Don urges media to focus on solutions, development journalism
By Emmanuel Afonne
Prof. Philip Afaha, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Administration, University of Abuja (UniAbuja), has urged journalists to go a step further in reporting solutions rather than focusing only on the problems of the society.
Afaha made the call on Thursday in Abuja at the unveiling and presentation of Nigeria Today Magazine, published by Mr Eze Chikamnayo, a former Commissioner for Information in Abia.
He said that the situation in the country did not need to be escalated by negative reportage but rather attention should be geared towards reports that would proffer solutions to the problems and challenges of the nation.
“Journalism is not about tearing people down; journalism is not about criticising the government; we already know the problems.
“Everybody in Nigeria, from two year old, knows the problem of Nigeria.
“We know there is no light; we know the roads are bad; we know that the dollar has gone up and the naira has fallen and we do not need to amplify these things to the point of bringing down this country.
“We know that Nigeria doesn’t have an airline; what we need is solutions journalism; what are we to do at this point having found ourselves in a precarious situation; we are on a precipice, what do we do?
“If the Judiciary cannot bring solutions to us and politicians cannot also bring solutions, then the media should step in and report solutions.
“The politicians are waiting to learn from development journalism and those solutions to the problems; even in the university, we are waiting for the media to bring the conversation on solutions journalism,” he said.
Afaha, who tasked the media to take up the challenge of preaching solutions and development journalism, noted that the media was central to the development of any nation.
According to him, the conventional media can easily affect social media more than government regulations since the world looks up to them.
He, therefore, urged the Chief Executive Officer/Publisher of the magazine to focus more on development and solutions journalism.
Sen. Austin Akobundu, representing Abia Central, said the rigour associated with publishing especially magazines was enormous because it was a mixture of journalistic and analytic prowess.
Akobundu urged the publisher of the magazine to be responsive, objective and professional in carrying out his duties especially at this difficult time, to ensure quality.
“Nigeria today needs concerted and constructive voices to help rescue it from the hole we find ourselves in; these are reasons Nigeria Today Magazine became relevant at this particular time,” he said.
President, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr Chris Isiguzo, commended the publisher of the magazine, Chikamnayo, for believing in free press.
Isiguzo urged the promoters of the magazine to be impartial and apolitical to ensure it served as a platform for informed discourse, constructive dialogue and positive change in our beloved country.
“I want to believe that it is not going to be a platform that will be used to destroy Nigeria because we have already identified our problems, challenges and the crises facing all of us.
“This time around, we cannot continue to highlight them but we must engage in development and solutions journalism.
“It is not about a system where you wake up every day and open the magazine to see headlines like kidnapping, killings, insurgency, insecurity, armed banditry, farmers-headers crisis, unknown gunmen and militancy.
“We must use this platform to seek solutions and come up with fresh strategies on how to solve our problems,” Isiguzo said.
He called on the owners of the magazine not to use the medium to de-market the country as Nigerian media must not blow things out of proportion.
In his remarks, Chikamnayo said he was inspired to establish the media outfit by the avalanche of sentiments in the country as professionalism appeared to have been sacrificed for mediocrity.
“As a journalist, the first thing you learn in journalism school is objectivity; we must listen to all sides at all times to ensure balancing and objectivity in our reports.
“Social media has done so much damage to the society and journalism profession to the extent that everybody can invade that space and ventilate all manner of detrimental information.
“Retrogression is the result we see today; even though there are various platforms, there is now scarcity of information and preponderance of disinformation.
“If you have 39 sources of information in an environment today, chances are that 29 of them are actively dishing out disinformation, bais, sentiments and at times deliberate falsehood.
“And all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to keep quiet and to do nothing; so, all we need to do is to launch back aggressively in favour of truth, balance and objectivity.”
He said that irrespective of the problems and challenges the country was facing and the need to find solutions, the media must make it a point of duty to speak truth to the leaders.
“It takes courage to speak truth to power and without that the power will corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
“As a journalist, the solution to our problems is objectivity, balance, truth and standing on the side of the people of Nigeria who are suffering.
“For Nigeria Today Magazine, let us have one credible, responsible and objective platform that will continue to tell the truth to all manner of people without hate or hindrance,” he said. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
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Edited by Chijioke Okoronkwo
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