The Role of Electronic Media/internet on Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria

The Role of Electronic Media/internet on Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria

CHAPTER ONE

Objectives of the study

The objectives of the study are to:

critically asses the roles the electronic media/ internet have played in entrenching democratic values into the Nigeria political system;
assess democratic consolidation especially with regards to the Nigerian political system;
consider how conducive the political atmosphere has been for the electronic media/ internet especially in the Fourth Republic;
make attempts to consider, through a policy prescription, a more plausible and objective way for the electronic media/ internet to assert its responsibility in the democratic process.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK

Introduction

Literature review is a well-integrated discussion and critical reinterpretation of scholarly viewpoints on a given research problem as found in the previous relevant studies-highlighting how a given a study will make contribution to the existing body of knowledge, especially on the research problem and other related areas of investigation (Musa B., 2011).

Conceptual Review

Social Media

Social media are interactive web-based media platforms that offer citizens opportunity to connect, share opinions, experiences, views, contacts, knowledge, expertise, as well as other things like job and career tips. They belong to a new genre of media that focuses on social networking which allows users to express themselves, interact with friends and share information with freedom as well as publish their views on issues on the World Wide Web. Mayfield (2008) describes these media as “online media that promote participation, openness, conversation and connectedness”. Nation (2011) sees them as “social instruments of communication which are different from the conventional instruments like newspapers or magazines. They are online content, created by people using highly accessible and a scalable publishing technologies to disseminate information across geographical boundaries, providing interaction among people. It supports demonstration of knowledge and information, thereby making the people both information producers and consumers. This feature of making the people information producers and consumers is one of the distinguishing features of social media from traditional mass media that only make the people consumers only (Adelabu 2011).

Social media emerged with the advent of the internet and the World Wide Web. They are usually associated with the term “web 2.0” which is used to describe websites that provide opportunity for a user to interact with the sender of a message. “Web 2.0” refers to the state of the web from 2004 till date; a period when interactive websites emerged as opposed to “web1.0” which describes the state of the web prior to 2004. Web-based communities, social networking sites video-sharing sites, Wikis, and blogs, are among examples of web 2.0 sites (Tapscot, 2009). Abubakar (2011) observes that social media has created online platforms that serve as a new “political capital” where people resort to and participate in a political discourse. Kweon and Kim (2011:1) therefore, emphasize that social media has become a main source of personal orientation, anonymous, interactivities and social community on variety of issues that involves politics and political discourse. Social media has the capacity of boosting participation because of its openness, conversation nature, connectedness and textual and audio-visual characteristics appeal (Mayfield, 2011 and Bradley, 2009).

Electioneering and Democracy in Nigeria

Election, which represents a modern and universally accepted process through which individuals are openly and methodically chosen to represent a body or community in a larger entity or government, is one of the cardinal features of democracy (Nnadozie, 2007:45). Elections are properly regarded as the central institution of democratic government. This is because in democracy, the authority of the government derives solely from the consent of the governed. A democratic election would characteristically be competitive, periodic, inclusive definitive and free and fair (Chukwu, 2007:75). To consolidate electoral democracy in Nigeria, Jega and Ibeanu (2007) suggest the raising of public consciousness through advocacy, especially regarding ballot monitoring and protection.

Election can be likened to seasonal rituals that seek periodically to renew leadership and ensure continuity of government. Election is a constitutionally mandated process of selecting, voting and mandating the people who will hold either legislative or executive position and steer the affairs of a state for a period of time. It is a process of bestowing power on candidates who have sought people’s mandate to rule them. Thus, election helps in enthroning legitimacy on a government for a period of time in the political life of a state through popular participation. It is equally a system of renewing contract between the government and the governed by eliciting commitment of the people to the political system. Slann (1998: 180) notes that election in democracies provide the most important and widespread manifestation of political participation. Election contests are regularly scheduled events between peoples or groups, and they are governed by a set of rules. In Nigeria, the rules are set out in the 2011 constitution as amended and Electoral Act passed by the National Assembly. Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is the umpire while Electoral tribunals and the law courts are the interpreters of the rules in cases of dispute. Election contests are full of drama much of which stem from the spontaneity of the action and uncertainty of the outcome (Nimmo & Combs, 1990). The dramatic elements are stretched by both the traditional and the new media through hyping and virtualization.

