By Adeyinka Adeniran
A Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication at the Joseph Ayo Babalola University (JABU), Ikeji-Arakeji, Osun State, Tokunbo Adaja has urged journalists and media organisations to sharpen their investigative capacities to expose corruption and promote good governance in the country.
The charge forms part of his recommendation while delivering the 11th Inaugural lecture of the institution, noting that such efforts would keep government and its officials on their toes and make them accountable.
J at the Oba Oladele Olashore Auditorium of the institution.
In his lecture titled, “Power of Press and Press of Power: Bridging the Lacuna in the Quest for Good Governance in Nigeria”, Adaja argued that the press possesses immense power which, if not utilised to drive meaningful change, will remain a mere ‘theoretical formulations’.
The Don described the press as a vital agent of change entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring accountability, probity and transparency.
He said the expectations compel on journalists the need to cultivate and institutionalize a culture of reporting and monitoring government activities, including awarded contracts, to ensure compliance to specifications.
The scholar tasked the press to lead the quest for good governance by ensuring that “all social, economic and political misadventures of governments, government agencies and government functionaries must be published as well as encourage state agencies that have prosecutorial powers to step in and do the needful”.
Warning the press against abdicating its watchdog role over the three arms of government, Adaja urged the media to “give adequate coverage to the activities of the executive, legislature and judiciary, and report on their excesses or misdeeds as well advocate for justice for all”.
He emphasised the need for the media to investigate people with questionable wealth and uncover the sources of their riches, rather than glamorising corrupt individuals.
According to him, “People suspected to be living above their income as well as emergency rich people in the society should be probed and made to disclose their source(s) of wealth”.
On people’s involvement in political activities, the Inaugural Lecturer lamented that political participation in Nigeria remains abysmally low. He maintained that a sustainable democracy requires the active participation of “an informed, rational and active citizenry”.
To change this narrative, he challenged the Nigerian press to engage in intensive political mobilisation, education and sensitization to boost citizen participation in the democratic process.
X-raying the media and anti-graft efforts, Adaja acknowledged that while corruption is a global challenge, its manifestations in Nigeria are highly dependent on power distribution, legal and moral norm operation.
He decried the socio-political and economic imbalance caused by corruption, which, he said, undermined the legitimate activities and diminished the capacity of individuals to achieve their potentials.
Taking a swipe on successive governments’ anti corruption crusade, the Don faulted the method adopted to tackle the menace and argued that results of various anti-corruption initiatives from government, NGOs and international bodies have been largely disappointing.
Prof. Adaja who declared that Nigerians are not corrupt but the system corrupted the citizens, contended that no anti-corruption campaign can succeed without meaningful citizen involvement.
He therefore called on the media to lead this effort by raising awareness and educating the public on the consequences of corruption. Such awareness, according to him, would shape public perception and attitudes toward corrupt practices.
While urging leaders at all levels to lead by example if the country must win the war against corruption, Adaja wants journalists to profile those seeking political offices and reveal their records to help the electorate make informed choices during elections.
Adaja, who described the press as an ideological apparatus with a responsibility to engineer cultural rebirth, also stressed the need for the media to revisit Nigeria’s “lost cultural heritage, exhume and refine the key contents of our culture as well as reset the mindset of the citizenry to key into it”.
The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Professor Olasebikan Fakolujo, described the inaugural lecturer as a distinguished scholar with over 50 publications in reputable local and international journals.
The event was attended by members of the university community, speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly, traditional rulers, family members as well as friends and well-wishers.
