● Introduction
I like to start to start the lecture by congratulating the NUJ for organizing this event and express gratitude for the kind invitation to me.
I pray God to grant you a successful week. I pray too for the country to become a more morally/ethically enriched country. The success here will be a sign post of hope for a better things to come. This lecture is divided into four parts:Introduction which is the over view of the subject
Definitions and their relevance to discussion Justification of NUJ with moral and ethical issues
● Observation and recommendations
Our view is that this is a story of elite’s failure in leadership, management, governance, justice especially the respect for the rule of law-in short nation building. There are laws, codes of conduct not applied or enforced, principles and techniques of management ignored. The NUJ may be the town crier of the moment, but the problem at hand is indeed a national problem of serious proportion.
● Approach
Towards this end, we shall adopt an eclectic approach to our discussion that is based mostly on critical and creative thinking techniques of management and Socratic method of asking questions in order to deepen understanding and possibly attain the truth. We shall define relevant terms and show their relevance to the task at hand.
We shall provide general justification of the concern and fear of NUJ and Society, identify some the factors that are responsible for unethical conducts and suggest ways to overcome barriers to ethical media practices in Nigeria and draw conclusion to the effect that the task is tough, but doable- if we try hard.
● Critical, creative thinking
According to Justin Menkes (2006) critical thinking “the foundation of executive intelligence’ and it is ‘central to success’ because it ‘helps to identify the best solution to a given problem’. (p37”. He adds that Critical thinking “determines how skillfully someone gathers, processes, and applies information in order to identify the best way to reach a particular goal or navigate a complex situation”. It derives its roots from “the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience and the senses’.
In the author’s view, it is the best guide we have for discovering the right answer because it allows one to focus on issues, to “identify and use all information that has value for that purpose and to resist irrelevant or unreliable consideration, however tempting they may be.
According to him, “the secret behind a star’s success lies in his or her ability to create a solution tailored to suit each situation that arises (What all great leaders have, Executive Intelligence, by Justin Menkes (2006). Socratic method – an approach to teaching and learning by the Philosopher Socrates is dialogue between teacher and students… through probing question… in concerted to explore the underlying belief that shape the students view and opinions and hopefully at the truth (https://till.colostate.edu>the- Socrati..).While I invite you to join me in thinking through some of the problems of the country especially as they relate to the 2023 General Elections, perhaps a better way to start the rumination is to resort to Socratic Method of asking questions as a way of seeking the truth and drawing conclusion: Are there justifications for NUJ’s fear and concern about ethical issues as regards the2023 elections. Is the NUJ just raising alarm unduly? Are the members crying wolf where there is none? There are genuine grounds for apprehension about the 2023 General Elections. s:
PART 1
The subject of discussion–“2023 General Election-Overcoming Barriers to Ethical Media practices” is topical, interesting and relevant to the happiness of citizens and the well-being of our society. It rings special bell of urgency and alarm to me as a teacher and practitioner of Management Leadership and Development. It is an expression of melancholy and indication of frustration that the traditional media had been uneasy because of some unethical conducts that had severely hampered the Press from playing its constitutional role of holding the government accountable to the people of Nigeria. Anything that obstruct the constitution is serious and against the will and interest of our country. It raises issues of common interest and concern – the 2023 General elections and tunes the mind to some obstacles in the way of success including unethical conduct or what the NUJ calls ‘barriers to ethical Media practices’ in the country.
It pricks our collective sense of goodness and badness and invites us to be good citizens. Ethics has been defined as the ‘branch of philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct with respect to rightness or wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such motives’. Thus to be “ethical is to be virtuous’(Britannica,IPLipl.org/essay/importance). In short, the NUJ is concerned with both the now and future of country and ourselves. And this involves many issues including the fate of democracy, elections, practice of journalism, obstacles to the performance of constitutional role and many more.
