Editorial
Fallouts From The Editors’ Conference
The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) recently rose from the
8th All-Nigerian Edi-tors’ Conference at Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, with
far reaching suggestions that are tangential to the peace and unity of Nigeria.
The Theme of the Conference was: “The Nigerian Editor And National Security.”
The conference, which is the largest annual gathering of
mainstream media Editors in Nigeria x-rayed security challenges facing the
nation through the lens of many experts. They looked at the architecture of
terror,’ ‘the cost of insurgency’, understanding anti-terror laws’, and
‘reporting right, reporting safe’.
Having received briefing from experts on core issues that
would engender peace and stability, and promote national security, unity and
mutual co-existence, the Editors agreed to work in synergy with both government
and security agencies to guarantee and promote the corporate existence of
Nigeria.
The mind of the media community in Nigeria was eminently
captured in the communiqué where the Editors urged President Goodluck Jonathan
and other elected officials to evolve extra measures to tackle the many
problems confronting the country.
They also suggested the proper equipping of various security
agencies to help place them ahead of criminal elements in the society, just as
they stressed the need for openness and transparency in engaging the
anti-terror agenda.
The Tide feels particularly impressed with the concerns
expressed by the Editors and the demonstration of a rare sense of commitment
and burning desire to partner with
governments at all levels with a view to
ensuring the social integration, security and sustainable development of
Nigeria.
We are persuaded that the media can greatly influence the
agenda for national peace and security as well as promote economic progress.
With the necessary encouragement from government, security agencies and the
society, the media can be a force to reckon with in nation-building.
To achieve this national objective, it is imperative that
Federal and States Governments do take
seriously, issues raised at the conference and factor – in suggestions and
recommendations made by the Editors. Government must make policies that would
promote peaceful co-existence in Nigeria, irrespective of the differences in
religion, tribe, ethnic affiliation or political persuasion.
While we think that the Federal Government and indeed
Governors, as States Chief Executives, need to genuinely collaborate among
themselves with a view to striking the right synergy on security matters. The
Tide also believes that it is expedient for governments at all levels to also
take the media into confidence on security matters through regular interface
with Editors.
To achieve the best results in this regard, however, Editors
in Nigeria must, rise above ethnic and religious sentiments in the discharge of
their duties in the overall interest of the unity, stability and corporate
existence of the country. This is more so because sections of the media in the
country have tended to serve other interests, lately as their reportage of
national events clearly shows.
That is why, we expect that the ethics of the journalism
profession and codes of practice be religiously followed and applied in such a
fashion that the core values of neutrality and objectivity are seen to have
been served in the work of the Editors. This way, the tasks of both government
and security agencies would have been made less cumbersome.
Even so, we insist that the Federal Government would be more
proactive and pragmatic in the application of intelligence for purposes of checkmating
security breaches, instead of exhibiting lack of political will to deal with
attempts to undermine national peace and security until it is too late.
We are aware that some other professional bodies in Nigeria
have taken up the issue of security challenges, in various degrees and
perspectives. That, we think, aptly underscores the true concerns of the people
on the need for government to deal with security concerns and quickly too.
Even so, the media have special influence that Nigeria may
need to fully exploit for national good. If the media that is able to make or
mar is treated as enemy or mere press boys,
the nation would get the views of mere press-boys, but if assisted to
develop, media will also attract the best brains required to proactively
mobilise the citizenry towards improved national consciousness, security and
patriotism.
There are moments in the life of a legislature when plain speaking becomes a public service. Senator Adams Oshiomhole provided such a moment on the floor of the Senate when he accused the Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, of manifestly neglecting critical federal arteries in Edo and Delta States, and implored his colleagues to prevail on the Minister to adopt a more equitable and genuinely national approach to road infrastructure delivery. It was blunt, it was uncomfortable, and it was necessary.
The specifics of his complaint deserve restating. Drawing attention to the recent approval of some 20 new road projects despite the parlous state of existing ones, the former Edo State governor lamented that Nigerians cannot travel from Benin to Warri, Benin to Asaba, Benin to Auchi, or Auchi to Okene without encountering severe distress. He alleged a deliberate omission of these corridors from the national budget in the last three years, save for palliative interventions directed by President Bola Tinubu through tax credit arrangements. His question — “What have we done wrong?” — resonates far beyond the chambers of the National Assembly.
