Pendulum: The Threat Against Broadcast Media In Nigeria

By Dele Momodu

Fellow Nigerians, I was supposed to give the speech, largely
reproduced below, two days ago in Ibadan, but I was in Accra,
Ghana, so opted to speak via Zoom. The occasion was the seminar on
Broadcast Media and National Security organised by the Foundation
for Ibadan Television Anniversary celebration at the Press Centre
in Iyaganku. Unfortunately, man proposes but God disposes, as the
saying goes. The event was to start at 10.00am in Nigeria and
9.00am in Ghana. I was very ready but the event itself was not
ready in Ibadan. And when it finally took off, the highly
distinguished speakers took the stage for a very long time. Since I
had other engagements in Ghana, I couldn’t give the speech
eventually. Being a topic that is very topical and germane to our
present situation, I decided to edit and publish it on this page.
The revised version now appears below.

“It is most pleasing to be part of this celebration. The
celebration is heartening for rekindling memories of a legacy, and
eye opening, for reminding us of the promises of the future, if we
learn from our past. It is a celebration that helps recollections
of the past and engenders reflections towards understanding the
present and aids us to interpret what the future portends. It
teaches us loads of lessons on the vision of leadership, the
strength of implementation, and the purpose of governance. It could
also tickle our imaginations on the ambivalence of the present
government, for not getting things right, despite the salutary
seminal wisdom that should have been gained from past experiences.
Added to this is why things seem to have been easier and better in
the past, except for a few aberrations, and if at all we can do
anything to correct our preference for the past over the present,
regarding performance and accomplishment.

The noble efforts of the organisers are remarkable, and it is
the reason we would not let an opportunity for evaluation slip
past. The event can create a prospect for conversations around the
progress the broadcast media has made, or has not made, and how the
operation of the industry is affecting governance, or our growth
and development effort.

I thank you most profoundly for the privilege of speaking on the
topic, Broadcast Media and National Security, just as I look
forward to a robust conversation on the subject and on related
matters. It is trite to acknowledge that the Foundation for Ibadan
Television Anniversary Celebration (FITAC), for helping us travel
the memory lane, recollecting the historic commissioning of the
Western Nigeria Television Station (WNTV), in Ibadan, October 31,
1959, by the legendary Premier of the then Western Region, Chief
Obafemi Awolowo.

That feat was the first in Africa, and a step in advancing
information dissemination from the audio-visual prism, and when
media and communication was still ascending. Chief Awolowo
established the station on the back of early developments in
technologies of communication. Before then, the world had been a
witness to the print media, the telegraph, the radio, the
telephone, and then the Black-and-White TV. The world was yet to
imagine the coloured television, satellite broadcasting, the
Internet, and international mobile telephony. It was also a time
when we were still imminently expecting political independence, and
when you would imagine that technological and political
circumstances were unfavourable to innovations.

Regardless, the late sage pulled through the psychological and
physical barriers to see tomorrow. In seeing the day after, he
envisaged the flux of instruments of communication and the need to
not just ensure the region’s integration into global communication
patterns and peculiarities, but to share exposure to information,
awareness and education, through a nascent audio-visual device. It
is why Chief Awolowo’s great legacy will remain everlasting, and
the more reason his vision will always be a lesson for remarkable
and memorable leadership.

It is also the reason this celebration is worth our while,
consistent with the importance of contextualizing processes, as a
precursor to further efforts. I congratulate us once more, on this
auspicious anniversary, just as I salute your wisdom for asking us
to practically look at the relationship between Broadcast Media and
National Security.

To do this examination, we should understand that the broadcast
media is a media genre, entailing the electronic spread of
information, using signals, audio, and video to a diverse audience
over disparate places and spaces, and on different scales. The
technique can include print, emails, texts, and nowadays through
the digital and the internet media. The context of broadcasting has
grown in sophistication from the simpler variant of audio-visual
rendition of news to involve a convergence of methods like print,
texts, emails, and on a variegated platform. The growth is easy
because of the rise in technologies of communication and humanity’s
predilection for creativity, in the bid to cope with nature,
minimise the disadvantage of distance and to share real time
information over locations, in picturesque formats.

Due to its peculiar features, broadcasting media may invalidate
distance, provide a sense of immediacy, and grow the feelings of
co-presences. The multiple opportunity to watch, listen, read and
revert, exemplifies the Broadcast Media as another tool for
governance, and a determiner and instrument of national security.
Though the concept of national security has been defined in
different ways, it envisages the extent to which a sovereignty
nation prioritises its safety, besides the steps taken to guarantee
this. National Security is therefore about stability in the polity,
progress, the predictability of a socio-political and economic
system, and the measures deployed to actualise them.