This alone is enough to raise alarm for collective concern. Any issue that threatens the Constitution should be of general concern of all citizens. The NUJ is also alerting the populace to the unethical danger in society and the urgent need to check or avert it in order to save 2023 and its promises from doom. It is a patriotic concern and call for positive change in attitude so that its members could carry out their constitutional role well in the country. While I am pleased to be part of the efforts to promote sound ethical conduct in our society, I smell some problems
For instance, can much be done and has the country the executive capacity and political will to do the needful given the cold reality that the 2023 General Elections are almost at hand? Can things move as fast as the NUJ would want them? Apart from time factor, can a muddy pond produce clean pig without washing? Or can a white handkerchief be retrieved from an oil pot without stain? Can a hungry lion let go a goat thrown at it by the zoo keeper? Can a hungry man resist food when the option is death for him? Our kanswer here is NO.
This is the pity of the country and the problem at hand. Nigeria suffers from huge moral and ethical deficit. The country has been draped thickly in immorality, poverty unemployment and insecurity. Poor economic condition, obscene immoral and unethical conduct and untamed vaulting ambitions of individuals may be the compelling reasons for the barriers to ethical media practices. In other words events within the NUJ environment combine with forces in its external environment to impede ethical practice as regards the 2023 general elections.
Thus not one method but many measures and approaches may be adopted to overcome the barriers to ethical media practice in Nigeria. Towards this end, we need to look at both the internal and external environments of the NUJ in the effort to curb or check the barriers to ethical practices. For example within the NUJ are problems that must be solved and outside are loads of moral ills that must be cured.
There is inevitable source emanating from the nature of the practice of Journalism. For instance the truth which is the goal of journalism, the reports and writing of Journalists may be ethical, but some of them can be hurtful to the interest of some people notably politicians, business men, government officials/agencies, criminals such as drug dealers, human traffickers in the external environment who may resort to unethical methods to deal with the media.
No one knows who killed Dele Giwa- a handsome fine Nigerian pilgrim of Journalism but there is a public that enemies of the press, enemies of the press and haters and fearers of the pen did the unholy and unethical cruel act. May his soul and the souls of other journalists who died in the cause of duty rest in peace. While both ethical and unethical conducts stay deep in the mind of men and linger on in society, which is why we must always be ethical for the sanity of the nation, however, let it be emphasized that a corrupt external environment oozing with unethical conducts as way of life cannot produce a clean Press.
A goat does not give birth to a dog, and we should not expect to harvest yam when in fact we planted beans in the first instance. It is against natural law.
● Moral and ethical crisis
Looking at Nigeria over time especially since Independence (1960), it is clear to me that the greatest problem of Nigeria can has been moral/ethical decadence. There is a serious moral and ethical crisis in the country today. Unethical conduct was part of the reasons given by the military for terminating the first republic in January 1966. And if do not address the moral and ethical issues that are steadily grinding the nation to a halt, we may wake up sooner than later especially after the 2023 elections scampering to different saner and cleaner tents. Such is the seriousness of the challenge at hand posed by filthy unethical conduct.
The moral firmament of Nigeria has been too filthy, weak and obstructive over time for comfort today. There is near collapse of moral and ethical values which had hindered the progress of the country on many fronts including ethical media practices. Today ethical standards, ethical laws, and etiquette have no noble place in the conduct of elections in Nigeria. The disregard here for morality has been adverse to clean elections.
It makes it easy for politicians to foul the political game and to turn it into an odious affair. It dispossesses the citizens of their voting power- as votes do not count in a morally and ethically bankrupt country. This is why we believe that moral and ethical values and laws would have to be awoken to action and applied to our daily conduct to help overcome barriers to ethical media practices today in Nigeria.
We must develop a sound moral sense and apply it in all we do in the national interest.The greatest threat to democracy, election, voting in Nigeria has been immorality or unethical conduct. As indicated earlier morality/ethics are about what is right and good as opposed to what is evil and bad . Those who carry out thuggery, ballot snatch ballot boxes, attack INEC facilities, buy votes, corrupt the system etc are morally sick or bankrupt or dead.
The quest for a better country including ways to overcome barriers to ethical media practice must start from here. Nigeria is in great and urgent need of moral/ethical re-armament today. As shown below, democracy in the USA faced serious threat of being rubbished by President Trump who wanted to upturn Biden’s electoral victory by begging for some illegal votes in Georgia but men of high moral, ethical standard, good character, strong faith and deep belief in the American constitution and a highly patriotic and nationalistic Press grounded in American values saved the situation for their country.
