MEETING COMMUNITY NEEDS AND EXPECTATIONS THROUGH SUSTAINABLE BROADCASTING IN NORTH EAST NIGERIA

Being Text of a Paper Presented at a Public Forum Organized by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) holding at Jewel Hall in Gombe, March 19, 2009

INTRODUCTION

Permit me to start by expressing my sincere gratitude to the authorities of the National Broadcasting Commission for inviting me to share some of my thoughts with this important audience that represents different groups from the wider society. I believe that such forums are important in helping our media institutions and their sponsors to have a good understanding of what their audiences feel about them. The title of this paper presupposes that our communities in the country have some specific needs and expectations that can be most appropriately addressed by the broadcast media either individually or collectively. To this end, it is very important that functional broadcast media organisations know the perception of their consumers about them and what these consumers also feel about the news stories and the programmes aired to them.

In the course of duty, professionals in the various broadcast media houses are expected to be guided by the interests, aspirations, feelings and challenges of their audiences. Radio and television stations ought to know the desires of the people they are supposed to be serving instead of imagining such desires and responding based on their own intuitions. Ideally, a competent broadcast media is often guided by the dictates of the target audiences who are the backbone and justification of its existence. Whether this is what obtains in our individual broadcast media houses or not is an issue that may be appropriately answered in today’s forum.

Thus, the focus of my paper as required by the organizers is on the extent to which the broadcast media, particularly in North East Nigeria can improve their individual and collective performance toward being able to meet up to the needs, expectations and possibly facilitate the addressing of the challenges in the communities of the North East geopolitical zone in the context of federal Nigeria.

Specifically, we shall identify the general needs and expectations of the communities in relation to contemporary national and global realities, locate the position of the broadcast media in the circumstances and recommend further strategies on how to maximize the relevance of broadcasting in responding to the demands of our various communities especially as we march towards the end of the first quarter of the 21^st century. Let me quickly add that apart from trying to draw our attention to the issues I may raise here, I would also try to provoke your thoughts on the performance of the broadcast media in an increasingly challenging and a changing environment.

NORTH EAST GEOPOLITICAL ZONE

The North East geopolitical zone has a very large landscape with about 18,971,965 people (2006 National Population Census). Of the population figures, 9.8 are males and 9.1 females. It is composed of six states. The states are: Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe. The region is highly diverse, generously heterogeneous and comparatively accommodating and tolerant. This diversity is clearly reflected in the social and even political behaviour of the people in the zone. The zone is agrarian with majority of the people engaged in subsistence agriculture.

The zone is comparatively disadvantaged with weak infrastructural base and debilitating poverty. On the Nigerian Human Development Index, the zone is lowly rated with high prevalence of endemic poverty, maternal mortality, infant mortality, unemployment, illiteracy level and HIV/AIDS infections and spread, among others. The zone has least presence of federal institutions and facilities as well near absence of major industrial concerns that can absorb the increasing number of young people graduating from the school system.

Each of the states has independent radio and television broadcast stations in addition to the federal government owned NTA and FRCN stations whose individual mandates are restricted to specific states. Except for Gombe State which is the smallest of the six with eleven LGAs, the other states are hardly fully covered by their state owned radio and TV stations. Gombe Radio is perhaps the only station that can be picked in all the eleven LGAs of the state. Except for one private radio station in Adamawa state, all the remaining broadcast stations in the zone are state owned. At this point, it is important to emphasize that the people of the area are ardent radio listeners, partly because of the oral nature of most of the cultures in the environment. Majority of households in the zone have at least a radio set in the family.

COMMUNITY NEEDS AND EXPECTATIONS

A community can be defined by geopolitical boundary as well as psychological interest. For example, the North East zone can be described as a geographical community comprising of multiple communities that are culturally heterogeneous, politically diverse but economically common. Equally, there could be communities of specific interest groups that may be scattered across different physical boundaries in the country. Of course, there are a number of factors that unite them as well as many others that differentiate them. But, they are all united in their desire to conquer poverty and disease, banish illiteracy, establish and sustain good governance, and above all, guarantee good life characterized by freedom, opportunities and prosperity.

