Early Media Objectives
I would like us to take a few moments to examine the purpose of a handful of media organs, where we can establish them.
The records available show that it was the then director–general of the BBC (1992-1998) who first formally ascribed the tripartite role to broadcasting, namely: to inform, to educate, to entertain; this has since become part of the BBC’s mission statement and the broad objectives of all broadcasting organisations all round the world. The BBC is famous as the epitome of public interest broadcasting, committed to such liberal practices as inclusivity, access, and good programming, as against that of a profit motivated or other narrow cause. With regard to the print, the first newspaper published in Nigeria was a Christian one with the objective of promoting a religious set of values. This, we are told was the Irohin, first published in Abeokuta by the missionaries. There were also early newspapers that were politically targeted like the Lagos Weekly Record. This was edited by Ernest Ikoli, as an anti–colonial newspaper that addressed the colonialist more than the populace itself. One of Nigeria’s most notable commercial newspapers was the Daily Times, first published in the 1930s. The Daily Times was, naturally, more inclined towards entertainment.
The Zikist newspapers, namely, the West African Pilot stable, were essentially nationalistic and could be considered, at the time, to pursue a public or national interest. Zik’s newspapers relied far more on subscription income than advertisement revenue, because advertisements were in the hands of those whom he set out to antagonise at the time, namely, the foreigners. Incidentally, one of the Zik’s newspapers, The Comet, was acquired from a man named Duse Mohammed Ali, an African nationalist of Sudanese Egyptian origin, who lived in the UK and visited Nigeria from time to time. Along with the Daily Service begun in the 1940s, all these newspapers were directed at sensitising Nigerians to reject colonial rule and demand independence from the British. As a business, the Zikist papers employed sensationalism and populism; nevertheless, their advocacy or objective as media organs was the promotion of a new sense, you could say, a new value among Nigerians. Some of the educated and priviledged Nigerians, especially those in the Lagos area, were beginning to distance themselves from their less privileged and less educated compatriots, as they donned European suits and wined and dined like, and with, the colonialists. The nationalist newspapers often turned their venom more towards these Nigerians than to the public enemy, the colonialists.
National partisan politics came strongly to the fore, as played out in the Nigerian newspapers during the 1950s, with the entry of such papers as Obafemi Awolowo’s Tribune (incidentally today’s oldest surviving newspaper), for example. The nation’s newspapers were pre-occupied with name-calling and factionalisation among the nationalists during this period, and we can hardly refer to the role played then as one of value building, if we define value as something widely desirable. Meanwhile, Nigerian newspapers had earned themselves a reputation for combativeness, first in their relationship with the colonialists and then with one another.
The broadcasting services introduced a new dimension to media practice by which both literate and non-literate Nigerians were now brought into the media consuming community – the employment of several Nigerian local, ethnic languages, serving to bring information to far more Nigerians than hitherto. The broadcast, nationwide, of the cultural and artistic expressions of the different ethnic “nationalities”, no doubt, have had the effect of exposing Nigerians to the rich social tapestry that is Nigeria. Sometimes people of one “nationality” show impatience or irritation when they are exposed to the unfamiliar performance from another part of the country but, with time, they do grow to tolerate, then accommodate the new fare.
In 1953, the colonial governor criticised the leader of Government Business in the Western Region, Chief Awolowo, on the platform of the NBS over a political issue, but when the chief demanded a right of reply on the same radio service, he was refused the opportunity. Now one would have expected that the NBS would operate in a similar manner to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), in matters of fairness. The treatment which the Chief received prompted the Nigerian nationalists to demand a constitutional change that would permit regional governments to establish and run radio broadcasting services, thus leading eventually to the establishment of the Western Nigeria Television Service (WNTV) in 1959. The two other Regions soon set up their respective services, the East in 1960 and the North in 1962. Incidentally, the central government, also set up the NBC-TV in 1962.
Television is, no doubt, a most powerful communication tool, given its engagement of both visual and aural senses. South Americans are reputed to have put the entertainment power of television to great use in their social marketing soap operas, the Telenovelas, and an NTA attempt in the mid 1980s to adopt the method in Nigeria failed to take off. The so-called Sabido technique combines social research and literary creativity to deliver soap operas that are scientifically proven to engender certain changes in society, notably, family health and adult literacy. These social changes derive from the demonstration of personal gain, which the viewer can readily identify with. I presume that the type of value re-orientation which we are examining today could possibly succeed from the application of social marketing to a number of related sub-values.
