Featured, Speeches
By Mohamed Ibn Chambas
First, permit me to thank the Realnews Magazine and the organizers of this anniversary for the kind invitation to participate in this celebration, and in such distinguished company.
I am also glad that they have chosen for this lecture, a topic which captures the essence of the issues which the country is grappling with at the moment. To talk of “Political Transitions and Africa’s Economic Development” a few months to the elections in Nigeria is certainly appropriate because it allows us to reflect on what is at stake in these elections, not just in the short-term but also in the medium and long-term.
I should also commend Realnews Magazine for making the appropriate choice of speaker in none other than Professor Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission and an eminent social scientist with impeccable credentials and credibility.
Ladies and gentlemen
The collaboration between the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) goes back a long way. Since I served as the keynote speaker at your 2016 annual event, I have witnessed your organisation’s visionary role in building a reputable and world class media institution whose watchword is professionalism and integrity.
Your achievements speak for themselves; the “prestigious Harry Brittain Memorial Fellowship of the Commonwealth Press Union; International Center for Foreign Journalists (ICFJ) Reston; the Nigerian Media Merits Award (NMMA) and Diamond Award for Media Excellence (DAME) as the Investigative Reporter of the Year 2012; Print Journalist of the Year, Oil and Gas Reporter of the Year, Business Reporter of the Year, Political Reporter of the Year, Capital Market Reporter of the Year, and Young Journalist of the Year by Nigeria Media Center.” With such excellent accomplishments, your institution has been recognized as a key player in the life of this country and must therefore live up to the expectations.
Ladies and gentlemen
The election season is indeed upon us, and electoral campaigns are kicking off in earnest. I do not need to remind you that elections in Africa’s most populated country and largest economy has implications for the entire continent and beyond. With so much at stake, emotions and tensions will be high. Yet, the elections would only serve the constitutional purpose if they are free, fair, credible and peaceful. It is our collective responsibility to ensure such an outcome. We should be mindful that the conduct of the media can make or mar the elections. Accurate and dispassionate reporting of electoral events would help to educate the electorate and contribute towards informed choice from among competing candidates. On the other hand, biased reporting and deliberate falsehoods (fake news) contribute to distorting the choices of the voters and contribute to election-related violence. Hate speech leads ultimately to hateful acts.
The United Nations therefore places much premium on the good work of the media as a major actor in conflict prevention, peacebuilding and development. Most often, the first signs of conflict are captured by the media. In its early warning role, the media is engaged in assisting with the defense and promotion of human rights, the inculcation of civic responsibility and economic development. On the other hand, the media can also be a source of trouble and have indulged in exasperating rumour-mongering, weaponization of media, trial by the media, and have exacerbated conflict, vilified governments, subverted national sovereignty and in some instances enflamed violence.
Ladies and gentlemen
In this crucial electoral period, the United Nations counts on the media as the eyes and ears of the population. What you hear, and what you see must be reported accurately without fear or favour. A credible electoral process includes credible media, and in this regard, we will be counting on Realnews and on the entire Nigerian media.
As the nation approaches a crucial stage of vigorous national electioneering activities, the media becomes more important in its role of giving information, civic education, early warning about hot spots and to promote debate and tolerance towards peaceful elections. It behoves you to abstain from any conduct that could undermine the electoral process: be it before, during or after the voting and the declaration of the final results. This will demand that we refrain from hate speech, inflammatory language, defamation and any incitement of violence. It is your responsibility also to encourage candidates to seek redress through legal means and to ensure free, fair, credible, transparent and peaceful elections.
Ladies and gentlemen
Let me, again, congratulate Realnews and further express my deep admiration and appreciation of its commitment to promoting democracy, human rights and human development through informing, educating, entertaining and empowering the citizenry.
I thank you for your kind attention.
*Being the text Goodwill Messsage by Mohamed Ibn Chambas, special representative of the United Nations secretary-general for West Africa and Sahel on the occasion of the sixth anniversary lecture of Realnews Magazine on November 15, 2018 at the Sheraton Hotel, Lagos, Nigeria
– Nov. 16, 2018 @ 23:29 GMT |
Tags: The Media as the Eyes and Ears of the Population
