Media failure

by Eze Eluchie

Like every other institution of the Nigerian contraption, our media is failing us.

If the issue had been to get journalists who will tag along with a Presidential or Ministerial or other governmental delegation on an international trip, there would have been no shortage of journalists willing to join the entourage.

Now that a segment of the Nigerian State has been cordoned off and being ruled under ‘Emergency Rule’, there is near total blanket of information on happenings in Bornu, Yobe and Adamawa States. There is simply no information coming out, save for the terse briefings from the Military High Command, on what the military wants us to know.

That certainly is not enough.

Is it that we do not have media-men interested in winning the Pulitzer Prize or other media awards? Are we waiting for Aljazeera or CNN to begin the coverage? I am worried that with the collapse of communication in Nigeria's northeastern zones, I have now lost contact with a dear friend, a devout Muslim, Inusa danGashua and his family, who reside in Damaturu, Yobe State, and had hosted me rather lavishly during my visit to Damaturu and other acquaintances in the region, through whom I had often times caught a glimpse of what life was really like living under the siege of terrorists.

In their actions, the military, who now have free rein of the three States, must realize that the problem was never with the peoples of Bornu, Yobe and Adamawa, but with the terrorists elements who made life a misery for all.

Our journalists are failing the country, themselves and their esteemed vocation, in not striving to let us know what is really going on behind the cordon created by the Military around the three States under emergency rule.

Our media is likewise failing to sensitize Nigerians on the gravity of the situation the country is forced to confront. Any adept follower of international terror tactics will realize that as the terrorists suffer causalities to the superior firepower of the Nigeria’s military, they will, true to their cowardly disposition, try to hit back at Nigeria by attacks on soft targets and areas of least preparedness for terror attacks. Why is the media not sensitizing the populace on these realities? Are they themselves ignorant of international realities? Or is it a case of being in denial?  The bulk of our media is rather consumed in trumpeting the gluttony of our kleptocrats who are yet consumed with fantasies as ‘Rome burns’. 

This should serve as a clarion call to all Nigerians wherever to brace up for surprises and be very, very vigilant. They will, as they recently showed in Katsina barely 2 days into the emergency rule operations, sure as night turns to day, try to strike at somewhere least prepared.

 Terrorism in northern Nigeria had become a cancer which has to be excised. There was no doubt that there will be excruciating pain when performing a surgery, particularly in an environment that lacks societal anesthetics. Whilst the world appreciates the need for the operation taking place against terrorists elements in northern Nigeria, the Jonathan administration have to realize that for the interest of the peace-loving people of the north eastern region of Nigeria and the safety of all Nigerians generally, the on-going military operation has to be precise, swift and with the least possible civilian causalities.

Will this episode of violence afford us an opportunity to renegotiate and reconstitute our contraption?

Picture: Nigerian troops headed to tackle terrorists in northeastern Nigeria