Borrowing from the games theory analogy originally developed by Emil Borel in the 1920s and espoused in political science by R. Duncan Luce and Howard Raffia, Martin Shuhi and Anatol Rapport (Varina 2006, 286- 288) an election is a game, well defined with an explicit and efficient set of rules; the information of which is available to the players as specified at every point, and the scoring system is complete. Each player in the game of election is a rational entity with well-defined objectives and has at his disposal sets of resources, with the help of which he combats the forces against which he is in competition or conflict. Electioneering is the process of asking for people’s votes prior an election. It involves managing political parties, electoral umpires, the electorates and the candidates. It is a process of communicating, responding and determining political future of states.

CHAPTER THREE

THE CHALLENGES OF DEMOCRATIC CONSOLIDATION IN NIGERIA

Nigeria’s democracy landed on a good platform with the existence of democratic institutions, plural society, vibrant civil society organizations and critical mass media among others. These ingredients have the structure and capacity to make democracy strive in Nigeria. But it is germane to note that, Nigeria’s democracy has remained grossly unstable since the return to this popular form of governance in 2011. The political terrain has been home with lots of challenges precipitating against the genuine realization of the system. In fact, the impediments to the nations unending desire for a true democracy seem to assume a more perilous proportion by the day. The challenges are:

Ethno-religious Factor:

This remains one of the force s that have contributed greatly to socio-political instability in the country. The latest sectarian turbulence in the country and the clamor for the presidency by the varied ethnic groups indicate that the society is still Balkanized by tribal and religious sentiments (Victor, 2002). Each ethnic nationality in Nigeria has its own faith, interest, culture, language, and level of aspiration and these forces seem to affect the economic fate of each group. In addition, they make the creation of a common identity problematic, thereby exacerbating the difficulty in attaining a true democracy in the society currently, Nigeria lacks the necessary democratic values (Civil and human abuse is rampant, freedom of speech and expression is hampered, lack of social security and distributive justice) hence the rampant social unrest in the polity (Victor, 2002).

The Absence of True Federalism:

In this case lack of federalism in Nigeria, I mean lack of true federalism structure is a stumbling block to the nation’s ongoing democratic enterprise. The federal government is very overbearing as it controls about 80% of the country’s resources leaving state and local governments at its mercy. Where regions, states or geographical zones have the power to control their resources and to have access to the necessary funds for community development programs, democracy strives. Perhaps, it is only true federalism that can guarantee fairness and justice in the society. More importantly, it enables each locality to progress according to the aspiration of the people. A durable and enforceable people’s constitution is an indispensable tool to make this feasible, as the constitution protects the people and determines socio-political activities in a society. As noted in the philosophy of Aristotle “We can decide the identity of a state only by examining the form (and contents) of its constitution”. In Nigeria, we lack the reality of such a federal constitutional and true federal state (Awuudu, 2012).

Abject Poverty:

Continued poverty, reinforced by mass unemployment is a barrier to Nigeria’s quest for consolidating her democracy. A society of beggars, parasites, and bandits cannot be democratic (Ake, 1996). This shows that any individual deprived of the basic wherewithal cannot participate effectively in a democratic process. A poor person is therefore not a full-fledged social individual, as he/she lacks the basic freedom to engage in the life he/she enjoys. One can safely argue that poverty is a hindrance to democratic consolidation since economic chaos can topple democratic institutions. The problems of poverty and injustice are a good part of Nigeria, and citizens do not seem to understand what is in their culture preventing them from achieving a just, prosperous, dignified life and true democracy. It is essential to note that about 70% of the Nigerian populations are estimated poorly. Is there any wonder why the society is chaotic? (Victor, 2002).