Considering the complexities of the multiple communities in the zone, I have advised myself to emphasize in my presentation more on the common needs and expectations of the communities in the context of the states in the zone and indeed the whole country. After all, the world through the process of globalization is increasingly opening up every community for us to understand that we all share a common humanity with a common fate on a crowded planet. It is also increasingly becoming clear that no community can afford to keep itself away from the contemporary challenges that are experienced at the national and global levels. For example, epidemics like HIV/AIDS, effects of the climate change and similar other occurrences can hardly be restricted to one community without the risk of spreading elsewhere. In the end, we are all interconnected as human beings either for good or otherwise. Arguably, the needs and expectations of the communities of the zone cannot be divorced from the needs and expectations of other communities in the country.

Thus, expectedly, the dominant need of the communities in the zone is on how to fast track the development process, even if to catch up with some other parts of the country. The people of the zone are desirous of sustainable development which will facilitate the qualitative upliftment and significant improvement in their standard of living. Stated differently, they need and expect an improvement in their human condition through the demolition of all visible and invisible road blocks to a tolerable and decent living status. As we may be aware, the current thinking about sustainable development is that it should focus on the competence and capacity of the people to transform their lives and have firm control over their affairs, environment and resources. This type of development should enable the citizens expand their choices and opportunities, allow them to enjoy greater freedom and have full dignity as human beings. These are the minimum requirements expected of any nation to guarantee its citizens for them to be on the path of sustainable development within the context of a globalizing world. And those are the minimum requirements which the communities of North East Nigeria are daily reiterating to their leaders and institutions like the media to address.

Currently, efforts are being made at the global and national levels to address the issue of sustainable development. Therefore, the concern of the media should be on how the zone is mainstreamed in to the ongoing movements towards participatory democracy, improved infrastructural base, strengthened industrial base, achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and a lot more. We need to be sure that the communities of the zone are not left wondering as the seeds of development are being sown in other communities as we race through the first quarter of the 21^st century.

As we all know, the country is a signatory to several international instruments, conventions and treaties which are being translated into the national agenda. Equally, the country had mainstreamed several global initiatives into the national process and vision. At present, there is a road map known as the Vision 20 2020 during which Nigeria targets her economy to be among the best twenty economies in the world with a growth rate of between 13 to 15% yearly up from the present 6%. Similarly, the country has developed the National Economic and Empowerment Development Strategy (NEEDS I & II) to guide the national development process in a systematic, strategic and timely framework. At the state level, every State has developed its SEEDS in the context of the NEEDS. Furthermore, some of the Local Governments have also domesticated the SEEDS in to LEEDS. In addition, the country has committed itself to the full implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in line with the global agenda. Similarly, the present regime of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua has specifically adopted a seven point agenda for the systematic and timely attainment of sustainable development in the country. The question then is: where are the communities of the North East sub-region situated on the radar of all of these agendas and goals? What is their strategic positioning to be able to partake in the flight to diminish underdevelopment and usher in development and prosperity? How do the broadcast media in the zone fit in to the matrix? Have the managers and operators of the radio and television houses been able to define their bearing to successfully navigate the minds and behaviours of their audiences towards the movement to newer realities? Are the media houses themselves sufficiently equipped and mobilized to strategize on how best to buy in to the global and national initiatives for the ultimate benefit of their audiences through the defining of local agendas that are in the context of the global and national agendas?

At any rate, I don’t think we can talk about experiencing new realities without addressing the essential ingredients that will create the enabling environment for the implementation of the agendas and also harnessing the unbounded creative potentials of the communities which are necessary for creation and sustenance of the new realities. Personally, I feel that for us to expect progress, we have to address the psychological, social as well as environmental needs of our communities in ways that appear satisfactory to them. Some of these issues which are important to the individual as well as his community are the sustenance of a democratic climate that ensures good governance, peaceful coexistence, transparency, freedom and general enabling environment for personal and societal growth at minimal cost.

Democracy

Globally, democracy has been acknowledged as the most acceptable form of governance that “promotes the welfare, respect and dignity of man”. Democracy provides for, and promotes the active participation of the people in the economic, social, cultural and political processes of the nation, thereby guaranteeing sustainable development. Without doubt, people of the North East need genuine democracy in their states and country. They want their individual and collective votes to count. They want their voices to be heard; and they want their expectations fulfilled. In such a scenario, our broadcasters and indeed all media professionals are expected to fully imbibe their changing roles within the context of a transitional society where the burden is to proof that we as a people can successfully and democratically govern ourselves.