The broadcast media is on the other hand a veritable tool of
governance, for helping the diffusion of information, the
ingraining of awareness and the provision of knowledge on issues.
Doing this is significant for edification, the creation of citizen
understanding, and the fostering of inclusion, integration and
involvement. A salutary process of using the media genre in the
manner that is consistent with a constitutional expectation of
satisfying the wellbeing of the people through good governance
would outline the Broadcast media in the positive light.

Deploying these media alternatives for hate, division, inciting
violence, and much else means an improper use of the media variant.
For its power of picturesque rendition of information, in real time
and across distances, the broadcast media can be effective in
instantaneous communication, and including the dispersal of message
intent. It can also be otherwise if the intent is mischievous,
unsalutary and unsavoury. What matters is motive and the control
system.

In a free society, the broadcast media can stimulate thoughts,
be used as simulation of present and future propensities and expand
understanding for the appreciation of governance and the course of
national security. This is less so in an unfree system, where
thoughts are controlled and only in line with the authority’s whims
and caprices. This challenges and implicates the human element in
the application of Broadcast Media character to the maintenance or
substance of a national security ecosystem. In cautioning against
the negative application of the character regardless, we need to
understand that the media is, overall, a marketplace of ideas. In
this market, we welcome all, subject to interests and the
mechanisms for sieving content. An appreciation of this, especially
in a democracy, is often always helpful for national security.

Deviations are a prerequisite for multiple opposition,
dissenters, unrests, and a shrinking of the civic space. That space
is the public sphere, the space of ventilation, where citizens are
symbolic participants in the governance process.

The media, particularly the broadcast media has a vital role to
play in the political sphere of any nation, more so that of a
developing nation like Nigeria. When properly deployed the
broadcast media is to be used as a complement to national security.
For example, in the halcyon days of military coups, it was the
broadcast media that was the essential tool and ally of the
successful or unsuccessful coup plotter. Capture and control the
airwaves and you were guaranteed success. Fail in this mighty task
and you were doomed as Lt. Colonel Buka Suka Dimka discovered to
his chagrin in February 1976.

However, in Nigeria the converse seems to have been the case
mainly because the broadcast media has been largely controlled by
the State. Even when there have been private entities and
practitioners competing with the government-controlled media, the
National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has stepped in to whittle
the independence of these private organisations and thus diminish
and belittle freedom of speech and democracy. Several instances
abound, but those that I will briefly mention are the attacks on
AIT with regard to their coverage of the 2015 elections and their
portrayal of the then APC Presidential candidate, now President
Buhari, the recent debacle involving Channels Television on account
of the disclosures by Retired Navy Commodore Kunle Olawunmi about
the sponsors of the terrorist group, Boko Haram, and the protection
they enjoy in this present dispensation, and of course the
notorious manner in which government tried to manipulate the
broadcast media during the EndSARs protest. The positive side was
the influence of social media, a genre of the broadcast media, in
standing firm and resolute to inform and to defend our collective
national security interests during that particular protest.

The media has then turned to being seen as a demonic body
capable of scuttling the nefarious activities of whoever is our
leader at the time, because of our penchant for demonstrating
allegiance to personalities rather than the country and its
institutions. It is this proclivity that has contributed to the
great morass of inefficiency and incompetence that we find
ourselves in where our national security is concerned.

The national security challenges which we now face is legion,
scary and potentially damning and cataclysmic for our country. Now
is the time to utilise the instrument and instrumentality of the
broadcast media to disseminate information and educate the people
about the national security threats that we face and implore the
people to stand firm and cooperate in rooting out the terrorists
and bandit, evil perpetrators of this nefarious and dastardly
activities. We have the advantage of the social media network which
is a new adjunct of the broadcast media family. Their reach is
simply unbelievable and mind-boggling. Social media is a veritable
tool to be sued in fighting the war against insurrection, terrorism
and banditry. It can however only be meaningful deployed by a
government that appreciates its attributes and not one that is
willing to shut it down because it cannot stand the scrutiny and
criticism that emanates from this genre.

The titanic Chief Awolowo recognised more than 60 years ago,
even before then, and much afterwards, that broadcast media and
national security are complementary features and institutions to be
deployed for greater national development and unity, through
information and education and was not to be used as a tool of
repression and suppression leading to his multi-levelled and varied
legacies in the media space. The onus is on present leaders to
learn from the lessons of the past to grow our democracy, trigger
development and consolidate our national security. The time to act
is now. I congratulate us all, once more, on this anniversary, just
as I wish us all joyful celebrations.