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS

In this chapter, data gotten through both the primary and secondary sources are presented and analysed. Also from the primary sources of data, the hypotheses on which this work is built are tested and their validity or otherwise established. Data gotten from secondary sources, interviews conducted and opinions gotten through secondary sources as well as the presentation and analysis of data gotten through questionnaire make up the chapter.

Secondary data presentation

WorldPublicOpinion.Org is an international research organization that focuses on how to extensively delve into areas and issues of public opinion through extensive research across countries. In May 2009, the organization in conjunction with Market Trends Research International based in Lagos Nigeria conducted a research which focuses on the Freedom of the Media. The same research was also conducted in nineteen other countries scattered across the continents of the world. Here the result of the research is presented as it relates to Nigeria and the average figure for the twenty countries is also presented for comparison.

Q1: How important is it for the media to be free to publish news and ideas without government control?

Table 1: How important is it for the media to be free to publish news without the idea of government control Source: WorldPublicOpinion.Org

The table shows that 54 Nigerian respondents think it is very important for the media to publish news without government control, 37 respondents opted for somewhat important, 6 choose not very important, 1 went for not important at all while another 1 thinks that it depends. On average in the 20 countries where the research was carried out, 52 respondents think it is very important for the media to publish news without government control, 29 respondents opted for somewhat important, 9 choose not very important, 4 went for not important at all while 3 thinks that it depends.

CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION

This chapter discusses the findings of the research as analysed in the previous chapter. Also included in this chapter is a comparison of the result obtained with other empirical studies and the literature review. Other items highlighted are recommendation, summary and conclusion.

Summary of findings

The study revealed that the electronic media/ internet is an essential, indispensable part of democratic consolidation. It also revealed that democratic consolidation in Nigeria, generally has been rather slow compared with the expectations of the people, and among the factors that account for this is the less than conducive political climate under which the mass media have had to carry out their responsibilities.

The research equally brought to the fore the need for autonomy of the mass media as very instrumental to the stability of the democratic process. While it is admitted that 100% autonomy of the mass media may be utopian in actual sense, the situation where government at all levels gag the media through different censorship policies, intimidation and even physical assault on media workers are worrisome and should be condemned in strong terms. There is equally a need for state-owned mass media to be allowed to do their work without undue interference from their owners – the government as the research reveals that the public prefer the privately-owned electronic to the state-owned ones as a result of their near independence and critical appraisal of issues in some cases.

Attached to the need for greater autonomy for the mass media as revealed by the research is the need for increase in the level of access the media enjoys when it comes to information. The research revealed that most information that is crucial to the public and the policy process are forbidden from getting to the public through the media as they are clouded under official secrecy. Public officers and elected leaders of the people are made to swear to or sign secrecy oaths which forbid them from revealing information related to their work – issues of public concern in most cases – to the conveyers of information and prevent such information from getting to places where they may be of importance to the democratic process.

The hypotheses tested (hypothesis 1), further buttresses the fact that there is a significant relationship between the activities of the mass media and democratic consolidation. In other words, the activities of the mass media have telling effects on the democratic consolidation process. The extent to which the mass media live up to their responsibilities impacts on the democratic process as a whole. Equally observed from the hypotheses (two) is that greater autonomy for the mass media enhances the democratic consolidation process while hypothesis three reveals that the passage into law of the Freedom of Information Bill portends good tidings for democratic consolidation in Nigeria.

The introductory aspect of the research laid the foundation for the work by expatiating on the statement of the research problem, the methodology, the research objectives, questions, hypotheses, outline of chapters and other critical features important to the work. We were able to examine and scrutinize works of different scholars from different countries, across different continents as it relates to the research topic and related terms and concepts. The scholars generally discussed the roles the media are expected to play in the democratic process while also dwelling on what democratic consolidation itself entails and why democracy in its ideal form, represents the best form of administering the people.

We also traced the historical evolution of the global mass media and then to the emergence of the Nigerian media. The exposition on the mass media in Nigeria accounts for how the mass media evolved, pre-amalgamation to the nationalist struggles of the 20^th century and then to independence and the post-independence era, examining the various challenges and contributions of the media in these periods.

