frame has no mattress. A responsible government would immediately stand on its feet and jump to act in order to address its shortcomings. Rather, the government in Kebbi State jumped at the journalist. It queried the journalist’s audacity to tell the almighty Governor of Kebbi State what his mandate has a governor requires him do.

What is even surprising is that the Governor of Kebbi State Nasir Idris is a teacher and a unionist—a former union leader. He holds a PhD in Education according to his online profile. He was a former president of Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), a former deputy president of Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), a former chairman of NUT Kebbi State, a former chairman of NLC Kebbi State etc. A governor with such profile should not be seen terrorizing a journalist like a ruthless ruler for calling his attention to the appalling state of a general hospital in his state.

I doubt if the Governor had hand in the arrest of Kangiwa. It is possible it is the handiwork of those bootlicking sycophants whose only source of income and means of survival is to massage the ego of rulers. But if the Governor knows about it and the arrest of Kangiwa was directed by him, that shows the extent of how power corrupts. Yes! It illustrates the corrupting influence of power especially in Nigeria where political power is absolute and rulers are gods.

The title of this column reads “Nigerian Journalists: The Endangered Species.” The question is: who is not endangered specie in Nigeria? Except politicians and bandits, virtually every one is endangered. Medical doctors are not happy. They are overworked and poorly remunerated. An overworked medical doctor slumped and passed away less than two weeks ago after 72-hour marathon duty in Port Harcourt. Teachers have lost worth in every sense of the word. People prefer to say they are jobless than to say they are teachers. Lecturers are struggling to reclaim their dignity and job satisfaction. Inflation has dispossessed market women of their capital. Everyone is endangered. But the focus here is on journalists.

Some days ago, we read about the Emir of Lafiagi. For those who do not know, Kwara State is not safe—its North and its South. The relatively peaceful part of Kwara State is Kwara Central. Even on the relatively peaceful claim in Kwara Central, I may be wrong. The state is under the grip of bandits and kidnappers. Many do not know because journalists are not allowed to do their job. The Emir of Lafiagi could not tolerate journalists reporting incidents of terrorist attacks. He took steps to silence them. How?

He reportedly invited journalists to his palace. There, the Emir, Alhaji Muhammad Kudu Kawu, warned and threatened journalists to stop their job. They should stop reporting insecurity issues in Kwara North. To add credibility to that shocking directive, he reportedly told journalists that he was acting on the instruction of the Governor. The reportage on insecurity in Lafiagi and Patigi is embarrassing to the Governor. The Emir, and maybe the Governor, was “kind” to the journalists. Unlike in Kebbi State where the journalist that embarrassed the Governor for exposing the reek of negligence oozing out in a general hospital under the Governor’s supervision was arrested and reportedly jailed, journalists were warned, intimidated, and threatened in Kwara State.

But could an emir condescend to this level? I expected a denial. I tried to see if I could read an official statement from the Emir’s palace which would call Sahara Reporters a liar. My effort was in vain. (It was Sahara Reporters that first published the ugly news). Of course, many believe the media platform is a purveyor of false news. But it gladdens the heart that there was a press release. It is titled “Clarification on Sahara Reporters’ Publication Regarding the Emir of Lafiagi.”

According to the press release, actually, there was meeting with journalists. The Emir was said not to be present at the meeting as it was between the Lafiagi Security Committee and journalists. “The committee”, according to the press release, “advised media outlets to avoid revealing security tactics, escape routes, or ransom payments to kidnappers.” This, it further reads “was aimed at supporting efforts to tackle insecurity in the area.”

Yet, this press release seems not to be sufficient. It is not adequate. It did not come from the Emir’s palace. It was signed by the Concerned Youths in Lafiagi Emirates. The Emir should clean himself from the dirt hurled at him. Legal redress could also be sought against Sahara Reporters.

Whoever is right or wrong between Sahara Reporters and the Concerned Youths in Lafiagi Emirates, what is most important is that journalists should be allowed to do their job. While journalists too must be responsible in doing their job, those in authority should learn how to tolerate journalists. Many were trained in public universities. If they would not be tolerated or allowed to do their jobs, the government should scrap journalism from the yet-to-be-used secondary school curriculum. Mass Communication and related courses in our higher institutions should also be scrapped, or be reduced to training newscasters who would only work in government owned media houses.

Journalist Hassan Mai-Waya Kangiwa should be released. He is not a criminal and has not committed any crime by reporting the poor condition of a general hospital in his community. We are all victims of government negligence which is mostly visible in our health sector. We can be better.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen 

salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com