By Israel Umoh
Today, I don’t only see you as stakeholders selected from a gamut of more than 800 journalists, but also as brethren. As brethren, red blood flows in us, our flesh is Mammalian, we breathe the same oxygen and we feel pain as humans.
Brethren, we played the Biblical Gideon’s card in selecting you to join in the clamour of rebuilding the near-broken walls of media industry in the state. Gideon divided his army into two groups—those who lap the water like a dog and those who kneel down to drink.” Three hundred men scooped up water in their hands and lapped it, and the rest knelt to get a drink. The LORD said, “Gideon, your army will be made up of everyone who lapped the water from their hands. Congratulations to you all who lapped the water to join the battle of healing the sick, redeeming the oppressed and setting the captives free.
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We are aware of a popular dictum: an injury to one is an injury to all, which is a motto popularly used by the Industrial Workers of the World. As a people with one vision and same nerve and desire for a better union, we are here to bring to front burner our pressing goals and challenges in shoring to welfarism.
During the colonial era, our forbears in the profession fought and some journalists went to trenches to down the engine of military Gestapo. Others went to highways to stop maddening traffic and the rest stood on rooftops to sound trumpet of freedom against the gripping dictatorships. Eventually, the doors of political independence and democratic rule were opened and the press was given a space in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).
The Fourth Estate or fourth power referring to the press and news media both in explicit capacity of advocacy and implicit ability to frame political issues is derived from the traditional European concept of the three estates of the realm: the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners. The Victorian writer Thomas Carlyle called the press the ‘Fourth Estate of the Realm’. By this he meant that it acted as a sort of watchdog of the constitution and, as such, formed a vital part of democratic government.
Dear stakeholders, the executive is in the bedroom, the legislature is in the parlour and the Judiciary is in the corridor of power- sharing. Yet, the press (whether fourth or fifth estate of the realm) is seated outside the iron corrugated gate.
This scenario is a sad reminder to the grim picture painted by the Ecclesiastes 10:7 which says “I have seen servants upon horses: and princes walking on the ground as servants.” Though the press is not sin-free, the fact remains that we are consistent propagators of good democratic governance. As you’re aware, we lost four members in a swoop of five days. They died not of old age but probably due to health-related issues.
Yet, government and friends of the media are yet to sing a dirge for them. AKBC where some of members are working is on life support, AKNC (publishers of The Pioneer) is in intensive care unit, most local newspapers are in cemetery with big epitaphs and most private radio and television stations are on asphyxiation due to high cost of components and running costs. Most of our members with relevant qualifications in their career are jobless. Others are grilled with terminal ailments, yet they still beam with smiles.
In line with our constitutional role to hold government accountable to the people, I want us to beam our search-lights on the need for governance both at the Federal and state levels. What are the issues we should ask the governments to focus to enhance good governance and cushion the hardships facing Nigerians. I leave the suggestions to you all.
As the Biblical Eunuch told Philip “Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?” so do I enjoin you that there are many ailments afflicting us and many logs on our path to progress, but we must rise as one to clear things tending to sink us and besmirch our profession.
So, feel free to volunteer your candid opinion(s) in no-hold-barred but rancour-free manner during this summit on the theme: The State of the Media In Akwa Ibom State: The Way Forward.
Thank you and welcome to this epochal summit.
An address by Israel Umoh, co- Chairman of the occasion during Akwa Ibom State Media Stakeholders Summit 2024 held at NUJ Press Centre, Uyo on Friday, 20 September, 2024