What Values?
A value re-orientation presumes that we, or someone, are not satisfied with what passes for our values at the present time. Now, no nation can say it is perfectly satisfied with the state of its values; there is always some slack somewhere. In the case of our country, Nigeria, you could say that a very high proportion of our commentators and opinion leaders would say figuratively that we do not have ideals.
Now, ideals should be socially acclaimed, accepted goals of high standard, of perfection and, we should have a few of them.
We speak frequently of our greatness as a nation, something we cherish. This is a desire, perhaps, of all nations; those people who are in public office speak easily of the unity of our country, and any suggestion that that unity may not (yet) be quite there sufficiently is often considered unpatriotic: it is as if the observer of a lack of unity was the cause of the short-fall in our unity. My job at one time as editor-in-chief was threatened under a military regime because I had asked my colleagues in the news department to jettison such epithets as great and united when referring to Nigeria: of course, they could report that way if someone said so. Now, my action was not as a result of my lack of patriotism or desire for Nigeria, rather it was that I did not think that a responsible media organ, as our own, should use words lightly. Unity and greatness are ideals, what we should work towards, but I am also aware that some of our traditional religions sometimes substitute desire with reality. To report imperfection on our part is to wish it, they fear, and so imperfection is reserved for our enemies. You ask your worker or colleague why s/he missed work the previous day, was s/he ill? And the person looks at you as if you were evil. Then, s/he replies in the negative (ill?) and says that s/he is “strong”. That was the reason why s/he did not come to work! I reckon that that practice or belief has found its way into some of our later-day Christian practices in Nigeria. If we can make a sick man well by telling him and ourselves that he is strong, that is, in a way, encouraging him to feel well, then, the task of the Nigerian media is well cut out and easy in the matter of value re-orientation, which is the subject of this discourse.
Nigerian critics, of whom there is no shortage, whatsoever, complain about the country’s deficiencies, whether in material or ethical terms: simply, send in the media. In 1984 when the Buhari military administration replaced President Shagari, the former set out to root out indiscipline (“indisplin”) which the government considered the major root of Nigeria’s imperfection. So, the federal minister of information summoned all the heads of the federal media agencies along with the high officials of the Ministry. Then the officials directed that the media should propagate certain messages to promote discipline in our society. The Ministry had prepared some for print and others as radio jingles. NTA, of course, was to use the combination of visual and aural symbols, and we all would fight and, hopefully, eradicate indiscipline thereby.
Now, commercial advertising experts setting out to market a product, whether old or new, have a scientific or professional process that they follow. They tell the prospective buyer what is in the product for him, her, and the family, and that, really, is why stheyhe should acquire it. And advertisements work. Now, the Ministry of Information asked us, their associated media organisations, to go away and submit our proposals (you could say, bids) to them, meaning, essentially, what the cost or budgetary implications were going to be.
At NTA, we did not really desire to carry some of the customary prosaic exhortations on our broadcasts and, so, proceeded to throw the work of eradicating indiscipline back where it property belonged: the leader of the nation, government. Television is strongest when it is passing credible information because it can show actions and facts. So we advised government in the proposal which we submitted:
(1) Declare a national war (against indiscipline) and, as with the Civil War, Nigerians should back you;
(2) Be seen to be leading the charge, actually fighting that war, and Nigerians would join you in time. Television would report the battles with sound and vision, something we knew how to do.
So, the Ministry and its media agencies agreed on a “War Against Indiscipline”.
Apropos, the renowned Nigerian writer, Cyprian Ekwensi, provided the catchy acronym, “WAI”, pronounced “Why”.
The war council, even though it was not so called, was headed by the permanent secretary when the minister was not there. It proceeded to map out a series of battles: punctuality, order(liness), as in queuing, traffic discipline as at traffic lights, environmental hygiene (“environmental”), corruption, and the minister and other government office holders led these battles. NTA covered each launch and proceeded to carry out “propaganda” on it for several weeks until the next “battle”, when we repeated the same course.
