The Nigerian government says leaders and opinion molders must express their commentaries with a high sense of responsibility.
The country’s Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed disclosed this on Wednesday in Sal Island, Cape Verde on the sidelines of the ongoing 64th meeting of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation Regional Commission for Africa and the second edition of the UNWTO Global Investment Tourism Investment Forum.
Alhaji Mohammed said pitching one ethnic or religious group against the other has the capacity to put the country on the brink. According to the Minister, such rhetoric is capable of pitching one ethnic or religious group against the other is clearly overheating the polity.
“Our serious counsel towards stakeholders is that they should understand and remember that leadership comes with a lot of responsibilities and should tone down this hateful rhetoric because of the harmful tendencies to the nation’s country.
They should remember that every war is preceded by these kinds of mindless rhetoric especially when it comes from otherwise responsible people. Once it comes from such individuals there is the tendency for the people to take them seriously.
What is even most sad is that many of them know that what they are saying is capable of setting the country ablaze and they don’t care. They have forgotten that it was only one single radio station in Rwanda and one extremist magazine that set the stage for the genocide that killed over 800,000 people in Rwanda in 1994.
You can imagine when there is a cacophony of the rhetoric from various radio stations, online publications, you can imagine the kind of panic they can cause, especially, in a country like Nigeria where there is such division along ethnic and religious lines,” he said.
The Minister said ordinarily the government expects leaders at this trying period to support the government as it’s doing the best possible to fight banditry, Boko Harm insurrectionists among others. Alhaji Mohammed said leaders should help the government to assuage and assure the people rather than adding oil to the fire.
“It is quite disturbing because it has taken various forms in recent couple of weeks and it appears that even the commentators and everybody is throwing caution to the winds. It is no longer about leadership and maturity but about who can say something that can break the country or be injurious to national unity.”
The Minister said it is gradually becoming worrisome because certain words that people were afraid of using before have now become common place words; like genocide, ethnic cleansing, and religious fracas among others.
“No country can survive when so-called leaders, rather than look for solutions are aggravating the situation. That is why it is important to call on everybody and also to appeal to their sense of patriotism and also for them to understand that because there is a country called Nigeria that is why they are leaders. The Minister urged opinion leaders to lower the rhetoric.
“They should not be blinded by the hatred of one person or the administration and bring down the whole house in the process. We welcome suggestions and we have been accommodating a lot of recommendations. But it appears that it is only the administration that is intent of keeping this country together. As we are building it, they are pulling it down but they should remember that when it is pulled down it will not augur well for all concerned,” he stated.
Media’s Role
He said the government is doing everything possible to ensure responsible broadcasting in the land. “We are doing our best by urging and encouraging the various regulators to ensure that broadcasting code and other regulations are not violated and that irrespective of comments that are being made if any organisation runs against the code willingly or unwillingly, it should be shown the red card. The Minister also advised security agencies not to hesitate to take up these kinds of issues.
“However, it should not be misconstrued to say that we are edging on the security agencies to hamper the rights of the citizens because no rights are absolute. Every right must be exercised in a way not to affect the society.
We appeal to the leaders in the country and media practitioners and anchors that there will be no business of broadcasting if Nigeria is set on fire and it is because there is a country called Nigeria that we have freedom of expression and even businesses to run. The countries cannot afford another civil war or strive based on religious or ethnic differences.”
Kinetic Approach
The Minister acknowledged that the challenges are banditry insurgency and Boko Haram but the military have been doing their best and the good news is that we are winning the war using both kinetic and non-kinetic approaches.
“We have also been using the town hall meetings to listen and address the concerns of people on various aspects of our national lives. The government is working hard to ensure that there is growth in the economy and employment creation.
Rather than appreciate the efforts of government, the naysayers are bent on bringing the country down using falsehood. We have never said we do not have challenges but the government is working every day to address the challenges and by the grace of God we are achieving results.
In the last few weeks, Nigeria has been awash especially from the broadcast media with very incendiary rhetoric which have created a sort of panic across the political and socio-cultural divides which is very unhealthy for the country’s unity.
Nnenna.O
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