For this to happen, we need to be assured that our media and their internal environments are themselves democratized in addition to their full understanding of the meaning, essence, principles, institutions, values and challenges of the democratic system in a diverse federal structure. In this regard, our radio and television organizations have the duty and responsibility of strengthening the citizens, not seeking to control them; by working with the people, not working over them; by giving people the material, psychic and intellectual means and abilities to improve their lives and above all, helping to strengthen existing institutions (Dardene, The Guardian, June 12, 2005). Equally, such efforts should gear towards strengthening internal democracy in political parties, respect for the rule of law and due process, promote service delivery and condemn subversive acts like election rigging, thuggery, mandate betrayal and political intolerance. In fact, some people even insist that our media should be seen to be setting the agenda for politicians and the general public instead of the present trend of operating in line with the agenda set outside the media environment by politicians, business interests, etc. The big question is: how prepared are the radio and television stations in the zone to set the agenda? How prepared are they to help the common man on the streets of our towns and the crannies of our villages to ensure that his vote counts, and counts effectively, too?

Good Governance and Accountability

We cannot talk about democracy, good governance and sustainable development without addressing the issue of corruption, mismanagement and accountability in governance at all levels of our national life. For each corrupt activity or money stolen, particular need of the community will remain unfulfilled. Stated simply, as the stomach of one man grows bigger as he overfeeds, the stomachs of thousands more will conscript leading to acute constipation.

For years running, the country has remained in the top five on the list of nations that are globally noted for corruption and corrupt tendencies by the Transparency International. In fact, so worried was the federal government on this issue that it noted rather sadly that: ‘Mismanagement, neglect and a crisis of leadership have left Nigeria a poor country. After decades of continuous military rule, Nigeria can best be likened to a post conflict country with visible deterioration in physical, economic and social infrastructure. Most disturbing and probably most intractable to deal with is the depth of decay in the institutions and moral fabric of the country ‘(FGN, 2000). Can we say that the communities of the zone are happy with the level of transparency observed in the running of their affairs at the various local and state government levels? I doubt if the answer can be universally positive.

The level of corruption in the country is enormous; likewise the consequences. For instance, the World Bank had reported that before the return of the country to democratic rule in 1999, about $400 Billion was stolen by various leaders in Nigeria (The Guardian, March 23, 2008). We are yet to know the quantum of resources stolen from 1999 to date but if revelations by the EFFC, ICPC and the National Assembly will serve as notices, then, we should be prepared for bigger surprises. Communities in the North East are eagerly expecting their broadcast media houses, to, in the spirit of investigative journalism, tell them who among their elected and bureaucratic leaders are corruptly mismanaging their resources; resources that should have been used to provide them with infrastructure, improve their conditions and transit them into the 21^st century.

The reality is that we cannot have good governance, democracy and sustainable development without accountability and transparency. Equally, we cannot enjoy the full confidence and respect of the global community if our image as a zone or nation is that of crockery, dubiousness and dishonesty. In a situation where resources meant for development are pilfered or literally stolen, the society will simply stagnate or deteriorate into decay, hopelessness and instability. In return, the roads will remain dangerously non motorable; taps will remain dry and darkness will envelop the society because monies for them are diverted elsewhere. And, most worrying too, is that our system appears weak in checkmating the corrupt activities that are glaringly exhibited around. Can we extricate our broadcast media for not being able to effectively engage in investigative journalism? I am glad that the managers are here. They may wish to educate us more on their efforts and constraints.

However, in the midst of this gloomy assessment, the communities in the North East and indeed Nigeria have a huge confidence in the ability of the broadcast media to keep the various LG and State governments and their officials accountable in managing our collective resources. In the present times, the media are, as usual, expected to increase their focus in exposing the bad, highlighting the good and working with the citizens to diminish that which harms them and nurture that which empowers and serves them best (Dardene, The Guardian, June 12, 2005).

Human Rights

Next, I must mention that the people of the zone are highly desirous and protective of their human rights. They cherish their individual and collective rights. Their various histories and conducts are revealing on that. Therefore, the communities look up to the media to help them defend and advance their individual and collective freedoms. Indeed, development requires the removal of major sources of unfreedom like poverty, tyranny, poor economic opportunities, systematic social deprivations, and neglect of public facilities and intolerance of repressive regimes (Sen, 1999). Without freedom, the human mind can hardly bring out its best. And, it is only when the citizens are able to creatively participate and contribute their best with little violations or blockages to their rights and freedoms that their potentials can be optimally realized. But when they are threatened by political thugs, oppressed by local leaderships and devastated by environmental and circumstantial poverty, they simply resign in life and consign their fate to the Almighty with little hope of immediate earthly solutions. This is indeed dangerous for the human spirit.