God bless you all.

God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

By Dele Momodu

Fellow Nigerians, I was supposed to give the speech, largely
reproduced below, two days ago in Ibadan, but I was in Accra,
Ghana, so opted to speak via Zoom. The occasion was the seminar on
Broadcast Media and National Security organised by the Foundation
for Ibadan Television Anniversary celebration at the Press Centre
in Iyaganku. Unfortunately, man proposes but God disposes, as the
saying goes. The event was to start at 10.00am in Nigeria and
9.00am in Ghana. I was very ready but the event itself was not
ready in Ibadan. And when it finally took off, the highly
distinguished speakers took the stage for a very long time. Since I
had other engagements in Ghana, I couldn’t give the speech
eventually. Being a topic that is very topical and germane to our
present situation, I decided to edit and publish it on this page.
The revised version now appears below.

“It is most pleasing to be part of this celebration. The
celebration is heartening for rekindling memories of a legacy, and
eye opening, for reminding us of the promises of the future, if we
learn from our past. It is a celebration that helps recollections
of the past and engenders reflections towards understanding the
present and aids us to interpret what the future portends. It
teaches us loads of lessons on the vision of leadership, the
strength of implementation, and the purpose of governance. It could
also tickle our imaginations on the ambivalence of the present
government, for not getting things right, despite the salutary
seminal wisdom that should have been gained from past experiences.
Added to this is why things seem to have been easier and better in
the past, except for a few aberrations, and if at all we can do
anything to correct our preference for the past over the present,
regarding performance and accomplishment.

The noble efforts of the organisers are remarkable, and it is
the reason we would not let an opportunity for evaluation slip
past. The event can create a prospect for conversations around the
progress the broadcast media has made, or has not made, and how the
operation of the industry is affecting governance, or our growth
and development effort.

I thank you most profoundly for the privilege of speaking on the
topic, Broadcast Media and National Security, just as I look
forward to a robust conversation on the subject and on related
matters. It is trite to acknowledge that the Foundation for Ibadan
Television Anniversary Celebration (FITAC), for helping us travel
the memory lane, recollecting the historic commissioning of the
Western Nigeria Television Station (WNTV), in Ibadan, October 31,
1959, by the legendary Premier of the then Western Region, Chief
Obafemi Awolowo.

That feat was the first in Africa, and a step in advancing
information dissemination from the audio-visual prism, and when
media and communication was still ascending. Chief Awolowo
established the station on the back of early developments in
technologies of communication. Before then, the world had been a
witness to the print media, the telegraph, the radio, the
telephone, and then the Black-and-White TV. The world was yet to
imagine the coloured television, satellite broadcasting, the
Internet, and international mobile telephony. It was also a time
when we were still imminently expecting political independence, and
when you would imagine that technological and political
circumstances were unfavourable to innovations.

Regardless, the late sage pulled through the psychological and
physical barriers to see tomorrow. In seeing the day after, he
envisaged the flux of instruments of communication and the need to
not just ensure the region’s integration into global communication
patterns and peculiarities, but to share exposure to information,
awareness and education, through a nascent audio-visual device. It
is why Chief Awolowo’s great legacy will remain everlasting, and
the more reason his vision will always be a lesson for remarkable
and memorable leadership.

It is also the reason this celebration is worth our while,
consistent with the importance of contextualizing processes, as a
precursor to further efforts. I congratulate us once more, on this
auspicious anniversary, just as I salute your wisdom for asking us
to practically look at the relationship between Broadcast Media and
National Security.

To do this examination, we should understand that the broadcast
media is a media genre, entailing the electronic spread of
information, using signals, audio, and video to a diverse audience
over disparate places and spaces, and on different scales. The
technique can include print, emails, texts, and nowadays through
the digital and the internet media. The context of broadcasting has
grown in sophistication from the simpler variant of audio-visual
rendition of news to involve a convergence of methods like print,
texts, emails, and on a variegated platform. The growth is easy
because of the rise in technologies of communication and humanity’s
predilection for creativity, in the bid to cope with nature,
minimise the disadvantage of distance and to share real time
information over locations, in picturesque formats.

Due to its peculiar features, broadcasting media may invalidate
distance, provide a sense of immediacy, and grow the feelings of
co-presences. The multiple opportunity to watch, listen, read and
revert, exemplifies the Broadcast Media as another tool for
governance, and a determiner and instrument of national security.
Though the concept of national security has been defined in
different ways, it envisages the extent to which a sovereignty
nation prioritises its safety, besides the steps taken to guarantee
this. National Security is therefore about stability in the polity,
progress, the predictability of a socio-political and economic
system, and the measures deployed to actualise them.