● 2023 general election as watershed
The 2023 General elections have been variously described as important to the survival of the country, a watershed of sort, or a ‘critical junction’ as This -day Business (12/12/ 22) puts it. Towards this end, the year 2022 has since assumed the status of a beautiful bride of a jealous husband who is expected to deliver the prince to the throne- the messiah or savior of the country. Right now she is heavily pregnant but the result of recent scanning is unclear so far about what she is in her belly.
There is anxiety in the land. And the collective prayer is that she should not deliver a monster. We have moral and ethical duty to prevent a monstrous future by doing the needful of using our PVC wisely, rightly and justly to vote good and capable men and women . to power in 2023.
In great expectation, there has been high tension and apprehension in the air over her health. Whatever may be the case, we must all act faithfully to protect the bride and the baby in the national interest. One of the sad events of 2022 was the immoral coup by some political parties against someconstituti9ely shared value and conventions such as zoning principle, power shift, and power rotation at the shrine of political ambitions of a few individual elite. To our collective consternation, these shared values and conventions that held hope high since 1999 when the military handed political power to civilians for a better democracy great promises for the unity of the country were upturned or jettisoned by the political elite with eyes on 2023 elections-the make or mar year of Nigeria.
The military did one important thing to calm nerves and promote political stability by ensuring that political power shifted to the South West which had complaining of political exclusion and marginalization. General Obasanjo was released from Prison and subsequently worked. It is not written-it does not need to be written, but the military formula has worked to the satisfaction of majority. After Obasanjo, came Yar’Adua, Jonathan, and then Buhari- the incumbent President Steadily power-shift, zoning of power etc had become part of our of political cultural value and conventions that had kept hope alive for the maximum participation of all ethnic groups in the political game played at the highest level of the country.
Political participation in governance is dear to the hearts of men, and I shall explain later it is one of the driving forces that gave birth to democracy in the Greek City States such as Athens centuries ago. It is therefore unethical, unwise and unhelpful to jettison abandon power shift and co. In the interest of citizenry participation, stability, and equitable justice, the values of zoning, power shift must be respected and written into the Constitution of the country to avoid controversy.
It is ethical and helpful in the interest of national unity, peace and democratic practice in Nigeria.We must therefore promote our collective sense of rightness or wrongness and insist on doing only what is right and rejecting what is wrong in the national interest. Towards this end we must appeal to the conscience of the individual – the citizen’s moral sense of goodness and badness which acts as guide to his action. Common here has been the lack of patriotic citizens and nationalistic leaders with strong national conscience, discipline, patriotism, and good character to promote and observe moral standards, respect ethical laws and etiquette in the country thereby missing the advantages of sound ethical standards in society. Good men and women make nations great and free of iniquities.
All hands must therefore be on deck to salvage the country from the ruins caused by unethical conducts of some people in Nigeria in 2022 in anticipation of the 2023 elections. This is a foundational requirement for removing obstacles to ethical conduct. It appeals to our collective conscience, responsibility, sense of patriotism and love of democracy.
● NUJ and the importance of morality/ethics, barriers, malpractices
The Nigerian Union of Journalist (NUJ) is right to be concerned with moral, ethical issues of elections in Nigeria. Every patriot should equally be concerned. because of the beauty and benefits of having and living in a highly morally and ethically sound society. Generally moral and ethical principles are said “to make a society peaceful ,harmonious and better place to live by guiding the behavior of people and striking a balance between self interest and the good of society because the eye of the law are not always available” (ups express.com/201&). It has been observed by Philosophers such Kant that the Law is only concerned with the actions of men while morality/ethics are concerned with both the thoughts and actions of people and approves what is right or good and condemns what is wrong or bad in them.
It has been observed too that Ethics ensure “the survival of society by pointing to what is acceptable or not in society” . It “makes life easy, aids decision especially in making law to back some of the ethical conducts, promotes the smooth operation of organization and society. Doubtlessly the effective use of the tools of morals, ethics and laws is critical to successful nation building.