In the contemporary world, it is no longer fashionable, acceptable or tolerable for states or their agencies to violate or abuse the rights of their citizens. Little wonder that where such violations occur, the international system rise up through diverse means to arrest the situation. Here in Nigeria, too, our media should be seen to be functioning not simply to guard liberty and freedom, but to encourage more liberty, freedom, democracy, human rights and sustainable development. They must be in the forefront of exposing human rights abuses, condemning perpetrators and remaining vanguards for the defence of the citizen’s rights. The question is: how have the broadcast media stations and their staff in the states of the zone been performing in this respect? How prepared and courageous are the various radio and TV stations in protecting, defending and advancing individual and community human rights especially given the sensitivity of the subject of human rights in our country?

The MDGs

At the beginning of the Millennium, the global community through the United Nations set targets for addressing the general concerns or challenges that threaten the basis for sustainable development in member countries. These are christened the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Undoubtedly, the goals appropriately capture the needs of the communities of the zone.

One hundred and eighty nine member countries of the United Nations, including Nigeria, pledged to address problems relating to poverty, education, gender equality, infant and maternal health, HIV/AIDS and diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, the environment and global partnerships for development by Year 2015. For the purposes of tracking the MDGs, the UN set 18 targets and 48 indicators to evaluate the progress in the implementation of the goals by individual countries. For all the challenges identified in the eight goals, the communities of the zone are hugely disadvantaged. For instance, on the National poverty ranking, North East Nigeria takes the lead with 67.3% of its population surviving in abject poverty, followed by the North West with 62.9% and the North Central with 62.3% (CBN Report, 2006). Equally, rural areas and states in North East and North West Nigeria have the worst records with regards to child mortality rate in the country. Painfully, most of the causes of the high morbidity and mortality among children in the zone are quite avoidable through immunization, increased access to health facilities, use of mosquito nets, better household practices, access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation.

The poor record of the North East in maternal health has also qualified us as one of the leading non hospitable areas on earth for pregnant women. The statistics are shockingly worrying. Average maternal mortality ratio (MMR) figures are 800 to over 1000 for every 100,000 live births with a life time risk of 1:14-16.

What of our national ranking on the league of HIV/AIDS, malaria tuberculosis and other diseases? Regrettably, the zone is still No. 2, though significant progress is said to be made in fighting and reversing the trend of the diseases.

Can we then say, perhaps, we are faring better in sustaining our environment? I can not be so sure considering the critical levels of deforestation, pollution, shortage of housing, waste management, erosion, energy crisis, drying up of rivers and lakes, and above all, the consequences of climatic changes that are dangerously confronting us daily in our communities. Now, the question is: what right have our generation got to destroy the rich environment we inherited from our forbearers? What environmental legacy do we hope to leave for future generations?

Even for the Goal No. 8 that focuses on developing global partnership for development, one is still uncomfortably confronted with the sad reality that the communities of the zone are miserably placed on the fringes, with weak infrastructural base particularly in aspects like electricity, transport and technological capacity.

Now, to what extent have our media organizations in the zone been monitoring the progress and evaluating the successes of the MDGs implementation at the community, local, state and even national levels to ensure that our zone is not disadvantaged or short changed in this journey? As captured by Kofi Annan (2005), the media is not just "an indispensable partner in delivering services to the poor at the scope required by the MDGs but it can also catalyze action within countries on pressing development concerns, mobilizing broad-based movements and creating grassroots pressure to hold leaders accountable for their commitments. Can our communities trust the media to concretize the advice of Kofi Annan in acting as their watchdogs in this respect?

Diversity and Conflict

Without doubt, the North East sub region is complex, heterogeneous, multicultural and pluralistic in every sense of understanding. Naturally, such a complex and diverse mix will, if poorly managed or irresponsibly politicised, lead to occasional conflict that can be violent. One can cite numerous past and recent examples of such unfortunate conflicts that occurred at different levels involving various actors. Arguably, poor management or politicization of our diversity in the past had resulted in violent and damaging conflicts with devastating consequences like blood letting, destructions, hatred, spread of fear and other signals of tense existence thereby promoting disharmony, misery and poverty in the land to the detriment of sustainable development.

