WHAT IS RAISING THE BAR IN THE MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN PROMISES IMPLEMENTATION IN JULY?

Early in July, media has reported one of the president Tinubu’s promises to Expand National Social Investment Program by reaching at least 12 million households with 8000 naira to cushion the effects of the subsidy removal.

One new issue that has generated the media attention in July was a follow up on the promises reported in June. one of such was the presidential commitment to ensure access to lowest possible prices in the oil and gas sector.

Similarly, the need to scrutinise the issue of food insecurity and the failure of the past further grew in the month. The new government in earlier in June, has established roadmaps in addressing food insecurity to cushion the pains of subsidy removal as reported here, here and here. This has resulted in the major coverage of the policy directive around the “strategic grains reserves” reported (at 25%).

Again, the media coverage of the president’s nationwide broadcast on July 31, 2023, encapsulates the major economic reforms taken so far. Beyond the policy statement on the subsidy removal, major presidential directives and their impacts including the four Executive Orders signed by the president in early July and the establishment of a Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms , have attracted a considerable volume of media coverage on the economic reforms implementation (put at 22.6%).

The impacts of these policies have been a case of mixed feelings to which some stakeholders like the Centre for Centre for the promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) have responded, tasking the government to militate the pains.

What is more? The euphoria that surrounded Google’s readiness to create one million digital jobs in Nigeria attracted media’s attention to the coverage of the digital economy (at 2.4%) during the period under review and this was in line with the presidential promise of “building the capacity among Nigeria’s youthful population”

The previous media reports on the presidential signing of the students’ loan into law were noble but the criticisms that greeted certain restrictions in the law necessitated the presidential review which removes those restrictions and this raised the bar of the media coverage in July.

Taking queue from the where President Tinubu started to redefine his foreign policy by re-naming some airports in the country in June after certain key individuals, media’s attention was further focused on Tinubu’s policy directive on foreign policies in July.

Following the signing of the electricity Bill into law, the media has made efforts in getting to know how the government delivers the specifics of the law in the stories such as the one of the partnership between the federal and state governments to deliver power.

However, media attention needs to be further focused on asking questions on other specific issues in the power sector such as the Nigeria First Power Policy, and Rural Electrification projects.

Meanwhile, the stories on the planned palliatives have increased in recent times and media investigations into the sharing formular across boards and the impact of the palliatives on the economy and the disadvantaged shall be tracked in the subsequent series of this survey coming up in August report.

Conclusion

The core of the media reporting in July on various key sectors boils down to the general concerns of the generality of all stakeholders in the polity, including the media. The outcome of the survey shows media coverage tilting more on economic reforms, and far less on gender inclusion. This is why more media engagement is urgent in digging more into issues around Goal 5: “Achieve gender inclusion and empower all women and girls”.

While the outcome of this survey does not suggest the media should be blamed for poor implementation of promises on inclusive governance, it’s however, incumbent that a deliberate attempt be deployed by the media to hold the duty bearers accountable.

This is what it takes to raise the bar of accountability and inclusive reporting.