2003 And The Illegal Use
of Public Resources For Personal Political Campaign Activities.
by Dozie Ikem Ezeife, Esq
With the approach of the 2003
general elections in Nigeria there is a critical need to provide equal
access to all publicly funded news media to all political parties and
all contestants. This has become necessary in view of the fact that
for sometime now, the Presidency and the various State Governors and
their supporters have enjoyed exclusive access to publicly funded
media outlets, such as the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Radio
Nigeria, Nigerian Television Authority, the Daily Times, the various
State broadcasting services, the various State television stations,
and the various State newspapers. That was also the case in the1983
electioneering campaigns.
It is really sad that the
political incumbents have turned the various publicly funded news
media to their personal political campaign medium, spewing out
destructive tirades against their perceived enemies and political
opponents. These media have been turned into propaganda machines for
the incumbent office holders to the detriment of their opponents and
indeed the entire citizenry. It has become impossible to see, listen
to or read materials from these sources that speak to real issues that
affect real Nigerians. Nigerians are force-fed political slogans and
claims of mirage projects completed by these incumbents. It has become
impossible for unsophisticated Nigerians to separate the truth from
the mass garbage out there. If not checked this trend would destroy
our democratic experiment and usher in another “rescue effort” by
the khaki boys.
We have an anti-corruption
legislation that President Obasanjo claims is working to clean up the
Aegean stable. He touts the fact that a lawyer, a judge and a few
inconsequential public officials have been sent to the tribunal for
corrupts practices. The President however has failed to send the Vice
President before the tribunal for using Presidential jet, official
vehicles and paid government staff to attend various political
functions to welcome into PDP politicians that recently decamped from
their old parties. The various state Governors who have converted
their state radio and television stations to their personal campaign
outlet using workers paid with government funds to aid their campaigns
have not been tried for corruption. The state Governors, Ministers,
Advisers and presidential assistants who traveled to Otta with
government vehicles driven by government drivers, protected by
publicly funded police and apparently stayed in hotel rooms paid for
by the government, to beg the President to run for a second term have
not been dragged to the tribunal for corruption. The PDP chairman
Chief Audu Ogbeh in the recent past had the temerity to announce that
his party may invite the Nigerian army to provide security at its
forthcoming congress to curtail violence. One wonders if the Nigerian
army is now a personal security outfit for the President’s party.
Need I say more?
Obviously the Nigerian government
does not appreciate the fact that the use of government funds, time,
facilities and civil servants for personal political campaign activity
amounts to theft (corruption of one’s office) and as such is an
indictable criminal act. Recall the furor in the United States over
the use of a presidential jet by first lady Hilary Clinton to make a
campaign trip to New York. Eventually she was forced to pay for the
use of that jet even though she was entitled to the use of the jet as
the wife of the sitting president.
Apparently our own leaders are above the law and only talk about
anti-corruption efforts just to pay lip service to their utopian
promises.
The recent apologies rendered to
the National Assembly by the Director-Generals of the Nigeria
Television Authority and the Radio Nigeria is a brilliant illustration
of the inability of the publicly funded media to appreciate that they
are a public property and not the personal mouthpieces of the
President. They had refused to broadcast the impeachment efforts of
National Assembly as if it was not of news value to Nigerians.
Meanwhile pages of private news media were replete with stories on the
impeachment efforts.
There was even a suggestion in
the recent past that the directors of radio Nigeria and the Federal
Radio Corporation of Nigeria would be members of President
Obasanjo’s re-election campaign team. That is how brazen this
practice has become. The President must act now to correct this trend.
He must instruct the appropriate authorities to look into this matter
in other to stop the practice and punish the offenders. The
Presidency, State Governors, Ministers and other government officials
who have used government facilities and published their campaign
materials on publicly funded media without paying for the services
have corrupted their offices and ought to be sent before the
Anti-Corruption Tribunal for trial. Corruption is not restricted to
embezzlement of funds only but extends to theft of services paid for
by the public.
The presidency is currently
building and equipping 36 FM radio stations in the 36 states of
Nigeria. The reason behind this selfish and senseless investment is
obvious. The President and PDP are laying groundwork for the 2003
national election campaigns. It beats one’s imagination as to why
the federal government would embark on these projects at a time the
government claims to be making every effort to privatize
government-owned companies and parastatals. The money being spent on
this selfish project could have been put to better use. The funds
could have helped revamp the Nigerian police and thus curtail the
rising tide of violent crimes in the country.
Furthermore, these media
organizations were supposed to generate financial returns from their
activities. By allowing incumbents to use their facilities free of
charge and in some cases refusing to air campaign materials from
opponents (who are willing to pay for the services), they deprive
citizens of the funds that could have been generated from these
political activities. That happened to a Presidential aspirant Alhaji
Abubakar Rimi in the recent past. The relevant governments must either
require all users of these public media to pay for their materials or
allow equal access to all parties and all contestants.
It is imperative that the
Nigerian legislatures enact the necessary legislation to speed up the
privatization of all government-owned media organizations. This would
put an end to the present abuse and allow market forces to determine
who airs campaign materials in the media. Privatization would
guarantee all Nigerians equal access to these media and foster some
balance in the presentation of facts and events. Privatization would
also guarantee the sustenance of civilian governments in Nigeria. It
would make it somewhat difficult for coup plotters to have a
nationwide medium to broadcast their coup. With privatization, each
medium is separate and independent and would not be required to hook
up to Radio Nigeria for nationwide news or broadcasts. Coup plotters
would therefore have to figure out a way to make contact with all the
media without their intent leaking to the authorities in the process.
That would be a significant improvement to the present situation where
it is easy to have instantaneous access to virtually all radio
stations in Nigeria once you penetrate Radio Nigeria in Lagos or
Abuja.
Meanwhile, all publicly funded
television stations, radio and print media must offer all candidates
and all parties equal access to their facility. The access must also
be limited. The media in question must also charge appropriate fees
for their services.
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