By Emmanuel Onwusoro.
As Nigerians prepare for the 2023 general elections, many organizers of public lectures, including the media have been beaming their searchlights on what the forthcoming polls portend for the country. It is against this background that the Broadcasting Service Of Ekiti State,BSES, in its 2022 Press Week and Public Lecture took guests to the same lane of what 2023 holds for Nigeria politically.
The man at the station’s helm of affairs,Mr Olu Poopola was on hand to receive the guests while the privileged ones for the high table mounted the well festooned arena alongside himself, thereby adding colour to the entire scenario. Mr Popoola noted that the Station had weathered the storm and better days are setting in. He appreciated the staff for cooperating with him in navigating the station to where it is today.
The General Manager also appreciated the retired heads of divisions of the station who despite their busy Schedules came to celebrate with them.
It was actually a programme for the NUJ,but as a broadcasting station is a melting pot of different professionals,the turn out comprised journalists, programmes personnel,engineers,accountants,marketers, and a host of others. And in the spirit camaraderie or espirit-de-corps,members of the Chapel extended invitation to their colleagues in other media organizations and allied bodies. All these became the icing on the cake as demonstrated by the impressive turn out.
In a lecture titled”,Broadcast Media And Expectations In The 2023 General Elections”, the Vice Chancellor, Federal University,Oye-Ekiti, Prof. Sunday Abayomi Fasina, explained that there is every tendency that the question of free and fair elections in Nigeria will come up. He said it goes a long way to tell Nigerians that 2023 is very important, stressing that it is very critical in the life of the country.
Hence, he harped on the need for journalists to educate,inform and play their watchdog roles towards the success of the 2023 general elections by keeping the electorate abreast of what the period stands for in the nation’s political hemisphere.
The Vice Chancellor whose lecture was delivered by Prof. Jeremiah Sola Omotola pointed out that the way the electorate go about it can make or mar the future of this country. “On our own we should ensure a favourable outcome of the election that would move this country forward. Why is 2023 so important in the life of this country? 2023 is an election year,and that election is different from 2019 election because it is an election where a government has been in power for eight years completing two terms and the competition that goes with those who want to remain in power”.
According to him, those parties outside government want to do all they can to wrestle power from those in power. Hence,2023 is very important because the dominant parties may not be willing to play the game according to the rules.
He observed that fundamentally,the security situation of the country matters a lot because every geo-political zone of the country is threatened by insecurity. “In an election year, how do you handle it and where do you go because there is every likelihood that they are going to withdraw security agencies on the field. By the time you withdraw them you are expanding the frontiers of ungoverned spaces”.
The Don posited that because of the high rate of inflation,you see people earning very little,and the purchasing power is eroded,adding that when there are people who are desperate in an election year,you are sitting on a keg of gun powder. “We are approaching a general election and people are hungry,it has gone beyond hunger, now there are people who are angry,and you want to go into an election,there are some tendencies that can manifest from that development. When people are hungry you can easily manipulate them to transform their identity. We are talking about vote-buying, vote-trading”. He wondered why it is a dominant feature in Nigeria politics, underscoring that when people are hungry one cannot ask them not to sell their votes to have something to put on the table for the family. Prof.Omotola maintained that in terms of anger,when people are angry they can easily be manipulated for violence which he identified as pertinent features that are important to the direction in which the 2023 general elections are going and there is need for the people to pay serious attention to those issues.
The guest lecturer also noted that the 2023 general elections are very important because of the era of fake news. He described fake news as a phenomenon that has come to stay. “It is not something that is peculiar to this part of the world. It is a global phenomenon. Fake news has become one of the sources of threat to free and fair election, to sustainable democracy,and now we find ourselves in an environment where the regulation of the media landscape is very weak and extremely politicized”. Expatiating, he said when one finds himself in that type of situation especially in a year of general elections, it is extremely difficult to regulate,to control the phenomenon of fake news. To him, it is something that has been going on during elections in Nigeria. Reiterating, he believed that at the moment,the twin issues of fake news and hate speech, have reached an apogee or a crescendo in recent time.
He admonished that unless something fundamental is done about it,to limit their influence,it is going to be extremely difficult to successfully manage the 2023 general elections, hinging his argument on the fact that there are a lot of other issues that can be talked about. “We can talk about the election management body,in this case, the Independent National Electoral Commission,INEC. We speak about INEC, because there are a lot of fundamental issues we can raise. Its independence,either administratively or financially. There are questions you can raise about the professionalism of INEC”. While according to him, the most important question for INEC is the level of public trust. People’s confidence in that institution to act as an unbiased umpire.
Chairman,NUJ, BSES Chapel,Comrade Kelechi David said as the 2023 general elections are around the corner,the broadcast media must be willing to carry the people along. “The apathy that had been displayed by the people in the past must be eradicated with more information about improvements that the Independent National Electoral Commission,INEC,and other government agencies have made to make elections more credible and transparent”.
He advised that the trust in the process must be disseminated by the media to the people in a bid to get them to actively follow the process and not assume that what he described as the flawed elections of the past will be repeated.
The Chapel Chairman reminded journalists that as professionals they should be guided by the code of professional conduct,code of ethics and the moral character expected of trained journalist.
Comrade David remarked that they are determined to build Ekiti State and report it in attractive ways without compromising their watchdog role.”We shall report to market Ekiti State,not to de-market it”.
The following persons received awards: Mr Dele Philips-For Sustenance Of Peace And Stability In Ekiti State. Mr Femi Babafemi-Spokesman,NDLEA,Fon Fight Against Hard Drugs.Mr Bamidele Agbede-HOS,Ekiti State, For Looking Into The Plight Of BSES Staff. Mr Bowale Poju-For Youth Engagement And Empowerment.