IGP admonishes media against reportage that divides the nation

The Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, has charged the media, the political class, and other stakeholders ‎in the Nigerian project to discourage actions and ventures that are capable of creating more divisive tendencies along ethnic, religious and sectional lines which can inhibit the development and growth of Nigeria.

The IGP gave the charge on Wednesday at the 2017 Summit of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) held ‎in Jos, the Plateau state capital.

Represented by the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone 12, Mr. Baba Tijani, the IGP noted that he had convened a security summit of National Council of Traditional Rulers, and other stakeholders on farmers/pastoralists clashes, kidnapping and other violent crimes in the country, with far-reaching outcomes, which when implemented will go a long way to finding lasting solution to farmer/herdsmen clashes and other violence in Nigeria.

Also speaking in a keynote address, former Director General of the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), Dr. Tonnie Iredia, who described the theme of the event; ‘Broadcast Content Development and Peaceful Co-existence’ as apt, identified the political class as the group that create most of the tensions in Nigeria, wondering why most of them were not at the event to dialogue on peaceful co-existence.

While also identifying the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), the Federal Character Commissions as tools that are expected to foster unity and peaceful co-existence, Iredia however said these have not done much in uniting the people because of selfish attitude of some Nigerians whose‎ only aim is to plunder on our disunity and accumulate stupendous wealth for themselves, adding that “if politics are done the way they should, Nigeria won’t be overheated.”

He lamented that the media, which should assume agenda-setting role, has abandoned it to politicians, and has now focused on blowing cosmetic matters out of proportion such as missing budget, fight over budget and budget padding rather than focusing on whether the budget the budget is implemented or not.

He also lamented the undue ownership control‎ as a factor that has helped in the relegation of ethics and professionalism to the background.

Earlier, in a welcome address, the Director General of the National Broadcasting Commission, Is’haq Modibbo Kawu had noted that “The political economy of the country is in dire straits, and there is despair in the land. We are dealing with a restive youth population; where 63% of the population is under the age of 25, and 75% under 35. The economy is not creating the jobs that would absorb these young people, thus leading to an increasingly alienated population of angry youth, who are readily mobilized around politicized identity issues. The result is the deepening of distrust and the breakdown of peaceful co-existence in town and country.

“For us at the National Broadcasting Commission, we have carefully calibrated these developments, especially as they are reflected in the content of programing output in broadcasting. We know just how important broadcast content is, in times of peace and in times of conflict in society.

“In recent times, there have been spiked tendencies towards hate Speech in Nigerian broadcasting. The height of that was in the lead to the 2015 General Elections. We were all witnesses to the unprecedented output of hate materials, especially on television, directed against President Muhammadu Buhari, as the then opposition presidential candidate, on national television. It was because of that, and the danger that hate and dangerous speech portends for the health of society, that the NBC recently commissioned a special study of Hate Speech in Nigeria, the consequences and how to avert its future propagation in Nigerian broadcasting.”