And “propaganda” is not necessarily derogatory: there is a department of propaganda at the Vatican in Rome. The word is, in fact, apt for our purpose, as it is defined as information that is spread for the purpose of promoting a given cause.
In the matter of WAI, the independent media, meaning here the privately owned commercial newspapers, were openly hostile to government, NTA and WAI. The infamous Decree No 4 (or was it 2?) had been passed at about the same time as WAI was launched and the attitude among these journalists was that WAI was simply another face of the draconian decree. There is no doubt that WAI did make an impact, but what a bigger impact we could have seen if the entire media had participated, or if some half had not, openly, ridiculed the War. The queue practice may not be seriously current, but some remnant of it is still recognisable.
Until recently, one day a month was set aside nation-wide for three to four hours during which citizens were compelled to participate in cleaning their environments. Government officials, particularly senior military personnel, wore small buttons on their uniform to show that they subscribed to the WAI effort. Just imagine if policemen and government officials, today, wore badges proclaiming “I do not demand or take a bribe”. Yet, I believe that WAI could have been more scientifically waged, at the time.
Corruption
With regard to the current media participation in the federal government’s war, campaign, against “corruption”, there does not appear to be a link between action and publicity except, perhaps, the occasional report of court processes. There is, no doubt, the occasional insertion of a text or song in NTA and still more infrequent insertions by independent broadcasters, under their respective social service cause. The current presidential advisory body on corruption is composed of academics among others, and one would expert that their approach would be scientific and fundamental. Why do most Nigerians in a position of authority act out of impunity, abusing their otherwise limited powers? Is this a sociological, economic or cultural trait, a matter stemming from our value framework? We seem, Nigerians, to be such celebration fans, with our constant and proud propensity to display wealth and pomp in public, in the media, particularly, television. In my early days in television, the tax man used to show up at our station on the day after we had broadcast a “social diary” where someone had been celebrating lavishly. But is there anything wrong with celebrating (privately) and having a good time with friends and family, as at weddings and birthdays? In most civilisations, modesty is extolled as a virtue, and in a country which is strongly stratified in economic and many other terms, our media celebration of the affluent and powerful would seem insensitive, in my view.
I believe, as a layman, that our ready acceptance of the practice of corruption and its widespread mediaeval values across the country is quite unfortunate. Everyone aspires to be a chief (sheikh), receive adoration and have the power to dispense favours in society. Scholars recognise that a human being is driven by a strong desire for self-actualisation, to realise one’s full or ultimate potential. It may be a motivation to do something, to create, or it could be to transform society in some way. It is a master motive in humans. In the Nigerian culture, or some, and there are many different national beliefs and practices, admittedly, do the people want to “do” or simply to “be” in their desire for self-actualisation?
A Nigerian professor rarely wants to become world renowned by being a better professor or scholar; often he aspires to retire, even prematurely, to be crowned the king of his homestead. Yet kingdoms rarely exist today in the 13th or 14th century sense in most, if not all, parts of the (serious) world. Nigerians with first-class academic records from the best engineering and management schools in the world desire nothing better than to ascend to the throne of their ancestral home, even if it is merely ceremonial. You might ask “so what”, “that is our own culture, our own value”. This culture gives you power over other people even if it is only, in some places, the right to take any woman as your wife, whether or not she is already legitimately married to someone else. Pardon my Yoruba, but I believe they say, “mo gbese le”.
Our Values
What do we hold dear as a people? Perhaps, this is an unfair question, because we really do not act or feel as a people sufficiently to draw an acceptable answer to that question. With regard to well-being, all humans, irrespective of nationality, value life (and health), security, justice, and freedom. We also desire the good life, comfort, happiness. A UNDP measure of human development economics seeks to shift from national income accounting to people centred metrics in well-being, because it is felt that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures in US Dollars do not really tell how well developed or otherwise a country’s people are. The Human Development Index, HDI, sets out to describe a country’s well-being in terms of the factors which every human being desires, namely, Health (Life Expectancy), Education (school enrolment), and GDP (economy, work and earning).
