The Nigerian Guild of Editors on Thursday warned that the country was close to the tipping point over the rising level of insecurity in the country, and warned the nation cannot continue on its current trajectory.
Mustapha Isah, NGE president, declared this in Abuja at the start of the 17th All Nigeria Editors Conference, an annual event organized by the Guild.
“There’s no doubting the fact that insecurity is one of the major challenges facing Nigeria today. The entire country is engulfed in one form of crisis or the other,” Isah said.
“Every day, front pages of newspapers are replete with headlines bordering on insurgency, banditry, kidnappings on the highways and schools, farmers/herders clashes, as well as the activities of known and unknown gunmen. Lives are being lost, the economy is bleeding, and scarce resources, which, ordinarily should have been used to address the nation’s infrastructure deficit, are being deployed to tackle the security challenges. The nation can’t continue like this,” he warned.
The theme of the conference is “Media in times of crises: Resolving conflicts, achieving consensus”.
“The media can’t afford to be aloof at this time of a national crisis. We have to be part of the solution to insecurity which has become an existential threat to this great nation”, Isah said.
He beckoned on his colleagues to have a resolution from the gathering to be part of the solution to the nation’s daunting challenges and reminded them of the resilience for which the Nigerian media is known in facing such challenges.
“We played a major role in the fight against colonial rule. We were at the forefront of the fight for the restoration of democracy. That fight led to the death of some journalists, with others imprisoned and media houses shut. So, we are currently facing another national crisis and the media should play a significant role in finding solutions through our consensus-building and agenda-setting roles.
“I want to pose a few questions: Should the media play up the occasional successes of insurgents and bandits against our military? Shouldn’t the media deliberately give adequate publicity to the gains of our dedicated military personnel against the bad guys disturbing the peace of this nation?
“Should we give more attention to the voices of those calling for division or those calling for unity?
“I don’t have specific answers to these questions, and I do hope that this important conference will find the answers. But one thing I know is that terrorists and bandits need publicity to sustain their nefarious activities. Denying them that much-needed oxygen will be beneficial to Nigeria”, he stated.
The meeting is taking place a few days after a journalist, Vanguard Newspaper’s National Assembly Correspondent, Tordue Henry Salem went missing on his way from work in Abuja.
Isah called on the security agencies to urgently find the missing journalist. “We are worried and his family is traumatized. No effort should be spared in locating his whereabouts”, he said to an audience where the nation’s security agencies were fully represented.
The nation’s police chief, the Inspector-General of Police Usman Baba Alkali, was represented by Force Public Relations Officer FPRO, Commissioner of Police Frank Mba, and lauded the relationship between the media and the Police.
“The only two professions that you find them running towards disaster or emergencies when the rest of the public are running away are security agencies and the media.
“I want to appeal to you in the spirit of the theme of this conference to continue to help us in not just reporting the crises but also going on to diagnose the crises; not just diagnosing the crises but going on to make critical suggestions on how the crises can be dealt with. And even when the crises or a situation of conflict probably manages to slip through your radar or our radar, do us a favour of carrying detailed post-mortem of those conflicts so that we can learn our lessons and move forward,” he said.
“Anambra election is around the corner. We will be appealing to distinguished members of the Guild to do all in their power to use the media to take some of the emerging crises, find consensus, tackle the issues of hate speeches, unfair media coverage of some of the contestants, and support the Police and the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC in delivering a free, fair and credible election”, he said.
Also represented at the event was the D-G of the Department of State Services, Yusuf Magaji Bichi, who was represented by , Dr Peter Afunanya spokesman for the Spy Police. He asked the unmask the group commonly referred to as “unknown gunmen” and call them by their names.
“We are confronted today by the menace and challenges of secession, banditry, and kidnapping. Why for instance, will an editor continue to call or not call those who are involved in the destruction of lives and property by their names? Who are unknown gunmen? If you know them, and I think you should know who they are, call them by who they are. Call them by their names because like one of the speakers had earlier said, terrorism thrives on publicity”, he said.
