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On World Press Freedom Day, Nigerians call for Justice and Security

On World Press Freedom Day, Nigerians call for Justice and Security

By Yemi Olakitan

         As the world celebrates, May 3^rd World Press Freedom Day, eminent Nigerians reiterated the need for justice and security among other pressing issues that needed to be addressed for press freedom to thrive in Nigeria.

At a lecture organized by the Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos, various Media scholars called for the need to ensure that the Nigerian journalist practice in atmosphere that is free from intimidation, harassment and threat to his life and property. 

       Keynote speaker, Fassy Yusuf who spoke on the topic: Beyond Nascent Democracy: The Role of the Fourth Estate of the Realm, tasks the Nigerian press to rise to their responsibilities and do more of investigative journalism.

‘‘It is important for the press to hold the government accountable. The media must not allow itself to fall into the abyss. Qualitative journalism cannot thrive if the practitioners are under the threat of harassment and bombings.’’ He said.

          Speaking further, he said that the role of the media as the watchdogs of democracy and agenda setters is very important to national development and their security cannot be jeopardized. Yusuf further called for truth and professionalism in order to move the nation forward.

  ‘‘Journalists go to interview government officials and they go asking questions irrelevant questions as if they are there to show their teeth.  Journalists must ask probing questions.

 Media practitioners must imbibe the ethics of discipline, integrity, dignity of labour and social justice.’’ He said.

              According to him, the media must be seen as agents of advocacy, sensitization and anti corruption. They must also be agents of development and nation building.  They must have a clement environment within which to operate because a hazardous and indeed perilous environment can neither guarantee productivity nor press freedom.

                Chairman of the event, the Head of the Mass Communication Department, Prof. Ralph Akinfeleye said that a free press is possible in a democracy if the government makes it possible. He called on the Federal Government to make the free press part of his transformation agenda. Speaking further, he said,

    ‘‘Government should discourage the proliferation of mass communication schools without the required libraries, laboratories and equipment’s necessary for the highest standards of journalism training and education. The Federal Government under President Goodluck Jonathan must fish out those who have sworn to erase the media through bombs and the barrels. ‘’

      Human Rights activist and Lawyer Bamidele Atturru who was a member of the panel that spoke on the topic: Beyond Nascent Democracy the Role of the Nigerian press, said,  ‘‘since 1999, Nigerians have named our democracy nascent.’’ He wondered how long the democracy would remain nascent.  He opined that Nigerian journalists have been investigative. He asked what the larger society of Nigerians does with the overflow of information that the Nigerian journalists daily gives out?  He called on all Nigerians to justice.   According to him, the nation seems to be practicing contractocrary, which he defined as the government of the contractors by the contractors and for the contractors. He Nigerians must insist on the trial and prosecution of corrupt public officials.

 Another Panelist, Dr. Ndubusi Ugbede submitted that the press is falling victims of the decadence of the society. ‘‘Many journalists now receive their remuneration from corrupt politicians. He opined that journalists must shun corruption in order to fulfill their professional duties. ‘’

Amber Tinapa

Amber Tinapa is situated within Nigeria's first retail Free Zone. Tinapa was conceived as an alternative entertainment and retail destination to what's available in Dubai or South Africa. The business resort has four emporiums and fifty six shops of which include an entertainment centre which consist of a cinema, casino and arcade. The resort also contains a fisherman village which is made up of kiosks, shops, a restaurant and a night club. Furthermore, the resort has its very own movie studio called 'Nollywood Studios'.

Amber Tinapa offers 243 well appointed bedrooms, an excellent restaurant overlooking the Tinapa Lakeside and a great location to explore. Located within a few minutes drive of central Calabar - Nigeria's oldest city, Amber Tinapa is an excellent base from which to attending events, conferences and meetings. Find the time to explore Cross River State's tourism treasures; waterfalls to drill monkeys to the world famous Obudu Mountain Cable Car.