Against this background, the desire of the NUJ is noble and altruistic. To recall, the desire is to remove barriers or obstacles that hinder the progress of society including the good practice of journalism especially with regard to the 2023 General Elections. It is based on the realization of the importance of moral/ethical laws. It is unhealthy and unwise to ignore moral/ethical laws because of the disruptive effects of doing so.
The barriers or obstacles are many including ideological, operational, psychological, elites’ selfishness, greed, ambitions, umpires’ flaws, and many more. As Nigerian Media have relentlessly shown , Electoral malpractices in Nigeria include fake ballot papers, manipulation of votes artificial scarcity of electoral material , under- age voting, thuggery, misuse of money by political parties, intimidation, alteration of submitted results, financial inducements etc; (http so//clash .com.lesson>.ii). It is only the morally and ethically deprave and politically desperate citizens that can be engaged in such deplorable activities.
●Checking barriers
There are different ways to check barriers. However, the nature of the obstacle will define the method, tools and even the starting point. As they say in Esan land, when ne tree falls on another one, you start with the one on top of the other below. For example depending on the nature of the barriers efforts could start from the top or below But generally the worker must have the skills , sound knowledge and deep understanding of the problems under consideration and the right men to do the clearance job diligently. This requires effective communication both within and outside of the organization, committed leaders and other citizens that are eager for change and honest in their expressed commitment to finding solution.
Leaders and members of NUJ should be starts the removal task by being the example of the society they earnestly seek to have- the role model approach, communicate all ethical expectations at the work place, in society, training of workers on ethics, promote effective consequence management- rewarding good conduct and punishing unethical conduct develop the character and will to resist evil temptation.
They could also form enforcement committee on ethics, protection of the those driving ethical movement, whistle blower and develop clearly stated guidelines on behavior(http so://.alvenrnia.edu>articles, Small business.chron.com)
PART 2
● Definitions and their relevance to discussion – The failure of the riling elite to do the needful with them
In this section, we shall define relevant terms, show their relevance to discussion and discuss how their neglect or the failure by the political elite/ruling elite to use or apply them appropriately to the management, administration, and governance of the country retarded the progress of the the nation-state, eroded her sane, noble and nation-enriching values and planted evil, profanity and barriers to moral and ethical conducts all over the federation.
●Barriers
Barrier has been defined “as a fence or other obstacle that prevents movement or access” say to correct information. Our observation is that there are too many barriers in the way of democracy in Nigeria. Comparatively speaking the NUJ’s experience may just be a tip of the iceberg when put on the national scale. The nature of the barrier will determine the tools to be used. Common sense demands that if a tree falls upon another tree to cause barrier to vehicular movement you will look for appropriate tool to cut the wood from the top in order to gain access to others for necessary action. if the barrier was a small stream ,you probably need a canoe or even construct a bridge over the troubling water. And if it is legal barrier to trade, you may like to work for the removal of the tariff etc. NUJ will need character development and empowerment of members, intellectual, publicity and communication skills and knowledge, favourable public opinion to condemn unethical conducts, the support of the state especially in enforcing laws, and code of conducts to mention a few.
● Media
Generally the Media has been defined as “the main means of mass communication (broadcasting, publishing and the Internet (regarded) collectively”. The major function of the Press is to “inform, educate and entertain” the society. This involves mass communication using different medium. And here there are many barriers including “linguistic, psychological, emotional, physical ,cultural that could disturb, distort and lead to misunderstanding and failure of communication”(topper.com/guides/busThe Mass Media plays an important role in promoting and sustaining the goodness of society.
As Chude Jideonwo & Adebola Williams (2017) have observed the “media absolutely matters in politics. This fact is recognized in Nigeria as could be gleaned from the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. For instance according to section 22 of the Constitution :”It is the duty of the Press to ensure that the government is held accountable to the people” . This means a watch-dog role for the Press or as a writer puts it “serving as the guardian of public interest”. This in practice has been fraught with difficulties, dangers and obstacles or barriers. Not everyone is in love with the truth, the good and right cause.