The broadcast media is on the other hand a veritable tool of
governance, for helping the diffusion of information, the
ingraining of awareness and the provision of knowledge on issues.
Doing this is significant for edification, the creation of citizen
understanding, and the fostering of inclusion, integration and
involvement. A salutary process of using the media genre in the
manner that is consistent with a constitutional expectation of
satisfying the wellbeing of the people through good governance
would outline the Broadcast media in the positive light.

Deploying these media alternatives for hate, division, inciting
violence, and much else means an improper use of the media variant.
For its power of picturesque rendition of information, in real time
and across distances, the broadcast media can be effective in
instantaneous communication, and including the dispersal of message
intent. It can also be otherwise if the intent is mischievous,
unsalutary and unsavoury. What matters is motive and the control
system.

In a free society, the broadcast media can stimulate thoughts,
be used as simulation of present and future propensities and expand
understanding for the appreciation of governance and the course of
national security. This is less so in an unfree system, where
thoughts are controlled and only in line with the authority’s whims
and caprices. This challenges and implicates the human element in
the application of Broadcast Media character to the maintenance or
substance of a national security ecosystem. In cautioning against
the negative application of the character regardless, we need to
understand that the media is, overall, a marketplace of ideas. In
this market, we welcome all, subject to interests and the
mechanisms for sieving content. An appreciation of this, especially
in a democracy, is often always helpful for national security.

Deviations are a prerequisite for multiple opposition,
dissenters, unrests, and a shrinking of the civic space. That space
is the public sphere, the space of ventilation, where citizens are
symbolic participants in the governance process.

The media, particularly the broadcast media has a vital role to
play in the political sphere of any nation, more so that of a
developing nation like Nigeria. When properly deployed the
broadcast media is to be used as a complement to national security.
For example, in the halcyon days of military coups, it was the
broadcast media that was the essential tool and ally of the
successful or unsuccessful coup plotter. Capture and control the
airwaves and you were guaranteed success. Fail in this mighty task
and you were doomed as Lt. Colonel Buka Suka Dimka discovered to
his chagrin in February 1976.

However, in Nigeria the converse seems to have been the case
mainly because the broadcast media has been largely controlled by
the State. Even when there have been private entities and
practitioners competing with the government-controlled media, the
National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has stepped in to whittle
the independence of these private organisations and thus diminish
and belittle freedom of speech and democracy. Several instances
abound, but those that I will briefly mention are the attacks on
AIT with regard to their coverage of the 2015 elections and their
portrayal of the then APC Presidential candidate, now President
Buhari, the recent debacle involving Channels Television on account
of the disclosures by Retired Navy Commodore Kunle Olawunmi about
the sponsors of the terrorist group, Boko Haram, and the protection
they enjoy in this present dispensation, and of course the
notorious manner in which government tried to manipulate the
broadcast media during the EndSARs protest. The positive side was
the influence of social media, a genre of the broadcast media, in
standing firm and resolute to inform and to defend our collective
national security interests during that particular protest.

The media has then turned to being seen as a demonic body
capable of scuttling the nefarious activities of whoever is our
leader at the time, because of our penchant for demonstrating
allegiance to personalities rather than the country and its
institutions. It is this proclivity that has contributed to the
great morass of inefficiency and incompetence that we find
ourselves in where our national security is concerned.

The national security challenges which we now face is legion,
scary and potentially damning and cataclysmic for our country. Now
is the time to utilise the instrument and instrumentality of the
broadcast media to disseminate information and educate the people
about the national security threats that we face and implore the
people to stand firm and cooperate in rooting out the terrorists
and bandit, evil perpetrators of this nefarious and dastardly
activities. We have the advantage of the social media network which
is a new adjunct of the broadcast media family. Their reach is
simply unbelievable and mind-boggling. Social media is a veritable
tool to be sued in fighting the war against insurrection, terrorism
and banditry. It can however only be meaningful deployed by a
government that appreciates its attributes and not one that is
willing to shut it down because it cannot stand the scrutiny and
criticism that emanates from this genre.

The titanic Chief Awolowo recognised more than 60 years ago,
even before then, and much afterwards, that broadcast media and
national security are complementary features and institutions to be
deployed for greater national development and unity, through
information and education and was not to be used as a tool of
repression and suppression leading to his multi-levelled and varied
legacies in the media space. The onus is on present leaders to
learn from the lessons of the past to grow our democracy, trigger
development and consolidate our national security. The time to act
is now. I congratulate us all, once more, on this anniversary, just
as I wish us all joyful celebrations.

God bless you all.

God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”