How is the economy run; what jobs do Nigerians have to choose from where are the facilities for education and how do you ensure that Nigeria does not continue to be the country whose ill-equipped universities are the most difficult to gain admission into; how do you reduce the use of generator sets in a country with many hydro-electric power plants that have refused to function' When are we going to stop the carnage on our roads that are so dilapidated'The ambitions of many prospective university students are being dashed due to lack of space in the nation's over 93 public and private universities. In the University of Lagos, authorities revealed a pathetic statistics which underscored the reality. Out of the over 100,000 applications received in that university for 2011/2012 academic year, the university offered admission to a total of only 8,223 students. During the 2008-2009 academic year, it was reported that more than a million Nigerian youths wrote the University Matriculation Examination (UME) conducted by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB). However, the universities were only able to admit 153,000 out of 448,000 successful candidates. The remaining 295,000 qualified would-be students were denied admission for lack of space!A situation where in years to come more secondary school leavers will obtain the minimum qualification to enter universities, only to be confronted with the inability of existing ones is a serious issue of national interest. All these are issues to do with the welfare and safety of Nigerians and they are contained in Chapter Two of the Constitution of Nigeria where the body to monitor their observance is identified in Section 22 which provides that 'The Press, Radio, Television and other agencies of the mass media shall at all times be free to uphold the responsibility and accountability of the government to the people'.If the courts are empowered to monitor the exercise of rights, nobody outside the court system should purport to do the work of the courts. The same thing is true of chapter two of the constitution. The chapter is where you find what the national interest is. It is true that the media choose the media to help in monitoring governance and ensuring that government is accountable to the people. It is true that there are elected people countrywide and that we cannot deny their authority to determine what national interest is. But the point must be made however that the National Assembly and other organs of government have defined duties that the nation wants performed and the monitoring of this performance on behalf of the people is the legitimate duty of the press. It is one thing to have a duty to perform; it is quite another thing to say whether the duty is being performed well.The press has tried its best since independence to monitor governance even before the role was constitutionally granted. In the democracy which started its run on May 29, 1999, the Mass Media has no choice than to perform that role. Section 45 of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 makes it explicit that the exercise of some of the rights, including the right to freedom of expression under which the media claims protection, are limited in the interest of defence, public safety, public order, public morality or public health, or for the purpose of protecting the rights and freedom of other persons. But in a democracy, a form of government most suitable for ensuring the protection of these rights, there must be consultation and there is only one open medium for consultation with the people and that medium is the media. The success of a democracy is therefore easily identifiable from the measure of freedom of the mass media in the polity. Any attempt by anyone to interfere with any of these three stages of collection, processing and dissemination of information amounts to censorship. And that is the reason why there must always be a recourse to due process when the mass media err because this is a direct proof of the presence in the polity of institutions that must work to entrench democracy. If the media must monitor others to ensure transformation of the polity into a Union that can subsist, there must be responsibilities on the media itself as this will lead to a responsible performance of its constitutional role. Journalists are also enjoined to embrace conscientious conducts as journalism entails a high degree of public trust and to earn and maintain this trust. It is morally imperative for every journalist to maintain while every news medium should observe the highest professional and ethical standards in the exercise of these duties. Journalists should always have a healthy regard for issues of public interest. Truth is the cornerstone of journalism and every journalist should strive diligently to ascertain the truth of every event. Journalists should try at all times to enhance press freedom and responsibility.Concluded'Bamidele, Assistant National Secretary 1 of NUJ, can be reached via liftmeahead@yahoo.com
Click here to read full news..
