Last week was an exciting period for me, as a journalist and a student of journalism. President Olusegun Obasanjo confirmed his awaited candidature for 2003 presidential elections and General Muhammadu Buhari immediately joined the fray.
However, worthy as these events may appear, my interests were piqued by a 'sideshow' playing on the pages of newspapers, especially The Guardian, which will be my reference. This is the beautiful article written by Stephen Farris in Time and properly re-run by The Guardian over the alleged $400 gratification graciously handed out to some foreign reporters by the Information Ministry for attending its press conference.
I dont know the motive behind its appearance in The Guardian, so I will assume it is merely to give the article wider reach in Nigeria than it deserves. And did it succeed in doing this!
Incidentally, the first salvo against the article came from within The Guardian itself. A friend and colleague that was interviewed, sorry, chatted with, by Farris, Yinka Aderibigbe, denied the statements attributed to him. Then the Ministry of Justice, no less, came out with its finding on the "Farris allegations". Thereafter, Dr Levi Obijiofor came out with his own verdict.
All these found the American journalist guilty and unworthy of our respect in his handling of the issue. If I had not given myself away thus far in my choice of words, may I say now that I found Farris more credible than his accusers and, at the risk of being 'unpatriotic' I especially found the Justice Ministry's finding ludicrous and Obijiofor's articles only slightly less so.
I explain.
Neither Aderibigbe - I was actually happy to read about him in the interview - nor Obijiofor disprove the fact that corruption is rife among journalists in Nigeria. Though this is not strange, after all our country has the dubious honour of being one of the most corrupt nations in
the world. The two journalists took umbrage over the "motive" and "manner" of the article.
Aderibigbe denied he granted an interview with Farris but agreed that he had a friendly discussion with him over several issues. I believe him. At the risk of losing a friendship that dates back to our college days, I, however, think he is naive in his belief that a discussion with a snooping reporter might not end in print. I must add, though, that attribution is a
serious thing and if he did not ask for permission, it is professionally wrong for Farris to attribute the statements directly to Aderibigbe.
I must say most of the things written by Farris are correct. And after almost a decade as a reporter in Nigeria, I should know. Two weeks ago, my school was discussing the practice of journalism around the world. We discussed the reality of kidnapping, shooting and jailing that journalists face daily in several countries and everyone wanted to know how it is practising in Nigeria.
I told them basically the things contained in the Farris article - a journalist in Nigeria, thank God for small mercies, is more likely to be paid than to be shot. Even under the military, collusion is preferred to collision. Money talks.
Which was why I found Obijiofor's article strange.
The journalism teacher felt we should live with the brown envelope syndrome because it is the
practice in countries like Korea, Phillipines and Indonesia. And you know what, he highlighted happenings during the regime of Ferdinand Marcos to show how this is not only a Nigerian thing.
Hello! Am I missing something here?
Obijiofor then said these "did not mean accepting bribes was ethical." His anger, it seems, is that he could not understand why a foreigner would dare comment on the state of the Nigerian media, especially when that foreigner comes from a country like the US where, frankly, the ethics of balance and fairness, are often obeyed in the breach. His angst with American journalism is fair. But I don't think his attack on Farris is.
Hey, Farris was not writing about the US. He was writing about Nigeria, a country he visited, and he did not have to compare corruption in the Nigerian media with that of any other country if he did not want to.
What I thought the Farris article would generate were opinions on how to tackle this blemish - like increased professionalism, adequate remuneration and respect for journalists. I did not realise my country is not ready to change, yet.
A Lagos State government would see nothing wrong with spending thousands of dollars to send officials to CNN headquarters in Atlanta to deliver a letter while a panel headed by my Minister of Justice would see nothing wrong with handing out, according to press report, $400 or N50,000 to journalists for attending a ministerial briefing. Depending on which exchange you use, there is little difference between the two sums. And I think definition of what the money was meant for is situation dependent.
Farris and some journalists saw it as a bribe, the panel was quoted as saying the money was for travel and incidental expenses. I think they ought to show us the expenses sheets submitted by the journalists before they collected the money.
And we are supposed to believe the money is not a bribe because it was hinted at in the letter of invitation sent to the journalists. In Lagos where I used to live, thieves also send letters to residents to let them know they are coming to rob - which they usually do. Does this now mean
they have not committed a crime because they made their intent known beforehand?
Pray, why was the money hidden in envelopes tucked into media packs handed to the journalists? Why did some reject or return the money if it was 'reimbursements' for some phantom 'expenses?' Was the money paid in dollars - which would raise other issues - or in naira?
The whole incident is a shame and if we have honourable people at the helm of affairs of the country, people involved should resign or be made to resign their positions. But that is asking for too much. I guess it will also be unreal to expect Justice Akanbi's anti-corruption organisation to look into this, after all the nation's Attorney-General has been reported
to okay the practice.
Unlike local journalists, these foreign journalists are well remunerated and they don't need to be 'subsidised' by a 'poor' country like Nigeria. It is another blow to government's anti-corruption posturing.
Don't worry, Minister Agabi, you don't have to threaten journalists with prison for writing what they saw. Hopefully, increased 'reimbursements' will make that unnecessary. I wonder though, since this has become legal, why we are still demonising the Abacha family?
Guides
