Some media experts and leaders in Nigeria have said that the Nigerian media has crucial roles to play in ensuring good governance in the country.

They spoke as panelists at a zoom meeting organised by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung on the role of the media in good governance in Nigeria on October 22nd, 2020. The event was moderated by Mr. Edetaen Ojo, the Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda.

Two of the panelists, Mr. Lanre Arogundade, the Executive Director of International Press Centre, Lagos and Mr. Christopher Isiguzo, President of the Nigerian Union of Journalists said the media should help to promote the participation of citizens to promote good governance in the country.

Another panelist, Blessing Oladunjoye, Publisher of BO News Online said the media should promote the public agenda and demand for good governance while Mr. Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity in the office of the Vice President said the media needs to address the issue of ethics so that it can help drive good governance because this is a major concern to citizens.

Speaking further, Arogundade said another role of the media in ensuring good governance is to give voice and space to the less privileged in the society including women, youths, people living with disability and rural dwellers.

According to him on going events in the country around #EndSARS have shown that the media should do more to bring to the attention of government the concerns of these groups.

Isiguzo said the media should hold government accountable by investigating and monitoring how state institutions are performing and creating an enabling environment where feedback can be freely provided by citizens. He further said that the media are the watchdog of the society and are to hold public holders accountable in promoting rule of law, wiping out illiteracy and eradicating poverty.

In her own contribution, Ann Iyonu, the Executive Director Goodluck Jonathan Foundation said the media should be repositioned through professionalism and self-development so as to be able to promote good governance while Mr. Akande said media organisations should be encouraged to work together to move the country forward.

The concern over the role that the media can play in good governance is a global one. The Standard Newspaper of Kenya in a write-up on the role of media in good governance published on September 26, 2017 stated that “the role of the media is to ensure it provides the platform for people to freely express their opinions which is meant to be a platform that connects those in position to its citizens”.

Other experts have also said that in order to better understand the role of the media, one needs to understand the significance of freedom of expression in building, sustaining and expanding the democratic space of the country.