The expectation of our communities and indeed everyone else is to see how we are able to live peacefully, appreciating our differences and turning our diversity in to collective strength. In fact, regardless of what any one may say, our communities are generally peaceful and they desire and need unlimited peace at all times. I believe our media institutions are conscious of that fact. But in order to improve in their effort, media professionals in our zone, need to be additionally convinced that they have a good understanding of the various communities they are serving; their history, geography, sociology, anthropology, multicultural set up and much more. In fact, with the knowledge of recent unfortunate happenings in many communities, we shall expect that the local media should increasingly imbibe the new spirit of peace journalism that stands for the truth as opposed to incitements, lies and propaganda that often dominate war or hate journalism. The peace journalist thus has eyes for the essential; the devotion both to fact and hope; it takes right training, determination, environment and exposure to institute these elements in the polity.

Values: Values are cherished ideals that guide the conduct of the people. Every community in the zone has its values, code of ethics and standard norms and behaviours. Equally, there are shared values that are common to all the communities in the zone. This is further strengthened by their adherence to the two main religions of Islam and Christianity. Some of these values emphasise issues like honesty, respect for the elderly, courage, dignity of labour, truthfulness, sympathy for the weak and the disadvantaged and community spirit. Additionally, most cultures in the North East appreciate the position of women, the beauty of children, the sanctity of the family and supremacy of the community. In this respect, our communities have two clear needs. One, they require to promote and advance their community values for obvious societal well being and secondly, they expect that the operators in the media industry would uphold and reflect the best of our values in their conduct and output while at work.

Setting the Agenda:

So far, the discussion has tried to highlight few of the fundamental needs and expectations that the zone need to be creatively and competently addressed in line with global and national expectations for us to catch up with the basics of sustainable development in the first quarter of the 21^st century. Of course, the media and its professionals are undoubtedly central to any visible progress we may wish to achieve in the states and the country.

The media, in whatever form, are involved in the business of ideas, great ideas that can transform societies. Through the media’s collection, processing, management and dissemination of ideas and knowledge, they can create public awareness, increase knowledge, change attitudes, transform behaviour and foster engagement; some essential elements that influence and energize the society towards growth and development (McQuail, 2006). As Sachs (2008) explained, “great social transformations…all begun with public awareness and engagement”. Thus, the duty of the media is to lead in setting the societal agenda based on some of the issues earlier highlighted in the discourse. The media should be able to set the agenda for our people and leaders through advocacy, continuous engagement and effective dissemination of messages. We should be able to set the people thinking and talking about issues with the hope of enhancing their participation in the development process for our zone and nation to actualize the dream of being among the twenty most developed economies in the world. However, while we expect our media to rise up to the challenge of meeting the needs and yearnings of our communities, I think it will only be fair of us to also highlight few of the challenges that may hinder the best of intentions that radio or TV houses may have in their individual and collective effort to meet up to the expectations of our communities.

CHALLENGES

Multiplicity of Communities and Diversity of Cultures: Truly, the zone is hugely complex with over 300 ethnic groups, multiple religions and a large area of about 279,363,89 Sq. Klms. The population is about 19 Million. The region shares international boundaries with three different countries of Chad, Cameroon and Niger. Currently, each state of the zone has an average of two to three radio stations and two TV house. But, it must be noted that except in one or two cases, the power of the stations to effectively cover their expected areas of operations are severely and frustratingly limited by many factors. Similarly, the services of many of them are epileptic due to power outages and the failure of their proprietors to provide the required funding for diesel to keep them on air for normal broadcast hours.

Secondly, the content of their programmes are hardly reflective of the multiple cultures in their areas of operation. They cannot afford to produce programmes and broadcast regular news in every language or culture. Even where they attempt to do so at enormous cost, the reach of their signals is mostly restricted to the state capitals and probably adjoining LGAs. This is a challenge that ought to be addressed by the respective governments for our broadcast stations to be able to effectively respond to the needs of the communities of the zone and by extension help the governments deliver the dividends of democracy to the electorates.

