ICT and the Nigerian Journalist

Written by: Ashimole Felix Esq.

The new trend in curriculum vitae of job seeking Nigerians is to type and highlight “Computer literate”. The most daring include Information and Communication Technology (ICT) compliant. As assistant editor LEADERSHIP WEEKEND (2006), of one of the national dailies, I had the odd job of proof reading and restructuring the news items and feature articles smuggled in by reporters who want to beat the paper’s bed time. Insistences on faxing in or emailing their report fail on deaf ears.

Wanting to make my work easier and escape the tantrums of my publisher who was always demanding for perfection and timely delivery of the paper to the stand, I went to town to investigate why these reporters who claimed in their CVs to be ICT and Computer literate are shy to communicate using these electronic gadgets. My worry was deeply rooted as their counterpart in other clime have transcended the use of midgets and reliance on noise infested tape recorders to other supersonic visual-audio accurate tools of the trade.

The world has shrunk into a global village and information are becoming rapidly obsolete that before a Nigerian reporter can come back from the field, a breaking news has occurred or more in depth angle to the story he is manually rushing to the news room to write has unfolded. This snail speed has remained the reason why most Nigerian

Newspaper and other media have developed a parasitic attachment to the international agencies to report events. It was days after CNN and BBC reported the Ebolar virus incident in Congo , Darfur crisis and degradation in the Niger Delta that Nigerian media picked up the trail.

My investigation revealed that beyond camera phones, whose pictures are often unprintable, thanks to the cheap mass production from China and other “developing countries” in Asia, the average Nigerian reporter is still in the ICT woods. Those who can afford camcorder, ipod, digital camera and other space artifacts, do so as status symbol and not essential tool of the trade. Ownership of a laptop is a painful reminder of the miserable pay the journalist receives.

The Nigerian economy has not been friendly in the quest of Nigerian reports towards employment ICT in their jobs. As is the common saying, “the journalists’ take home ends at the bus stop”. It is not that publishers are manifestingly stingy adverts are becoming rarer. This drought of adverts is a result of the ‘hippopotamic’ fall of Nigeria infrastructure that has resulted in many industries turning into dinosaurs. The very few that are still belching fumes into the atmosphere are spending cautiously as their social corporate responsibility towards their host community and greener environment make any intensive spending on advert, a swan song.

Akin to the ruinous effect of the Nigerian economy on ICT usage by the Nigerian journalist, is the almighty NEPA. They were better as NEPA (Never Expect Power Always) than now they are Power Holding Company (PHC). When a journalist for the passion of the job, overlooks the incommensurate financial reward, sits down before the office word processor or jets into a commercial cyber café, the light blinks off and where the owner can’t afford “I pass my neighbour” ( a Nigerian parlance for inferior generators mass produced and imported from Asia ),this stalemates and frustrates the journalist. Should the publisher put on a power plant, cost of diesel is astronomical and it ends up in a miserable pay. The most irksome of this power holding, is their tripping off while you are in mid page, having overcome writers bloc and you are intellectually stimulated to pour the riotous ideas constipated in your brain on the screen or paper. Woe unto you if you weren’t saving and for the analog journalist, if there is no handy candle.

I wonder why Nigerian journalists are treating the Yar’Adua’s government with a velvet glove despite his electoral promise of declaring a state of emergency in the Energy sector.

Another impediment to the embracement of ICT by the Nigerian journalist is laziness. Despite the celebrated award to Nigeria ’s Alero Agabi, a good number of reporters after securing the job fails, neglects and willfully refuse to improve themselves. Most rely on copying and rephrasing works of other reporters bordering on plagiarism. The worst culprits are found in the print media. Some while sitting in their library with a stack of other national dailies will hatchet out report of events happening miles away from their base.

For Nigerian journalist to embrace ICT and effectively use same, these issues have to be roundly tackled. Those who strayed into journalism due to unemployment or unavailability of their choice job, should make way or fall in love with the act/art of journalism and give her their best. After all most thriving Newspapers/ media out fits in Nigeria , especially Abuja are published by refugees from other fields, who took succor in journalism.

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