Mass media and the democratic process in the Fourth Republic in Nigeria was also examined thoroughly being the core of this research through the use of and administering of questionnaires to get and gather the opinion of people in relation to the mass media and its impact on democratic consolidation.

We argued that the mass media have played remarkable roles in the democratic process in Nigeria. From 1859 when the first newspaper came into being, the media contributed in campaigning against slave trade, battle for ‗autonomy‘ when Lagos was initially administered by the colonial lords from Freetown in Sierra Leone and later Accra in Ghana until Lagos became an administrative headquarter, down to the use of the mass media in the intense nationalist struggles of the 20^th century. The nationalist of the time, found in the media a perfect medium to highlight their views and argue their points, all in the process of the intellectual battle against colonialism. The mass media was used in educating the growing literate population of the time of the importance of self-government. The intense sensitization embarked among the populace practically turned the people against colonial domination and set the stage for political sovereignty of the country.

Post-independence, as divided as the media was along ethnic lines, it still played the role of providing an ‗easy landing‘ for self government and when the military struck in 1966 following a spate of crisis that ravaged the political landscape in the country, the mass media played the role of salvaging the situation and campaigning for the return of the ‗usurpers‘ to the barracks. This is one role the mass media played continuously in the successive military regimes that held sway in the country in the latter half of the 20^th century.

During the democratic era, the mass media has sensitized the people, provide education and have risen up against whatever they consider as portending danger to the polity. Public outcry occasioned by media campaigns have resulted in cases such as the impeachment of senate presidents, speakers of the House of Representatives and uncovering of serious instances of corruption and abuse of office. The media have thus succeeded in putting public leaders on their toes and held them to account for their deeds.

In the course of carrying out their responsibilities in the polity since the mid-19^th century, the mass media have had to confront a lot of challenges. The colonial government set the tone for such through enactment of legislation meant to curtail media freedom and when the battle for independence was eventually won, the self-inflicted problem of ethnicity crept into the media and the different leaders in the regional structure that operated at the time saw the media as a potent weapon in canvassing personal views and promoting selfish personal interests. The mass media was thus dislodged from carrying out its noble roles in the newly found independence to such devious tasks as personality attack and regional interests. The activities of the mass media contributed in exacerbating almost all the major crises of the First Republic which culminated in the military takeover of 1966. The successive military regimes then embarked on various means of ‗putting the media‘ in its rightful place, such as promulgation of decrees, intimidation, physical assault and even imprisonment of media workers. Some lost their jobs while the unlucky ones had to pay with their lives in the course of the struggle. Media houses were closed down and some media outfits had to operate underground in a period where unmitigated cases of human right abuses in the history of the country were committed.

And even in the democratic era when the media are supposed to be heaving a sigh of relief and working selflessly in consolidating the process, cases of intimidation, harassment, assault and assassination of media workers recorded during the dark days of the military are still commonplace. The media are still being tactically manoeuvred and influenced and have thus not been able to live up to what ought to be their responsibility. Some of the laws inherited from the repressive military era are still in operation and the Freedom of Information Bill which would have no doubt increased the media‘s access to information and eased their operations as well as provide a platform to hold public officers more accountable to the people have been in the National Assembly for a decade now. When the two chambers of the legislature manage to pass it, it meets with a brick wall when it comes to presidential assent. Under the excuse of having the tendency to allow foreigners access to matters of national security, the media – and the public – have been schemed time and again, in issues relating to the FOI Bill.

One of the aspects in the democratic process where the media are expected to play key roles is the electoral process. And although the Electoral Act spells out guidelines for the use of the media by all electoral competitors in a way that would mean fairness to all parties involved, most of the laws have existed only on paper as politicians, governments and other privileged members of the society continually abuse the use of the media during the electioneering period. Opposition political parties and figures are denied access to the media in most cases by the ruling party most especially at the state government level thus turning the mass media into a tool for personal use.

Recommendations

The nexus between the mass media and the democratic process with particular emphasis on the roles the media are expected to play in the polity has attracted and is still attracting increasing attention from the media practitioners, advocates, researchers and other concerned scholars. The mass media have been recognized as fulcrum of any democratic experiment. To further smoothen the mass media – democratic consolidation interplay in Nigeria however, some policy measures are suggested as follows.