Weak Research Base: Truly, our media organizations particularly public broadcast radio and TV stations have very weak, if not zero capacities to engage in public opinion and audience surveys. Perhaps, this is just reflective of the attitude of their owners, the governments, who bother less with research to inform their policy formulations and implementations. We hardly read any audience survey or study commissioned by any media house in the zone. Ideally, regular data from the consumers of the media should inform programme conception, production and delivery. In this regard, one would expect any station that is actually broadcasting for the people to have adequate data on the following:

• Access of people to media: The issues are: how many people, for example in a state have access to radio/TV sets, newspapers, films, and the internet? What are their favourite stations? What is the segmentation of the audiences in terms of age, sex, income, political persuasion, etc?
• Exposure to Message: It may be important for the radio/TV house to know the kind of messages the audiences prefer to patronize. Who is listening or watching what programme? How would they want the programmes produced and presented? What are their likes and dislikes about specific programmes? To what use do people put what they derive from the stations or rather what kind of functions do the programmes serve to the people?
• Credibility of Sources: If really the stations are broadcasting for the people, then, they need to know if the people really believe their messages or not. What is their individual credibility rating in the minds of the community members? Credibility is the basis of believability; and believability leads to acceptability and adoption of messages. Do listeners or viewers believe what they are often told or not? You need to know to truly serve community needs.

Commercialization: This is a very serious factor that has undermined the financial capacities of broadcast media houses in the zone and indeed the whole country. Under the guise of commercialization, many governments shy away from funding their media houses failing to realize that information is a social commodity whose benefits may not be instantly quantified in terms of Naira and Kobo. Consequently, many of them are left to the vagaries of market forces in a poverty stricken environment like the N/E. This policy has undoubtedly affected the capacity and even the desire of the stations to accord any attention to the issues of the communities and the villages. You can hardly see or hear any serious, independent and well scripted programmes emanating from the stations except when sponsored or paid by some interest or concerns. Of course, without being told, one can predict that such programmes are often skewed in favour of the sponsors. Even ordinary news stories have to be paid for thereby undermining the spirit of investigative journalism and professional news judgement. I am yet to be convinced on how our cash starved radio/TV stations can travel into villages, climb the mountains and cross the rivers on their own to report about the needs of our communities. This issue needs to be critically re-examined.

Political Pressures and Interferences: One of silent but serious threats to the performance of the broadcast media in sincerely and consistently reflecting the true feelings and needs of our people in the zone and indeed the country is the high level of intolerance exhibited by politicians in government, particularly at state levels irrespective of which party is in control. The non-tolerant behaviour of politicians to alternative views or options in the present dispensation is frightening and threatening to broadcasting and the entire democratic process. In such an environment, members of the general public maintain sealed lips and broadcast houses become exceptionally selective on whom to feature in their airwaves. Gradually, a culture of silence envelops the states. Sycophantic elements rule the airwaves; honest citizens’ recoil into their shells and democratic ebullience takes flight. A culture of resignation, despondency and fear predominates. As a fall out, society degenerates and broadcasting alienates itself from the communities. Therefore, it may not be out of place to use this forum to, once again appeal to our political office holders to please allow the multiple colours of ideas to flow in our radio and TV stations. That is where the beauty of democracy lies. And that is how the broadcast stations can maintain their relevance in the minds of the people.

THE WAY FORWARD

Community Radio for Community Needs: The reality is that the present broadcast media system or arrangement in the country is elitist, overbearingly controlled and technically and financially incapable to sufficiently meet or even reflect the needs of locally diverse communities in a large area like the N/E. A simple survey in the communities of the zone would reveal that there are gaps between community needs, performance of their leaders and the extent to which they are adequately and competently represented on the local broadcast channels. In other countries, they have addressed such challenges through the liberalization of the air waves by granting licenses for community radio stations that are owned and operated by communities for the communities. Here in Nigeria, we are yet to formulate a policy on the operations of community radio stations that could compliment the existing structure. It may interest us to know that in the whole of West Africa, Nigeria remains the only country whose marginalized and underserved communities are yet to enjoy the benefits of community radio. In less endowed countries like Niger, they have 98 CR stations as at 2006; Mali has 88; Ghana 15; Senegal 14 and Burkina Faso 33, among others.

I have no doubt that a CR regime can compliment the existing structure by addressing specific community needs in the context of the states and the country. I believe that Community Radio stations are feasible, viable and advantageous in fast tracking the wheel of participatory democracy and general development in diverse communities like our own. We remain hopeful that the present government will positively address the CR policy issue sooner than we expect.

Increased Political Will: The information sub-sector appears to be among the least considered social sectors by governments in the zone. I think this is a costly mistake that the various regimes need to amend by demonstrating greater political will through adequate funding, provision of technical capacities, staff development and guaranteeing of conducive operational environments for the various outfits to operate as real broadcast channels with wide coverage, standard hours of operations and rich and diverse programme content that are reflective of the needs, successes, expectations and challenges of our marginalized communities scattered in the North East sub-region.

