Some of us are beginning to get highly pissed off with the way we run the affairs of our country. Our style and patterns increasingly assume the features of the absurd. We claim to be the giant of Africa, which should mean positive leadership examples in all endeavors of life. We boast of having the best and highest number of trained human resource capital but all these doesn’t appear to reflect in how we take on our developmental march. We like to imitate but when everything is put together it would seem we have become experts at taking on those things that don’t add value but rather debase or even retard.
As you read this the world that used to take us very seriously some years back no longer does. None should ask me why. The truth is that daily our society falls deeper into the classification of a failed state, government inability to govern its component parts magnifies, governmental institutions and agencies fight each other to a finish, the economy is closing rather than expanding and offering opportunities for self-actualization. More than ever before we are reaping evils of negative political culture. Human lives are no longer sacred and become so cheap that lives of animals matter so much more.
In this kind of atmosphere naturally the people should have a lot to say; expressions should be encouraged, dialogue and consensus pursued as a matter of deliberate option. There is nothing new in the stage of development where we have found ourselves except that we have refused to understand where we are and options available, drawing especially from history. Rather our leaders have chosen to run on base instinct and the fear factor. I don’t want to heighten apprehension by saying I perceive in addition a hidden agenda. Yet, the choice of limiting the scope of freedom of speech and even dissent should worry any true democrat in our midst. More so, African countries are beginning to return to the discredited era of Messiah ridership as we currently see in Ivory Coast, Togo and Guinea, not forgetting Uganda too.
Penultimate week, the country’s Information Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, a lawyer on behalf of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government rolled out a new broadcast code designed to improve service delivery on the sector. The code has quite some interesting provisions but inside it is an obviously obnoxious regulation which criminalizes free speech. The new rule says any station that airs what passes for “hate speech” would be liable to a fine of N5 million, up from N500,000 also introduced by this administration. Lai Mohammed told reporters during the week that the former penalty was too low and for that reason persons and stations continued to “infringe” on the law.
First thing to note is that Lai Mohammed and the administration masked their interest. The concern was never to improve services but to create right atmosphere to gag citizens against consequences of poor governance. It was clearly the case of the devil putting out good intentions first before the hurts begin. This approach is not acceptable. Second and most important would be that what the government has done from the back door is clearly against constitutional provisions which explicitly grant citizens freedom of expression. From what we have seen elsewhere and what can be gleaned from judicial pronouncements here and in other places, an obscure regulation cannot from the side take away what the Constitution with eyes very open has granted the people. The other point would be who defines what amounts to hate speech? Who determines what can malign a person or group or words that can provoke civil disorder?
Inside the government’s move can be found her fears and intentions. More than any other time the broadcast media had come under intense scrutiny and outright harassments. The National Broadcasting Commission has been very active including over use of the rules on fine. Since this administration came in, hate speech has been of more concern that hate actions. One would think that in a democratic society that desires progress, attention should be rather expended on making justiciable issues of poor governance particularly failure to meet promises instead of gagging the people.
Jibes are natural to society and have remained part of political growth and would remain so. Red Indians, owners of the American land, were abused and genocidal acts perpetuated against them. Government sought a change by enlightenment and then affirmative actions. Blacks till tomorrow are called “nigger “or “monkey” and for over 400 they have been cursing, marching and even destroying values, yet America didn’t enact a law to say don’t talk or curse. Rather it legally expanded the frontiers of freedom of speech and cast a ring round it with a provision that no new rule by whatever nature should seek to chop off the gain recorded by the Constitution in that regard. That society elected Barack Obama, a black as President of the world’s most powerful nation. This week the Democratic Party picked a black woman as vice presidential candidate for the polls coming up in November. Compare that to the path this administration is taking us through. Fears of a section should never be turned into laws of the country especially for a plural one like ours; this is not saying that such concerns should not be addressed. They should but in ways that don’t make others look like slaves.
It is time we stopped none media persons from occupying commanding heights of information management. Information management is far more than being loquacious, making statements and issuing press releases. Its core is in editorial policies such as Lai Mohammed just misunderstood and mismanaged so terribly, seeing solutions only from points of law even where enlightenment could suffice. Our media representatives at top levels may not be faring well, yet truth is that their commissions and omissions are enriching experience. Lai’s insertion should be expunged with immediate effect. He must remove that ugly knee from our neck, so our people can breathe.
Fulton J Sheen said and I agree: “The refusal to take sides on a great moral issue is itself a decision. It is a silent acquiescence to evil.” If one may ask: where is the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Nigeria Guild of Editors and Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria?