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Dr Steve Raymond is the General Overseer of World Healing of Faith Church, Olodi-Apapa, Lagos. Until he answered the divine call years ago to work in God’s vineyard, he was a passionate journalist, whose investigative reports in the dark days of military dictatorship made him a regular guest of the security agencies.

A former reporter with the Newbreed magazine, he was also at various times an editor with the Nigerian Economist, TSM magazine and Abuja Report.

In a recent interview, the veteran journalist lamented that investigative journalism has died in Nigeria. In his words, professionalism has been tossed to the winds even as he regretted that politicians have hijacked the profession. The way out, in his view, is for veteran journalists in the country to urgently organise a seminar where the old and the new crop of journalists would brainstorm on how to move the profession forward.

Investigative journalism
It is obvious that there is no investigative journalism in Nigeria. Investigative journalism is dead in Nigeria. Professionalism has been killed. Mediocrity is reigning now. Corruption in journalism these days is alarming. Those days, we used to pride ourselves with exclusives, but now people write the same thing. In our days, we set our agenda for investigation, but now you can predict tomorrow’s headline. Everybody writes the same thing. It is now like handouts. I feel ashamed when I see such things happening because it is not professionalism. Why should it take investigation of the National Assembly to reveal the scam in the PHCN? It takes EFCC to investigate Ministry of Health.

Journalists and govt
There is no way you can be a good journalist without running against the government. In those days, we were cats and rats with SSS and the police. It is a normal thing. When I was in police detention, I was writing stories from detention. I was not bothered. It was a sacrifice I had to pay for my country. Then we took journalism as a service to the nation and not to enrich ourselves.

My offence was not because the story was not a fact, but because I refused to disclose my source of information. They demanded it and each time I told them no. I would not succumb to disclose my source. They would put me in detention where I would still be getting information even though there were no mobile phones as you have now.

Journalism then and now
To gather information now is easier. Not as risky as it used to be. Sources of information are also easy now. Yet, we don’t have enough news from today’s journalists. Journalists now should do better than us. The facilities are there now. In those days, if I went to Togo for a story, I had to call London or France to get across to Nigeria, but now, with GSM, it is easy. Before, you have to go through NITEL.

Today, news gathering is easier. Journalists of today are shying away from their responsibilities. There’s no creativity or investigation. Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello is yet to come out from her hiding since. What are journalists doing? Why haven’t they discovered her hide out? Why can’t somebody investigate it? Why haven’t journalists searched for her whereabouts before she comes out? That alone can make a cover story. She should tell the world why she has made herself a fugitive in her own country. Again, somebody should have access to EFCC files to tell us if Obasanjo is actually corrupt.

Nigerians want to know if INEC is corrupt. It is not the business of the National Assembly to tell journalists about the health scam. Why are we having correspondents there? Journalists of today are running away from their responsibilities, probably because of the dangers involved in investigative reporting. They are scared of being detained because if you are detained, nobody cares in some cases.

Journalism is not for boys but for men. There is no way a government official will open files and give you the information it contains. Journalists are supposed to uncover the N300 million scam in the Ministry of Education and not the National Assembly. It’s a shame. Your business as a journalist is to have access to the files as long as the information is not against national interest. No matter what, you must consider national interest before you publish a story. If you look at the economic situation as at that time, we were terribly underpaid, compared to now.

We had to trek most of the time. Also, public transport had not improved, as this. How many editors had cars in those days? But today, reporters have fine cars. We were not allowed to receive bribe. Any bribe those days will earn you a sack.

Appreciation? Not for journalists
Brown envelope is bribe. You know official envelope was usually brown in those days. People will put money inside it and give to a journalist. Collecting such money will have impact on the story you are writing. A journalist is not supposed to collect brown envelope. It is very wrong. A journalist is not supposed to be appreciated. Appreciated for what? You are already on a national assignment. So who is to appreciate you? But there is an adage in Nigerian journalism that says a good journalist does not pay for food and drinks.

There is always somebody that will offer to pay your bills. And that determines the level of your success in journalism. Today, people only organise press conferences so that they will have opportunity to tell the readers all sorts of lies. But you don’t publish that without analyzing and verifying what he or she says. I’m not saying that a journalist cannot collect money from his close friend. Your friend is your friend.

The issue of brown envelope is not involved. Even your conscience will tell you if it is brown envelope or not. If people are saying that journalists are poor and that is why they collect brown envelopes, I want to tell them that we were poorer then. We were poor, but the zeal and passion to do the job kept burning in us and by the grace of God, we delivered. In the past, it is an offence to receive a gift as a journalist.

The political emancipation of this country was fought by journalists against the British colonialists until we won. All those times were hard times and people were not as corrupt. There is a saying that journalists never solicit for it. But the practice is rampant because many people who are not journalists provide cheap labour. That is why the information bill should be passed by the National Assembly so as to regulate journalism and also to protect journalists.

Politicians corrupting journalists
Corruption is more pronounced in the political circles. The politicians are corrupting journalists. They have also corrupted the system. Instead of employing professionals, publishers, who are politicians, employ mediocrities. They employed charlatans and all sorts of people and pay them as journalists. These charlatans have no choice but to obey them. Somebody will read Geography or maybe Animal husbandry and he’s an editor. A journalist is supposed to know the rudiments of the profession. Journalism is about expression and not impression. Because somebody studied English does not qualify him or her to be a journalist.

Protection for journalists
Journalists do not have constitutional protection in this country. It has been there since the colonial era. The colonialists made certain laws to protect themselves. What the government or police are fighting for is in the penal code.

They have thrown out the Act. The army only changed it to Decree 2. But I must say that every journalist must be taught press law. Why we had long battles with the government and they could not get at us was because we studied press law. As a crime reporter, you should know the Police Act. As a judicial correspondent, you have to study the law of evidence. We studied press law and we were able to withstand them. I had too many cases both in the police and court, but they never convicted me even for once.

They could not, because I knew the legal aspect. I know my responsibility to the nation and who and what I am writing about. The fact that a story is true does not necessarily mean it should be published. When you have a story, no matter how true, you still have your social responsibility not to publish a story if it will jeopardize the image of our nation and if it can create internal insecurity in the country.

A story can set the whole nation on fire. Another thing is that many news reports express opinion, which is wrong journalism. In news report, you say it as it is. Let the public judge. But today, you even sentence the person. If you look at news reports of the old Daily Times you will see classic news reporting. It was a government paper, yet journalists in the paper were arrested, detained and tortured. If someone looks at Concord journalists of those days, it is not what we are seeing now. These are what made the like of Mike Awoyinfa, Dimgba Igwe and so on. I think there is need to have a conference of veterans so that we all can brainstorm and look for a way forward for journalism in Nigeria.

Exposure
We were the first set of people who were given awards then by Thompson Foundation, London, which was done in conjunction with the Guild of Editors to promote investigative journalism. I joined Newbreed Magazine as a reporter and later rose to Senior Assistant Editor. We were made to spend nine months on studying investigative journalism. Before you can pass the litmus test of the Editor-In-Chief, Chris Okolie, it’s not an easy task. If you pass Okolie’s test, you are a professional.
I left Newbreed for Nigeria Economist as Special Projects Editor. From there I moved to TSM, where I was the Associate Editor, politics, I later joined Abuja Report as the General Editor and from there I went into evangelism.