Tinapa is a resort district, 10 km outside of Calabar, in the Cross River State, Nigeria. The hotel comprises of 243 rooms and delivers top class comfort and service to every guest.

A visit to Tinapa exposes its breath-taking architectural design, and includes a wholesale emporium, retail outlets, food court with take-away outlets, administrative centres, parking space for 3000 cars and coaches, wave pool, standing wave surfing, lazy river slide, water slides, picnic area, children's pool and play area. The fisherman's village compromises of the mud bar, a branded nightclub, arts and crafts village and a man-made lake. These and more make Tinapa, a world-class edifice. All these facilities are supported by a robust 24/7 independent power supply system, first-class ICT infrastructure as well as top security.

The Wonders of Tinapa

Before now, Nigerians who could afford it, flew to Dubai for shopping or business. With the coming on stream of a sprawling shopping mall at the Tinapa Business Leisure Resort (TBLR), this traffic abroad will reduce. And it is not just an advantage only Nigerians will enjoy; the entire West African region will also tap in.

Tinapa was designed to offer Nigerians who cannot afford the fare to Dubai an opportunity to pick up quality goods right at home. Former Governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke initiated the scheme setting up one of the largest supermarkets in the world at one of the emporiums the size of four football pitches put together. It is called T-Mart Duty Free Shop. It provides the right ambience for shopping in a relaxed and comfortable environment.

Products displayed at T-mart Duty Free Shop are sourced from reputable manufacturer’s representatives around the globe. They include men and women clothing, shoes, ties, etc.

Presently T-mart is enlarging its product base to electronics and is in partnership with major marketing representatives. The traffic of customers has increased in recent times and with every conference taking place at Tinapa, T-mart is getting off to a great start. Students on excursion who are considered to be at the low end of the market chain have become T-mart brand ambassadors as they are allowed discount and encouraged to take photographs. With a staff strength of over 100, trained in crowd control and the T-marts management mission of "working to showcase the best products that add value to daily living," there is a promising future.

Recently, Interswitch, a leading provider of e-payment platforms, was at Tinapa for a workshop. Speaking at the opening ceremony, Mr Bassey Ndem, Managing Director of the TBRL said "The Tinapa Retail pay card" has an overriding objective of enhancing voluntary compliance with the operational guidelines regarding customers on the importation of goods into Nigeria. It is a home-grown solution that has the blessing of customers and it is programmed to work from providing answers to peculiar problems to actually solving them with the latest technology in the market internationally.

Mr Mitchel Elegbe, Managing Director of Interswitch, confirmed that the proposed "Tinapa card" will check fraud, provide proprietary information, maintain security of transaction and confidentially.

Mr Bassey Ndem, the Assistant General Manager, Operations, explained that the deliberate absence of a port in Tinapa was to avoid the distortion of the ambience and serenity of the business environment. According to him, Tinapa is a development that is meant to conserve foreign exchange and is an attempt to give Nigerians some dignity by stemming the massive flow of citizens to other parts of the world in the name of shopping. Tinapa is an attempt to change the way business is done in Nigeria and turn the nation into a trading hub for neighbouring African countries to visit Nigeria and invest here.

Highlighting the challenges facing Tinapa, Ekom mentioned the need for the Federal Government to rehabilitate the existing road network around the Niger Delta states.

He suggested that the Federal Government should concession the roads after rehabilitation to generate revenue. Electricity is crucial as the present I. P. P. arrangement is impacting negatively on the profitability projections at Tinapa.

Mr Val Usijoh challenged the state Governor Senator Liyel Imoke to provide an aggressive forward-looking leadership for Tinapa as a "dry port" since Tinapa is the greatest investment in the state.

He suggested that the state government should work in concert with other state governors and businessmen within the zone to ensure that there are cluster industries that will operate in Calabar to encourage shipping companies to utilise Calabar seaport for their activities. An eight-man delegation that visited Tinapa took a guided tour around the business resort and departed after taking time out to shop.