By Dele Ogbodo
Human Rights activist and Public Affairs Commentator, Barr. Frank Tietie, Thursday revealed that a far greater percentage of Nigerian Journalists
are no longer interested in investigative journalism because of the ‘cash for report’ culture that has permeated the fabrics of the profession.
Tietie, who is an Executive Director with the Citizens Advocacy for Social/Economic Rights (CASER), an Abuja based Civil Society Organization (CSO), in an interview granted SHARPEDGENEWSOnline, said, aside the lack of capacity in the application and deployment of the Freedom of Information Act (FoI), on the part of the reporter, he/she is also compounded with a suffocating and de-motivating environment which has conspired to seriously hamper the free flow of information to Nigerians.
Most journalists, the public affairs analyst, averred are no longer interested in investigative journalism and as such wouldn’t find the FoI Act needful, helpful and exciting, as according to him, the media space has become largely unregulated and compromised even as it has become an all comers affair, he added.
Professionalism is therefore at its low ebb, explaining further that practitioners are no longer interested in the ethics as many have no monthly take home and therefore standard set by the Nigerian Press Council/Nigerian Union of Journalists is thrown overboard.
When and where most media houses cannot pay salaries, the practitioners get disconnected from the standard practice which gives room for lack of thoroughness or motivation to do proper investigative on issues that affect the larger society, Tietie, said.
He advocated that media owners should roll up their sleeves against head winds by paying them salaries and also training them on the consciousness and application of the Act, as according to him, if the FoI instrument is properly deployed, Nigerians will witness a transparent and open governance.
He said: “The journalist has been seriously discouraged, perhaps that is why they are not pushing or holding MDAs accountable any longer. Beyond the deliberate frustration that they have received as practitioners, they have not pushed beyond the routine press briefing and statements from the ones who can deliver the usual honorarium or transport fare.”
Tietie, also acknowledged that there is lull, a slow down in use of the FOI provisions by the media because of the several frustrations they have received over the years.
“One will look forward to a resurgence of the excitement that heralded the Act after its enactment in 2011. It was too good to be true at that time where CSOs gathered many times to brainstorm on how to apply and in fact did apply the FOI Act but all of those applications were met with so much frustrations and as we speak even in 2018.” he said.
However, he underscores the fact that the environment in which the Nigerian journalist operates is also depressing and demoralizing, he stressed: “The situation is very difficult because of the attitude of the public or civil servants who are used to secrecy, who want to play safe believing that it is abnormal to release information whereas the reverse is the case.”
According to him, the Nigerian Constitution provides that Nigerians should be given free access to information by virtue of Section 22 of the Constitution which mandates the media to report correct information to the people and for it to do this, it must have access to correct information, which Tietie said is very difficult to source especially with regards to budget implementation or public procurement which.
The lawyer also accused the judiciary of operating in some measure of secrecy stressing that even though by section 36 of the Constitution mandates that its proceedings ought to be in public domain.
“The media are not also allowed to report the full proceedings of the court, so this is an area for the media to throw its searchlight into just like it records the proceedings of the National Assembly and some activities of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meetings. It should also be able to report the proceedings of court, they should take picture of the courts especially in cases regarding to terrorism and corruption. The press should have access to report them both electronically and in print or online.” He said.
British Broadcasting Cooperation (BBC), Staff Reporter (Igbo Language), Mr. Chiagozie Nwonwu, while speaking at the margin at the just concluded British Council Capacity Development workshop, organized for journalists in Abuja, corroborated Tietie’s opinion, saying: Most Nigerian journalists are indeed ignorant of the FoI Act.
According to him, the average Nigerian journalist is not interested in investing his time and resources to dig deep into issues that may count out to be of national importance.
He said: “The average practitioner is to write now, not bothering to do further research and follow up on issues. The reporter needs the power in that law and how they can use it for the benefit of the larger society.”