The last couple of weeks in Nigeria have been characterized by several events that point to the generally held view that Nigeria is degenerating into the abyss of a failed state.
However, the unfolding scenario is a case of mixed bag. A mixed bag of bad news and good tidings. The present scenario represents a usual portraiture of a state struggling to earn a place on the positive page of history, among the civilized comity of states on the globe.
The recent attack on the media institutions in Nigeria has become a talking point. The attack on TVC, The Nation News Paper, Lagos TV and Traffic Radio as follow up to the ENDSARS protest debacle has been described as an attack on the media institution in Nigeria.
The attack is a dangerous development because of the sacred role of the media as a catalyst to development.
An attack on the media is an attack on the rule of Law. The role of the media is enshrined in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended. It is therefore sacrilegious to attack this sacred institution under any guise.
The media must not operate with fear and should not be exposed to an insecure environment. It is an overstatement to say that what happened to the media institution in parts of the country during the encroachment on the ENDSARS protest has made worse the authoritarian environment, media professionals are exposed.
It is therefore not surprising that the apex body of the journalism profession, the Nigerian guild of Editors strongly raised its voice against the sordid savagery by demanding adequate security of Media Houses and media operatives.
Thank God the institutions are back on their feet, but are groping in the shadows of fines.
The issue of fines brings to the fore ethical considerations in the media establishments.
The media should embrace ethical principles to avoid unnecessary scrutiny from regulators.The conventional media must not allow the social media to influence it negatively. The issue of credibility in the social media is a baggage the conventional media must not carry.
The media as the fourth estate of the realm should not be grouped among unprogressive institutions because of their role in protecting and defending democracy in Nigeria.
The media is a democratic institution, therefore, any attempt to demonize it, will be counter- productive to the peace and progress that we seek as a nation.
If everything fails, the media should not fail. It is the window of Nigeria to the world. Sadly, uninformed persons who are generally described as hoodlums because of their involvement in wanton looting of public property are products of the failing Nigerian state. Any isolated condemnation or stigmatization of this unfortunate group of persons is therefore a misjudgment. It would be sanctimonious to think that they do not reflect our collective failure as a people, families and nation
Another sad commentary in the negative intrusion on the ENDSARS Protest is the destruction of courts described by lawyers as the temple of justice. When the anger of a people descends on the courts there is a clear signal that the level of depravity among the populace is increasing in leaps and bounds. It is a call to reposition the justice system for the interest of all, irrespective of class and gender or creed.
The entire Nigerian population must be positively mobilized through reorientation and born again behavior of the judiciary to respect the courts. If the high and mighty in the past as in the case of Rivers State for example in 2014, had shown serious disdain for the judiciary what would the ordinary man in the street do? The locking of the courts in that era was a bad signal.
At the level of value orientation and family value, what is an eleven-year-old child doing in a rampage among the so called hoodlums who hijacked the ENDSARS protest in Benin, Edo state? An eleven-year-old child joining the fray with a police uniform and declaring himself a DPO is the height of child abuse and sickening depravity. Shame to the adults present at the scene who urged him on, and hailed him the DPO.
Nigeria is breeding a bleak future for the younger generation.
It is most unfortunate that those who have been complaining of being shortchanged and marginalized encouraged and enjoyed this drama of the absurd. That incident and others are evil compasses leading the younger generation to where.
That a section of the youth population saw the ENDSARS protest as a trigger to perpetrate hate attack, loot and destroy public and private properties to say the least is misplaced and calls to question the moral psyche of the average Nigerian.
Nigeria can be described as the mythical evil snake that eats its tail. How for example can one describe the story of a young man who was rescued from the jaw of death along the street during the demonstration in Lagos. The young man was reported to have stolen the phone of a nurse that nursed him to life in the same hospital that took him in pro bono.
There is however a sign of hope for the younger generation of Nigerians. Young persons who looted public property in Ogun State were reported to have returned their loots at the behest of the Governor who announced amnesty for anyone who would return them. That a large number of young people returned their looted items exemplifies hope of a remorseful youth population.
According to Abraham Lincoln “if once you forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem.”
The leadership of this country has lost the confidence of the young adults; will they ever get it back? May be they will, if they make a swift turn around to do the needful without reneging.
The freezing of the account of twenty ENDSARS PROTEST sponsors is a sad commentary that needs to be revisited by the central Bank of Nigeria urgently.
It epitomizes a government that speaks from two sides of the mouth. Federal Government had earlier acknowledged the protest as legitimate. The sudden show of prevarication by FG and their agents, is a blatant betrayal of trust that is direly needed to move the country on the wheel of development.
By: Bon Woke
Source: www.thetidenewsonline.com
