Oby Ezekwesili, a former minister of education, has urged journalists to be steadfast in holding public officials accountable for their contributions to the country.
A media roundtable with the theme “The Accountability Imperative: Holding Politicians’ feet
to the Fire” was held in Abuja on Sunday, and Ms. Ezekwesili made the call at the event.
Politicians, according to her, may never provide Nigerians with good governance unless media professionals assume their obligations.
The role of the media in any society’s growth has been demonstrated through empirical research. The 1999 Constitution gives the media the authority to hold public officials responsible.
“Media professionals are the most feared group. Therefore, Ms. Ezekwesili said, media organizations must live up to expectations.
The fourth estate of the government, the media, must fulfill its role as the fourth estate of the realm, she said, and it was time for Nigerian media professionals to put feelings aside and hold politicians responsible.
The former minister, who also served as vice-president of the World Bank Africa’s Africa region, expressed her concern that Nigerian media professionals were no longer holding politicians accountable as they once did.
She claimed that some politicians had elevated themselves to the status of demigods and had refused to address the needs of the common people.
“When we talk about accountability, people are most offended by the fact that you had the courage to publicly and objectively voice their concerns.
People know that governments exist to protect people’s lives and property and to improve the quality of life, she said.
Every time media professionals failed to fulfill their responsibilities, according to Ms. Ezekwesili, politicians would be motivated to keep the populace in poverty.
She argued that it was time for media experts to identify the causes behind the media’s ineffective performance of its constitutionally mandated duties.
She contends that the media cannot hold politicians accountable until it is able to look within itself and create long-lasting solutions to issues that lessen its obligations to the public.
The history of Nigeria wouldn’t be complete, according to Haroun Adamu, a former managing director of Triumph Publishing Company.
He asserted that numerous Nigerian journalists had died while holding political figures accountable.
The majority of journalists who died while performing their jobs lacked life insurance, according to Mr. Adamu.
