Press Freedom: Buhari turns a new leaf, says aide
Femi Adesina, the Senior Assistant on Media to President Muhammadu Buhari has said that his principal who gagged and shackled the press through Decree 4 in 1984 when he, Buhari was military head of state has turned a new leaf.
Adesina who spoke in Lagos at the unveiling of new book on media – Nigerian media leaders: voices beyond the newsroom edited by Richard Ikiebe, a media scholar said Buhari is now a converted democrat and champion of freedom of that same press as the president now sees the media as a vital building block in national development.
“Instead of an adversary, President Muhammadu Buhari, has turned full circle to see the media as allies, critical partners in the quest to build a worthy new Nigeria, a country that can hold its head high in the comity of nations”.
“Thirty years after he had been ousted in a military coup, President Buhari rode back to power on the wings of change and popular acclaim, this year. And contrary to the disposition in his first coming, when he felt that freedom of the press must be tampered with, the President has turned full circle. His democratic convictions have also come with a realization, understanding and appreciation of the roles of a free media in the evolution of a new Nigeria. The President is now in a democratic mode, and has asked for the right hand of fellowship of the media”.
Adesina said the president who last week held a mini summit of ECOWAS in Abuja, to fashion a way out of the Burkina Faso conundrum, where the military recently took over power said the president allowed him to attend the book launch because of the significance of the book, wondering that “ thirty years ago, it is doubtful whether that would have happened. I believe this signposts the new reality in the relationship between government and media in the country”.
To ensure that the media-government relationship is well cemented, Adesina who was the president of Guild of Editors said “None of the president’s media aides is so big that the media does not have direct access to us. None of us is so sequestered from reality that we do not engage with the media and provide relevant information. Why are we then there to interface on behalf of our principal, if the media, particularly, cannot reach us? The whole idea is to let the public know what is going on, and in a timely manner, too”
Adesina who however recognized the importance of criticism said the government is not for a compliant, patronizing, manipulated and manipulative media as that will be a tragedy for any country. “In fact, woe to the country that does not have critics, as the people would all sleep, and face the same direction. Just as The Guardian Newspaper had observed in a recent editorial,” rebuilding the nation is best done with constructive criticisms.”
He said the government would appreciate such constructive criticisms, and so does not seek a media that is in bed with officialdom, but desires one that is a partner, not a forsworn adversary.
On the book, he welcomed the work as a landmark saying that the author, Richard Ikiebe did not only bemoan the almost complete absence of home grown books on Nigerian media history but he did something about it.
Also in his comment, the chairman of the occasion, Ajibola Ogunshola, ex-chairman of Punch Newspapers commended Guild of Editors and Pan-Atlantic University for partnering Ikiebe saying this signposts a template for future collaboration.
He urged Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria, Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria, Guild of Editors, Nigerian Union of Journalists and the newly formed Association of Communication Scholars and Practitioners to follow this laudable example.
APC spokesman Lai Mohammed emphasized the contribution of the media in brief remarks at the event. He said the party was in full support of the book launch in appreciation of the role of the media in bringing about the change of government. Media proprietors, editors and experts who gathered at the unveiling of the new book on 75 years of Nigerian media took time after another at the Eko Hotels, venue of the book presentation to eulogize the work which they said it will fill any existing gap in the study of Nigerian media.
The book, Nigerian Media Leaders: Voices Beyond the Newsroom features conversations with more than 80 media leaders across print, broadcast and the academia on their contributions, challenges and exploits.
The work spanning 1935 to 2010 also covers various themes of media leadership and management, circulation and distribution, readership, changing media landscape, media and military, as well as the effects of social media and changing demographic patterns.
Daniel Obi