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From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Former Director General (DG), Media and Publicity to the former Kaduna State governor, Mukhtar Ramalan Yero between 2012 and 2015, Ahmed Maiyaki has warned media owners as well as practising Journalists to stay out of pursuing personal interest at the detriment of public interest before, during and after the 2023 general elections.
Maiyaki, who is now a Chieftain of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in Kaduna State said if media owners and workers dare to relegate public interest to the background of reportage, they are likely to run out of businesses sooner than later.
The former media DG stated this on Friday shortly after he fulfilled the promise of donating internet facility (MTN Hynet Flex 120 GB) to Kaduna State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He had promised to fix the council with the facility when he chaired NUJ commissioning ceremony of some upgraded social amenities in May.
“When you talk about media owner influences, the media owners are out to maximise profits. But just like I have said journalism is not where you made profit. You benefit from setting political agenda for the interest of the public, but the moment the public discover that you are pushing a personal interest, your media outfit will not last. We have seen such media organisations that have collapsed after achieving personal interest. I don’t want to call names but there are two major television stations in the country that have lost considerable viewership because of pursuing personal interest above public interest.If you are pursuing public interest many people will like to partner with your organisation. But the ones that are pursuing personal interest do not last. There are television stations now that their contents no longer appeal to viewers so they tune in to those ones that appeal to them.
“Journalists must remain ethically responsible during, before and after the 2023 general elections. I remember in 2009, the leadership of the council set up a committee to verify true and qualified Journalists who are practising because it is sad that while other professional bodies like legal and medical and others have minimum qualifications to practise, in journalism it does not appear to be so, though efforts are being made to check quacks in journalism, I must tell you that the selling point in journalism is the passion for the job. If you want to collaborate with politicians to make money you are trouble. We have seen such Journalists in Nigeria with that criminal tendencies, they never lasted in the profession. You may enjoy immediate benefit of such criminality, but I can tell you that at the end you will not survive it”.
Speaking about the event where he promised the donation of the internet facility, he said, “You will recall that the Kaduna state council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) had an event on May 14, 2022 where the Chairman in her speech made mentions of people that have donated one thing or the other to the council. I felt very challenged because none of the people who made the donations are members of the NUJ. So for me whatever thing I have become or whatever I am today, my beginning started from the council. I always look at NUJ as my home, so whatever little thing I have I need to look back at my origin. Giving to NUJ is not enough because NUJ has given much more than we have given to the NUJ.
“Personally, I feel that a place like NUJ should have internet facility. It is not that the place did not have one before. But it had been very unstable. I believe we should give this facility to members to assess for their daily reporting. This facility can accommodate at least 64 members at a go to send out their stories. Instead of going to Cafe or buying individual data, this facility will also bring members closer. The current leadership of the council is working hard to unite members. This internet facility will bring the people together and make the council more active. There should be something to keep people around, it is a global thing in public places where there are internet facilities. I feel that this facility will aid the work of Journalists who are the watchdog of the society. We should do our work to put government in check for good governance and provision of infrastructural development, education, health development etc. By the time we put government in check, it will sit up.
“But we must do our work responsibly, we should not always be in a hurry to churn out stories that are not factual. If you churn our false story you will also be harming the society. And interestingly, the current leadership of the council has taken it upon itself that factual reports are enhanced in Kaduna. If you look around, Kaduna NUJ is wearing a new look and members are getting united. So the best way to compliment this effort is to bring this internet facility for members to use. I don’t want to be like every day politicians that will make promises that they will never fulfilled. However, apart from this internet I will continue to support the council with funds in order to bring more facilities that are necessary for our work.
“Every day Journalists play the watchdog role of the society, reporting ASUU strike, reporting about welfare of staff of other organizations, and every other sectors of the society, but there is nobody to fight for the Journalists. Nigeria media members have family members, they have responsibilities in the family, every demand of the society is also shouldered on the Nigeria media men.
“Unfortunately they speak for others, nobody speak for them. And of course one thing that inspired me to go into Journalism was when I was visiting my late brother who was a journalist in those days, working for Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN). He was sending his story through telephone land line which was the in thing at that time. He would call a land line to read his story from the script. And because of the delay in connecting with the other end, it affected the basic elements of news; current news, not staled news content. So the delay in connecting with the land line as quickly as possible sometimes rendered the news staled.
“But with the advent of internet facilities, democratization of news content, news become instantaneous, what you do now, people will read it now. You can now send out your story as it happens. Live video coverage from the event centre becomes easier because of the availability of internet facilities.
“Unfortunately, I can remember when I was very active, reporting for Radio France, we have to go round all the business centre looking for internet facilities which in most cases were very poor, trying to send three minutes report. It became a very huge task.
“But now we have better Internet facilities because at a time we had two Gig to three Gig to four Gig now, and five Gig is already on his way. So you can now see the peak at which you can send your story and also be informed”.
Fielding questions from Reporters on the donation made by Maiyaki, Chairman, Kaduna State Council of NUJ, Hajiya Asmau Yawo Halilu said, “We are very delighted for the good gesture from our Senior Colleague, Ahmed Maiyaki for donating internet facility to our council. We have plan to do this for our members but we happy that he decided to assist in providing the internet facility.
“One good thing about this internet is that it can take 64 persons at a time. It has a coverage of 150 metres. It will easy the work of our members. It will help our members in saving their personal data and time of going to Cafe. So are very grateful to Ahmed Maiyaki for fulfilling the promise he made during the commissioning ceremony of some of the facilities of the council on May 14, 2022.”.