Education affects health (and life expectancy) on the one hand, and also GDP, productive engagement, on the other. It is, therefore, not unexpected that sensible people strive, as individuals, to invest in the education of their wards, as well as in themselves. The acquisition of personal education and academic qualification has been driven largely by economic attraction, but, with time, the employment base has ceased to grow fast enough to absorb all the people who possess academic qualifications. The story is told of young men who were recruited from university in Nigeria to go over into crime in another African Country, where they made quite large fortunes for some time. I came out of a Lagos party (ceremony) recently and my car was quickly besieged by “area boys “ demanding a tip from me. Against all advice, I wound down my car window and asked the boys if any of them would like to work as a car driver, in which case I would offer one of them a position, and they would be paid while still training to drive: they only showed contempt for me and my offer.
The “area boy” syndrome is not necessarily prevalent, in the form of street stalwarts stopping well-dressed car passengers that are visibly “living it up”. However, we must admit that most Nigerians do not believe that the affluence and good life which they desire would come out of the “sweat of their brow”. The lowliest (an office messenger, say) or the highest (a corporate executive) would always seek to cheat the employer or a customer and make illicit money on the side. By all means, carry on another business on the side, to the extent that it is lawful. As Nigerians, we have come to believe, sadly, that the policeman will not provide us help or security in the ordinary cause of his duty: his uniform and his beat simply entitle him to rake in as much money as he creatively can, whether from the innocent or the guilty.
Many Nigerians will suggest that the propensity of the Nigerian to expropriate monies illegally stems from our intrinsic fear of poverty: in the world league of poverty, Nigeria is, admittedly, ranked very low (lowest in the world, as in the last few months), for one-third of our (large) population live below the internationally defined poverty line. Incidentally, Ghana, and Southern Africa are Medium in terms of poverty. Nevertheless, it is difficult to explain fully the huge sums of money that are corruptly removed from the public or the corporate exchequer from time to time. The parties concerned are certainly not acting out of fear of poverty in their own or in their children’s generations: they are obsessed, perhaps, with the Power which those sums of money confer?
What Ideals
What great dreams do we as Nigerians aspire to? We talk about unity: it would be ideal if Nigerians could feel proud of their nation, and hold themselves out as such, whether in our internal dealings or external. There is no doubt where our hearts lie when we are in a confrontation with external forces, as in sports, for example. Still, it gets to be irritating when you meet a Ghanaian abroad and he asks you whether you are Yoruba or Ibo. The Nigerian hardly knows, nor cares, on the other hand, the difference between a Ga and a Fanti from Ghana. With a little experience, even the Ghanaian can tell the Nigerian’s ethnic nationality by the Nigerian’s dress. There must be only a few countries left like that, and I am not sure they are the ones we want to emulate. Why are ethnic allegiances still so strong in Nigeria, and the answer is in our stage of national development or evolution. Can it be hastened? Does it really matter, and I believe it does, because it tends to interfere with our judgment in choosing between what is right (from the national viewpoint) and what is wrong. Now how much longer will it matter to a Nigerian whether the President belongs to his ethnic nationality or local government area or not? It matters because we still cannot trust the man on top to be fair and just to everyone. Remember, “I belong to all, and I belong to no-one”. So, it is an ideal, if stated, practically on oath, as by our President.
Our coat of arms proclaims “Unity and Faith, Peace and Progress”. Up until 1978, it read “Peace, Unity and Freedom”. By replacing Freedom with Faith, we seem to have launched our penchant for leaving all failures and successes to divine powers and faith. Some Nigerians take lives, including their own, in order to gain a place in heaven; some others gain the whole world, pay one-tenth of it to buy time here, before proceeding to heaven. In between these extremes, far too many Nigerians seem to make their own laws, rejecting what may be termed civilised behaviour. Most of us simply treat religion as the solution to our problems, and we do have plenty of problems.
Nigerians are, more often than not, angry people, showing impatience, cutting corners and often cheating. Breaking laws or rules is common practice; take the English language, or the behavior of motorists which is practically barbaric, especially that of the notorious “danfo” bus drivers in Lagos and on the trans-state routes. There is hardly a day I travel through Lagos without seeing motorists driving through the red traffic light and without a damn, or a police check. I often wonder what our police do with their official (power) bikes! Courtesy is considered a mark of weakness, at the worst, and hypocrisy, at the best. I have seen motorists just leaving church service and proceeding immediately to growl and curse at other motorists as they compete for space on the narrow road leading out of the church.