We lend our full and unequivocal support to that call. The Auchi-Benin Road, for instance, has been in a deplorable and near-impassable condition for several years, turning what should be a two-hour journey into an all-day ordeal of broken axles, extortionate fares, and despondent commuters. The media have, on multiple occasions, chronicled the suffering of motorists, traders, and students who ply that route. To describe it as a federal road today is to stretch the meaning of the term beyond recognition.
This pattern of sidelining is not confined to Edo or Delta. Even here in Rivers State, the disposition of the Federal Ministry of Works has left much to be desired, particularly along the Eleme axis of the East-West Road. That road, which ought to be a flagship of federal presence in the Niger Delta, has remained in a wretched state for long. Those who use it daily — workers at the Eleme Petrochemical Complex, the two refineries, Onne Port, and the countless ancillary industries — can attest to its deterioration. Work has proceeded in fits and starts without the sustained urgency such a strategic road demands.
The Eleme stretch is not a mere intra-state byway. It is the gateway to the nation’s economic jugular. According to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing’s 2023 Highway Condition Survey, only about 35 per cent of the country’s 36,000 kilometres of federal roads are rated as being in good or fair condition, with the remainder classified as poor or very poor. The East-West Road, conceived in the 1970s to bind the entire Niger Delta, remains unfinished in critical sections more than four decades after. If it had been treated as a priority, the perennial gridlock, carnage, and economic loss on the Eleme-Refinery junction would have long been consigned to history.
The irony is as painful as it is glaring. The Niger Delta remains the goose that lays the golden eggs. Data from the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative [NEITI 2023 Oil and Gas Audit] show that the region still accounts for over 78 per cent of Nigeria’s federally collected export earnings and about 65 per cent of total government revenue. The National Bureau of Statistics [NBS Foreign Trade Report Q4 2024] similarly confirms that crude oil continues to dominate export receipts. By every metric of equity and economic logic, a region that sustains the national purse deserves first-rate consideration in the allocation of infrastructure, not afterthoughts and tokenism.
Road infrastructure is not largesse to be dispensed by favour; it is the skeleton upon which commerce, cohesion, and citizenship hang. When contracts are concentrated in one geopolitical zone while other zones are left to contend with craters, it erodes trust in the federation itself. The World Bank’s Nigeria Development Update [June 2023] estimated that poor transport connectivity inflates the cost of moving goods by up to 40 per cent and costs the Nigerian economy an estimated $1.5 billion annually in lost man-hours and vehicle maintenance. If we profess to be one country, then equity must be the compass that guides key institutions before any project is executed. Development must spread round, not pool in one place as though other regions do not matter.
There is also a grave security dimension that can no longer be ignored. The deplorable condition of federal roads has become a veritable enabler of criminality. The NBS Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey reported over 2.5 million incidents of kidnapping-related occurrences nationally, with transport workers identifying bad road spots as prime ambush points. When vehicles are forced to crawl at 10 kilometres per hour through failed sections at Auchi, Sapele Road, or Eleme, they become sitting ducks for armed gangs. Fixing bad roads, therefore, is not merely about convenience; it is about safeguarding lives.
By his intervention, Senator Oshiomhole has hit the nail on the head and reminded Minister Umahi of a fundamental constitutional truth: public office is held in trust. The Ministry of Works is not a personal estate where contracts are awarded according to whim or political convenience. It is a national institution funded by the collective resources of Nigerians, including the oil and gas rents from the very communities whose roads are now neglected. The Minister must demonstrate balance, transparency, and a pan-Nigerian outlook in the distribution of projects that impact the daily existence of citizens. Selective neglect breeds suspicion, and suspicion is corrosive at a time when the nation is preaching unity, oneness, equity, and justice.
Consequently, the National Assembly must go beyond rhetoric and assert its oversight powers with vigour. Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution [as amended] empower the legislature to investigate and expose any maladministration in the execution of federal projects. If an office holder is not acting rightly, it is the duty of the Senate and the House of Representatives to call him to order. Oversight must not be reduced to budget approval ceremonies; it must translate to field verification, public hearings, and insistence that the Federal Character principle, as enshrined in Section 14(3) of the Constitution, reflects in road awards.
Let the Auchi-Okene, Benin-Warri, Benin-Asaba, and Eleme East-West gangways be restored to motorable dignity. Let priority be given to completing existing, economically vital roads before embarking on new ones. If those who, through their resources, sustain the federation are sidelined in the distribution of tangible dividends, it tells poorly of our nationhood. Bad roads must be fixed, and they must be fixed now, with fairness as the guiding standard.