Increased Capacities in the Media: At the level of the individual media houses, below are some of my minimum expectations of them and their staff if they preparing to seriously act as reporters and producers for their communities in a globalizing world where boundaries are increasingly banishing across cultures and nations. These are:

1 High literacy level: A media professional should be able to understand global trends and how they affect our local realities. Whether the media professional is in journalism, programme production, etc, he /she must be fully and adequately informed on existing and emerging societal issues for them to realize the enormity of the various issues and locate the responsibility of their domain in the system. In fact, unfolding events are increasingly proving that there is little tolerance for illiterate media professionals whose limited understanding of issues only contribute to confusing the people than educating, informing, mobilizing or even entertaining them. This is why we must also re-examine the curricula of media programmes in educational institutions in the country. Our teachers should be re-equipping and updating their teaching methods and techniques to ensure that students of the media are not bogged with outdated, irrelevant and contextually non useful ideas.

2 Closely related to the above is the need to have media persons who are well travelled in and out of their states, Nigeria and even beyond. “There is no substitute to seeing extreme poverty or deforestation or the destructive forces of nature… There is no substitute for meeting and engaging with people across cultures, religions and regions to realize that we are all in this together” (Sachs, 2008). Today, a lot of the things we receive from the media portray abundance of illiteracy about our country, its politics, geography, history, etc. Perhaps, that is only a reflection of the level of degeneration in knowledge of current affairs about the nation by the citizens as beautifully and sadly reflected on the popular MTN sponsored programme Who Wants to be a Millionaire on the NTA Network Service. Each time I watch the programme (and I try not to miss it), I feel sad on the level of illiteracy of our young people about our country. The question is: are our media professionals better informed about the nation to be able to show the light?

3 Understand and appreciate the current liberalization and democratization process.

4 Understand and appreciate that substantive human freedoms of individuals is fundamental to change in society;

5 Our media and its professionals should be additionally strategic in their thinking and operations for them to be increasingly relevant in the process of sustainable development. Our ties with the civil society sector, the international system, educational institutions, relevant government agencies, women bodies, etc should be strengthened. This will equip us with relevant information that we can pass on to the public on regular basis instead of acting like some cliff jumper episodic journalists or producers. Equally, doing so will open accounts of goodwill that will serve us well in times of need.

6 Understand and appreciate the major targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

7 Understand and appreciate the relevance of communication technologies. The reality is that, this is not the era of analogue journalists or analogue media managers. This is the time for participatory and people centred journalism carried out in digitized environments by digitized media professionals and supported by modern managements who think digitally. As it is, the environment in several media houses needs to be improved through the sustenance of functional libraries, internet connections and provision of IT facilities like laptops to the personnel. I always find it disheartening and quite retrogressive when I go to several Newsrooms in the country especially in our broadcast stations to find them grappling with outdated rickety typewriters and other analogue gadgets. You simply wonder if the staff and managements of such organizations are in the 21^st century or they are still in the 1960s. You are also left wondering if these are the professionals that will facilitate Nigeria’s attainment of Vision 20 2020.

8 A better appreciation of the sources of media power by the professionals themselves will enhance their professional confidence, drive and credibility. The point is that our media professionals, through continuous capacity building, will better appreciate their sources of power usually referred to as psychological, structural, social and constitutional for them to significantly maintain the required level of confidence and will power to perform. With such understanding, they can easily overcome petty fears, dictatorial tendencies and stand firm in the line of duty.

CONCLUSION

Without doubt, broadcasting can play crucial roles in helping to address the challenges of our communities especially in a disadvantaged and economically inactive environment like the North East region. But let us not make the mistake of thinking that the media holds the key to the satisfaction of the needs and fulfilment of the expectations of the people. The media are simply facilitators of the process and teachers of social action. The key holders are the political and bureaucratic elites. They control the budgets, they formulate and implement the policies and they decide who gets what. Therefore, if the media is perceived to perform below expectations, the people should know who or where to direct their questions.

Mr Chairman, Sir,I hope I have been able, through this paper to provoke some thoughts that will generate lively discussions in this forum.

Finally, let me once again thank the organizers for inviting me to this forum and more so asking me to lead the discussion with this paper. I am grateful. Most importantly, permit me to thank you all for being a very patient and wonderfully understanding audience.

I thank you, all.

REFERENCES

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