Nigerian creativity is demonstrated in crime and law breaking, but it is also found in our artistic expressions and performances, especially in music and dancing, fashion and celebrations, including Weddings. Royalty is something which Nigeria should begin to consider for exporting, as there are no thriving kingships left anywhere else in the world. We now have them graded: imperial majesties, royal majesties, royal highnesses and plain highnesses, and I do not intend to be disrespectful or rude. And state governors move among their citizens like conquerors. Some, actually, sport swagger sticks, in the manner of war lords or colonial District Officers.. We have aides-de-camp, ADC’s, to open and shut doors, shift chairs in and out carefully for their principals to be able to sit and rise from their high-backed chairs and thrones without accident. They hold umbrellas out for their principals if it is raining…
To summarise our value system, there are those things which we do out of our primordial cultures and those others which we have not sufficiently internalised, namely, modern orderliness, discipline, and liberalism. For example, why should I have power and yet moderate its use, why should I not use it for my benefit and that of my immediate and ethnic relations, why is impunity supposed to be wrong…. why should anyone complain if I use this position to become rich?
National well-being and wealth can be generated through hard work and proper application (education/knowledge and orderliness) and an ethical culture: meaning, conforming to the correct or accepted standard of behaviour. The standard might be ridiculed at first in our society, but someone must lead in this regard. Do-gooders, like NGO’s, might be ridiculed at first, and would, in any case, require such time and recourses as they might not ordinarily possess; can an elected government carry its party along in the pursuit and practice of strong ethics?
Or is it the party that will proclaim these ethics? An unelected government tried it 34 years ago and, in spite of the inhospitable press environment that was prevailing at the time, some success was achieved. However, the successor government did not sustain the War, probably, in their effort to gain the friendship of the press?
Enter the Media
The Mexicans and other developing nations have demonstrated the effectiveness of social advertising through their telenovela, the television social soap opera. The technique has been successful because it is scientifically carried out, complete with base-line research and periodic or interim data gathering and tweaking as well. The upshot is that the main character in the soap eventually succeeds personally in the drama because he or she has adopted the personal/public good that is the central message of the soap. There is a whole lot of entertainment, drama, emotion, professionally executed to keep the viewers glued and addicted to the serial and to the subtle message. Nigerians have come to love it without the message or the social benefit.
In WAI, over three decades ago, television did not adopt the drama format. Rather, the high government officials acted out the model role of good conduct, like punctuality, and queuing, for example. (Bribe taking or rejection would be difficult to demonstrate in the same manner). The role of the media here was, essentially, journalistic, reporting, examining, spreading, the message. The behaviours which are criminal in nature would have to be dramatised or simply discussed. However, investigative journalism of the hidden recorder/camera type, or of the sleuth, is not common in our country, but unearthing wrong-doing is going to have a social effect, only if the security or the justice system in the country proceeds to protect the journalist and to administer justice, and promptly too. The Libya slave trade report by the CNN in February-March 2018 was well managed for effect, as the television documentary was widely publicised before it was broadcast over and over again, thus drawing the largest attention possible. The human traffic unearthed is only the externalisation of the depravity of some Nigerians in their quest for money, whether on the part of the “victims” (for want of a better word) or of the perpetrators, in this instance.
Can the media persuade the Nigerian public as to what is considered right and wrong in a modern society? The Sagay “anti-corruption” committee of the Federal Government has so far not told us what they have found out as the studied cause of the scale of corruption in Nigeria, and how to take this pervasive evil out of our system. We have been given the stern impression that corruption is the preserve of is quarrelling with the Nigerian media, either, in the term, “corruption fighting back”.