Some people are evil at heart, and uncomfortable with the truth and the good. Thus while Some of the difficulties are self- created, others are due to the nature of the profession and many are caused by enemies and haters of the Media who do not like the truth or correct information which is the generic purpose of the Press. The truth which is the fortress and preoccupation of the Press could be hurting to some vested interests….
In a word, largely because of constitutional role, not everyone is comfortable with the Press, and not all members of the press live up to moral and ethical standard. But the press has its fault, Some journalists have unclean habits and they colour or sex up their ‘truth’ for ideological and other reasons. The relevant literature reviewed shows that the Nigerian Media did not report well some past elections(see Chide Jideonwo & Adebola Williams (2017-How to win Elections in Africa cited earlier), Toward removing barriers to ethical media practices, we shall look at least three directions (a) the character of the journalist – is the Nigerian journalist ethically clean and empowered to resist evil temptations. (b) Are the proprietors or media owners and employers of the journalists of the right frame of mind and character to empower the journalist to be ethical all of the time, and grant the freedom and assurances for him to write in accordance with their belief and conscience. Here we are concerned with the condition of the service, training and general protection of the journalist especially in terms of life insurance. News from the Media suggest that some journalists had not received their pay some months and some proprietors received money from sources that seem unclean or unholy to public (c)Are the members of the external environment notably the politicians who driven by vaulting ambitious to do many unethical things, criminals who do not want the truth about them to be known by the public ready for change? Are the law enforcement agencie9s ready to deal with evil cases the media might have reported on.
The NUJ may have control over the first, but will have little or none over external intervention such as the police. Against this background, it is needless to say that the watch dog role assigned by the Constitution to the media cannot be possible if the enabling environment to report on government’s activities to the public is not there. The character and integrity and conscience of the Journalist are important and thus constantly under scrutiny. Here it is advised that the NUJ goes to justice with clean hands and work hard to win the support of forces in the external environment to clear the barriers to ethical media practices in Nigeria. There is the problem of poor public awareness, low public enlightenment or wrong information management due to poor communication and low publicity of government’s activities including the constitution. For instance, how many people are aware that the Press has constitutional responsibility of holding the government accountable to the populace and thus an offense against the state to impede its performance.
There is the need to banish the ignorance that hindered the progress of the country The NUJ was more specific in its concern-about what it wants. The body seeks for “overcoming barriers to ethical Media practices”. It is concerned with ethical issues that may prevent its members from playing their constitutional role in the country. The body should be consoled by the fact that its problem is not an isolated concern. Please hear it from the high Miltary Command: “We are under pressure to compromise scuttle to democracy” says the military but promised to resist it( Pilot 9-1-2022 front page), military resisting pressure to compromise elections CDS The Sun 9-12-22, and we won’t compromise elections despite pressures- Irabor (The Guardian 9-12-22). Are those putting pressures on the military moral, ethical? No, they are morally and ethically under- developed.
There is a serious moral and ethical problems in the country and large scale ignorance about the Press and the law. The country wallows in deep moral and ethical morass today. Whatever is the nature of its problems, many cutlasses will be needed to clear the barrier here. The brush used for the cleansing of the Journalist’s tar may not be right for the military on patriotic mission, politician with evil intention. Thus a deeper study and evaluation of the situation is required to determine the best step to take. But it is clear to me that inter-sectorial cooperation and intervention, and a combinations of moral/ethical and legal armaments would be needed and helpful to remove barriers here for success.
A common ground here is morality-either the respect for morality or disregard for it. It has to do with the conscience of the individual actors and the cultivation of common moral sense. It should always be remembered or appreciated that the Nigerian Media is part a society that has been morally and ethically barren and bankrupt for ages. The media cannot be expected to be entirely holy or free of immoral or unethical conduct. The press that lays with others in the same mud-water cannot be expected to be clean. It is not possible to rise from b a pit toilet without stains and some stench….
● BEING A LECTURE BY PROF. JOHN I. ABHUERE FNIM, OVEN OF EBELLE KINGDOM, CHAIRMAN/CEO CENTRE FOR CHILDCARE AND DEVELOPMENT (CCYD) NIGERIA AT THE NIGERIA UNION OF JOURNALISTS PRESS WEEK ON 15 DECMBER 2022 10AM BENIN CITY.
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