The Nigerian Media: the Bad, the Worse, the Ugly

The Nigerian Media: the Bad, the Worse, the Ugly

By Oluwaseyi Oduyela

It is now becoming increasingly disturbing watching working journalists taking sides in Nigeria politics. I don’t have a degree in journalism but I worked as a reporter at Tempo Magazine, Anchor Newspaper and Punch on Sunday. May be I was wrong. I grew up reading newspapers with objective views on politics except for State-owned media.

During the military era, many Nigerians were fooled and deceived that the hero of that time was the media. The truth is that some of these guys used their respective platforms to launch themselves. Realizing that Nigerians trust and rely on them, they betrayed this trust and sold Nigerians to the ruling class for their own material gains.

As soon as the civilian government started in 1999, we began to see the evolutionof a new Nigeria Media. A media that started harassing politicians, through blackmail and patronage,like the introduction of a disturbing dimension called “Special Project.” With the “Special Project,” State Governors can buy pages of the newspaper and magazine for as much as N2.8M to show case nothing.  This was good business for these shameless Media employers. Before you say Jack, this virus had spread to almost all the newspapers and Magazines. Journalists who get Special Projects get about 25% of the money as bonus.

Imagine Turaki, Jigawa Governor  ( 1999-2003)who never stayed in his state, had 16 pages in a magazine showcasing Information technology as his government’s accomplishment in a desert state of Jigawa with almost 90% illiteracy, and a magazine in Nigeria (The News) published this as a governor’s achievement ?! It was so bad that some newspapers’ editorials and stories were edited in some State government houses. Niran Malaolu who was the Deputy Editor in Chief of Anchor turned Anchor newspaper to Gbenga Daniel’s PR Outfit and when Adewale Adeeyo was left licking the wound of over N40M debt left for him; Niran was appointed as Commissioner for Information in Ogun State. People see Niran as Activist journalist who was jailed by Abacha for coup and was almost executed but they did not ask how Niran was arrested and what his connection to Abacha was. Niran had worked for James Ibori as Editor and Ibori worked for Sanni Abacha. Ibori is still believed to have been the one responsible for the assassination of Pa Alfred Rewane. In fact during the time that Al Mustafa was in jail, his wife was staying with Ibori. Niran was never an activist because he became a hero, wrote book and people fell for it.

In Lagos State, most contracts went to media Executives. For example a company founded by Senator Femi Ojudu was responsible for the refuse collection of Ikoyi area of Lagos. This was happening at the time Ojudu was the Managing Editor of The News/Tempo/PMNews. If he didn’t do a good job, who will report it? Bellview Airline had a problem with its Pilots. Bellview owner is an Ijebu man like Mr., Onanuga. He is fond of hiring foreigners and short-changing them.  This year, around 2000 or 2001. There was a case by one of the pilots against Bellview. Aviation correspondents were given N25, 000 then not to report it. Friday Olokor refused the money; he insisted in publishing the story, before he got to the office at PM News, the Bellview PRO, a lady was already there. Olokor’s story was not published. About a month later, Olokor lost his job.

Aliko Dangote, every religious festival bombards media houses with gratifications- Live Ram, Bags of rice, spaghettis in boxes for editors and reporters. They all gladly take it and close their eyes to Dangote’s sabotage of Nigeria’s economy.  They will not want to bite the finger that feeds them.  In 2006, the Comptroller –general of the Nigeria Customs, invited Editors to a meeting. At that meeting, he offered the editors bribe. They were to go home with Tokunbo cars. One editor walked out declining the Greek Gift but Ademola Oyinlola took it. He took it like his other greedy co-quaeditors.   Chucks Ehirim worked for The News as Enugu Correspondent; during the military rule, under Abacha. The then Governor of Enugu State, called press conference. At the Press conference, he called out Chucks and showed him his story. Chucks had written a piece on the Governor and he sent it to Lagos only for the same story to end up in the hands of the Military Governor.

Even if journalists refuse bribes, their employers will take it. This among other reasons emboldened them too to start taking it. This is absolutely no excuse to violate the ethics of the profession. Many of them now lobby and fight to become Press Secretaries. Aliyu Babangida, as Permanent Secretary of the Federal Capital territory, Abuja was a victim of blackmail. A document was sourced out by an insider at the Ministry and shared with journalists. I intercepted one and blocked it. I was at the Tempo Abuja office when one of Babangida’s guys came looking for someone who had a story on his boss, I knew about it before that day and prevented it. This was in 2001.

In 2001, Professor Jerry Gana in collaboration with Smart Adeyemi, then NUJ President spent N1.5Billion Tax payers’ money on a wasteful tour of seeing the “dividend of democracy.” Most media organizations have offices in all states. Why do they need the federal government to take them around the country when their correspondents on ground can do a story on that? They went around the country, only Punch Newspaper that I can remember declined to join the shameless rain of Gana and Adeyemi. Journalist discovered that in Enugu, Smart was demanding for money and Nnamani gave them N600, 000.00. In Kogi State, most of the uncompleted projects were contracts awarded to NUJ President, Smart Adeyemi. The same thing happened in Adamawa State. No journalist on that trip reported it because reporting it will mean they would be dropped. Joshua Dariye of Plateau State was outside the country; he flew back and compensated Adeyemi heavily. Dariye was so furious when Audu Abubakar, the man who attacked Alifa Daniel with Acid and caught sleeping with his wife’s sister won the best Governor by Adeyemi/Gana panel of investigators. We were all watching helplessly while all these were going on.

During the Na’aaba era as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, pro-Na’Abba journalists get heavily compensated while ant-Na’Abba voices were buried by some of the National Assembly correspondents.

Today, they have stepped up. Journalists have become mouthpieces for politicians, journalists fight themselves over politicians. Virtually all State Correspondents are on the pay rolls of the Governors they were supposed to report. And all the public get from them are press releases.

Just as the reporters lobby for Press Secretary position, their employers take on political garbs- Idowu Obasa of the News magazine became local government chairman under ACN, Dapo Olorunyomi became a consultant to Nuhu Ribadu who eventuall became the Presidential Flag bearer of ACN, now Babafemi Ojudu of the same The News magazine is now a Senator representing ACN at that National Assembly. Last week, before the Ondo State election, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, the Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of The News magazine, referred to Mr. Bola Tinubu as godfather and condemned Mr. Mimiko as ungrateful to Tinubu the godfather. This development is not only disturbing it is alarming. It has also shown that what we see, made to believe as activism was in actual fact opportunism.

I wonder why journalists curse the Police, it sounds, to me, self-serving bias when journalists in Nigeria take pictures of police fighting over money, exposing police and calling them names, when in actual fact, Nigerian journalists have perfected the act and art of bribe taking than the police. Many have worked and made money from politicians and now calling same people they worked and made money from names.

Most of the unfortunate events that have taken place were avoidable but because of the compromised media they had to happen.  The Dana Air Crash, collapse of financial institutions and more. Recently, NECO discovered that N300Million disappeared from its accounts at the Zenith Bank. Investigation launched by The Special Fraud Unit of the Nigeria Police discovered that it was an insider thing at Zenith Bank. Journalists who got the story would rather take advertisement worth N230, 000.00 each from Zenith than publish this story. And tomorrow you will hear of Zenith’s collapse as if it came from the moon.

The Nigeria media stinks, it is rotten and filthy.