Leadership is central in any endeavour; success is premised on visionary leadership. Very often we refer to the successes in Singapore and Malaysia, for recent examples in the Commonwealth, in their achievement of great leaps in national transformation: sustained visionary leadership is there to see. Now, these two countries are relatively small in size and population. Nearer home, here in Africa, I am informed that the Rwandese have become the prototype of discipline and orderliness, cleanliness and friendliness: security, investment and economic growth have become their reward (their portion?). And the citizens are very proud of their country. You might argue, as Nigerians are wont to do, that it is because they are “a small country”. So, let us de-centralise, “restructure”, as some people call it, not disintegrate, as some people fear, and begin to enjoy the benefits of running small governments, while still remaining the largest country in Africa. Now, India and China, which are much larger than Nigeria, have also been run under great leaders with great visions, sometimes with vicious effect.
The role of the free media as an institution is based on liberalism, essentially, never mind the unsavoury American connotation of liberalism on the other hand. The position of the new media seems to be iconoclastic, a rejection of the manner of existing institutions. In the new age and with education and access to the internet, the penetration of the social media is large and accelerating away, and the challenge is how to engage it in the great task ahead. Therefore, it is important that the social media be totally and positively courted into any media campaign for the development of the minds of the new Nigerians. I believe that the media, mainstream and all, could employ drama, music, art, and journalism; snippets of satires in the forms of video sketches or cartoons, comedies, reports and articles. Properly executed these can be published as commentaries on various aspects of the Nigerian characteristics, whether negative or desirable, in order to drive home what we want.
How does the Nigerian feel about Excellence, for example? How is Diligence, or Integrity displayed in public life, in governance, planning, execution, communicating, and in our sense of service? How will changes in these areas affect his life and how can the media convince him of the benefits? Will the media probing and comments be recognised for what they are, professional pursuit? Whether in the Euro-American media scene or the Socialist East European (old politburo) and Asian countries, senior journalists are at par socially with ministers and senior politicians, and are treated with deference. Not so in Nigeria, where a Special Adviser to President Shagari once referred to an NTA senior journalist as a “mere journalist”. And that was before the proliferation of the “brown envelope” journalism. Incidentally, the term, “brown envelope” was first used in a United Kingdom scandal to describe a monetary inducement, given to a parliamentarian in that country, to raise some sponsored questions in the House. Nigerians did not start this one!
The Nigerian media economy is still relatively impoverished and journalists’ material rewards, dignity and self-esteem do not yet match their responsibility, even though the profession remains quite popular among young Nigerian school leavers. Indeed, it should be attractive and exciting, ordinarily, to be able to uphold the responsibility of government (cf The Nigerian Constitution) or to hold the powerful to account (CNN). And, possibly also, to shape the minds of a nation. In the Nigerian situation, how reasonably will the journalist be supported by his or her employer? How does the academic or professional education of the journalist prepare him or her for these roles?
In 1977 when NTA was established there was no media school in the country besides the University of Nigeria School of Journalism (essentially print) and the UNESCO Mass Communication special diploma project at the University of Lagos. NTA decided to fill the gap and so established a TV College affiliated to the University of Jos with a programme that was designed to equip the entrant or practitioner with a sound academic, and therefore, intellectual (why) foundation and, at the same time, a strong operational (how) muscle. This was before any university in Nigeria began to run Mass Communication courses.
Can Nigeria and Nigerians be outstanding, consistently? In order for the media to lead the populace, it must reach them (coverage), on the one hand, and be credible, on the other. Media outlets in Nigeria are not monolithic in ownership or leaning, and do have different priorities of their own at any time. If the Federal Minister in charge of national orientation were to take the lead, identify certain non-values to “fight” and then carry out a scientific or behavioural study, we could begin to see what roles to assign schools and the media as well as any other groups; it would also be helpful if we could define the gains from the changes and the extent to which individuals can see what is in it for them. The difficulty in this type of approach is that partisanship and ethnic bigotry might be difficult to isolate from the exercise.
The lesson of WAI is that even a military government’s intention could be suspect. The limited success of television’s role in WAI could be a starting point: the media must trust that the government’s hands and intentions are clean and, in any case, they must accept responsibility in the Nigerian project: The issues go beyond the “fight” for a “free press” or for commercial profit. At the same time, a driving body would be required, in the form of an alliance of the media with patriotic and voluntary organisations. They could work even in cells, with the media creatively spreading, monitoring and sharing the good and the bad news.
Vincent I. Maduka is a engineer, broadcaster and pioneer director general of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).
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