It should be recognized by policy makers, public officers and indeed the media practitioners themselves that democratic consolidation faces a huge challenge if the mass media institutions malfunction or are malfunctioning in any way. In other words, democracy cannot work well without an effective mass media. Therefore, all laws that impede the media from effectively playing their roles without fear or favour should be abrogated. There should be a great deal of support for policy-legal reform processes, in order to ensure a healthy, fair environment in which media sectors can prosper. Also some existing laws that has to do with the media needs to be enforced and not made to exist on paper only as has been the case in Nigeria overtime.
All impediments to the passage into law of the Freedom of Information Bill should be dealt with forthwith and the Bill made to become part of the nation‘s governing laws. This will increase the level of access the media has to information and will go a long way in restoring sanity into the democratic process as public officers would be held more accountable to the public as media workers and the public would have enhanced access to government information and computerized records and documents.
Training, re-training and support for journalism and other media institutions should be priority areas to develop the media in Nigeria for the future. However, training without requisite infrastructure – that is, facilities and equipment – cannot lead to the desired stage of media development in Nigeria. Structures should be put in place to provide good training avenues for journalists and other media workers. Proprietors of media organizations should devote considerable attention and resources towards the training and re-training of media staff. This will improve their knowledge of the profession and the new trends as they emerge on continuous basis and they will be able to live up to the billing as their colleagues in other liberal democracies of the world. Also media workers should be sufficiently equipped to be able to carry out their work effectively so that they will not continually lag behind their counterparts in advanced countries of the world.
A situation where government-owned, especially state government-owned media organisations are used as instruments of propaganda and the opposition are tactically prevented from accessing such media organisations to make their voices heard is condemnable in strong terms. All political parties should be guaranteed equal access to all government-owned media. The role of government-owned electronic media organisations as public service broadcasters should be emphasised and such media organisations should operate with the fundamental tenet of putting public interest first in their operations. The overbearing influence of the state in terms of regulation and control of national broadcasting should be reduced drastically and a level playing field for the state-controlled media and the private media should be provided.
A high level of corruption that has eaten deep into the media industry is ludicrous. It should be strongly campaigned against. All cases of ―brown envelopes‖ and ―Ghana must go bags‖ that characterise the media resulting in the commercialisation of news and promotion of parochial interests for monetary gains should be completely eradicated. Professional bodies such as the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Nigerian Guild of Editors and similar bodies should make such acts a serious offence amongst its members.
The remuneration and other welfare packages of media workers should be enhanced. A situation where media workers are grossly unpaid and some even going unpaid for months is an aberration that should be done away it. This has become a ‗motivation‘ for media workers to engage in illicit acts to meet up with their daily needs and that of their families.
All cases of harassment, intimidation and assault on media workers should be outlawed forthwith in Nigeria. The safety of media workers should become paramount as they occupy very sensitive positions in the scheme of things. Anyone who willingly commits such crimes against media workers should be made to face the full wrath of the law no matter how highly placed such person is.
There is a need to intensify the professionalization of the media so that only those who have what it takes can work in media establishments. All forms of quackery and impersonation should be treated as serious crimes against the state and defaulters should be made to lick their wounds.
All cases where the mass media are politically influenced and denied the autonomy to carry out their roles from a neutral perspective should be done away with. Regulatory agencies such as the National Broadcasting Commission and the Nigerian Press Council should respect the need to allow the media to do their work without undue interference. The agencies should however make sure that the media do their work in accordance with stated rules as contained in documents such as National Broadcasting Code for the electronic media.

Conclusion

In view of the identified and hugely conspicuous reasons for an effective Electronic media/ internet as a driving force of a virile democracy, it is important that all stakeholders rise up to the tasks in raising the standard and potency of the mass media in Nigeria. Policies in this area, no doubt, portend good tidings, pluralism and enhancement of democratic consolidation in Nigeria.

REFERENCES

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