Being paper presented by Chief
(Mrs.) Vickie Djevwudu, Chief Executive Officer, Wasser-Peevad Communications;
President/Co-founder, South-South Women Organisation; Financial Secretary,
Aviation Round Table, at the event organised by Association of Community
Newspaper Publishers of Nigeria (ACNPN), Delta State Council held at Orchids
Hotels, Asaba on November 8, 2012.
Abstract: Democracy,
Millennium Development Goals and Community Newspaper are interrelated,
inter-women and inter-connected like concentric circles, serving as indivisible
partners for sustainable development. This paper takes a look at the millennium
development goals, their targets, the development of newspapers in Nigeria, and
the advantage of having a democratic system of government. The MDGs are then
narrowed down to two goals: goal 2, which is to ensure basic primary education
and goal three, which is promoting gender equality. At the end of this paper,
solutions are proffered to helping the woman discovers her potentials.
Introduction: Distinguished
ladies and gentlemen, I am honoured to be invited as a guest speaker to discuss
the topic, “Democracy, MDGs and community
newspaper: Indivisible partners for sustainable development.” This topic is
very thoughtful and in-depth as it strikes the issues that bother on our
existence as human beings and our survival as a people. Before I continue, I
want to use this forum to commiserate with our kith and kin, who lost lives and
properties in the floods that ravaged some parts of the country, with
particular reference to Delta
State.
I also use this opportunity to thank
His Excellency, Dr. Emmanuel Ewetan Uduaghan, the governor of Delta State
for his prompt intervention in tackling this natural disaster.
Interestingly, this flood disaster
that was experienced recently is one of targets of goal 7 of the millennium
development goal which is “ensure
environment sustainability.”
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
The Millennium Development Goals,
which, in my opinion provides resources to guarantee freedom from want and give
socio-economic right, dates back to the 1990s at the instance of world leaders
at various conferences and world summits. In order to address the problem of
poverty and promote sustainable developments, the eight millennium goals were
adopted in New York
in September 2000 by 190 countries with a time frame of achieving its goal by
2015.
The collective aim of these
countries was to commit both rich and poor countries to do all they could to
eradicate poverty, fight illiteracy and diseases, promote human dignity, and
equality, achieve peace, democracy and environmental stability.
That millennium declaration is
guided by the basic values of freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance, respect
for nature and a shared responsibility.
The three distinct characteristic of
MDGs are:
1.
It
is people-oriented – as previously alluded to in this presentation to promote
human dignity and equality. Eradicate poverty and fight illiteracy and
diseases.
2.
It
is adaptable to SMART test: meaning
·
Specific
·
Measurable
·
Attainable
·
Relevant
·
Has
a time frame
3.
It
involves development partners: by this commitment, the world has an
unprecedented opportunity of collective responsibility to improve the lives of
billions of people by adopting practical approaches to meeting MDGs.
The 8 Millennium Development Goals and their targets
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
·
This
goal hopes to reduce by half the proportion of people whose income is less than
1 dollar a day between 1990 and 2015.
·
It
also hopes to achieve full productive employment and decent work for all,
including women and young people.
·
To
reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger from 1990 to
2015.
Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education. This goal ensures that by 2015,
children everywhere in the world, boys and girls alike, will be able to
complete a full course of primary schooling. Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia are continents where a vast majority of
children are out of school.
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women. It is hoped that this goal will help
eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by
2005 and in all levels of education no later than 2015.
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality. This goal is to reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015
the mortality rate of children below five years of age.
Goal 5: lmprove maternal health. This goal is to:
·
Reduce by three quarters the maternal
mortality ratio.
This is key for a place like Nigeria which
is second to lndia in maternal deaths.
·
Achieve
universal access to reproductive health.
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
·
This
goal ensures that by 2015 the spread of HIV/AIDS would have halted and begun to
reverse.
·
That
by 2010, there will be universal access to treatment, for HIV/AIDS for all
those who need it.
·
That
the incidence of malaria and other diseases. Would have halted by 2015 and
begun to reverse.
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
·
To
integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and
programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources.
·
To
reduce biodiversity loss, and achieving by 2010, a significant reduction in the
rate of loss.
·
To
halve by 2015 the proportion of the population without sustainable access to
safe drinking water and basic sanitation.
·
By
2010, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100
million slum dwellers.
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development
·
To
help developing countries gain greater access to the markets of developed
countries.
·
To
address the special needs of least developed countries.
·
To
deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries.
·
To
provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries.
·
To
help make available benefits of new technologies, especially information and
communications.
The journey so far
We are now three years shy of the
Promised Land 2015. What are the obstacles recorded so far from MDGs? One major
challenge has been funding both national and at state levels. Some schools of
thought believe 2015 date may not be met. Let’s take a look at Delta State.
In a report in Tell Magazine, October
4, 2010 edition, Dr. Austin Obidi, Special Adviser to the governor on MDGs
hinted, “that Delta State is the first state to have carried out MDG costing
exercise whereby we take each of the goals and we cost exactly using a formula
or a model internationally developed”.
With regards to funding, according
to available record, “the state counter funds the programme beyond the required
N1billion by both the federal and each of the state governments. Under the
Conditional Grant Scheme, CGS for 2008, while the federal government released
N802 million, the state government counter-funded with N1billion. Also in 2009,
while the federal government released N945million, the state government also
parted with another N1billion.”
Obidi, in the same report attributes
the success of MDGs in Delta
State to the three point
agenda of the Uduaghan administration which is seen as an embodiment of the
MDGs. So overwhelming is the impact of the MDGs that people now call it “Money
dey government.”
Democracy and electoral process
A critical view at the millennium
development goals as a fulcrum for global unity and partnership, the place of
democracy cannot be overemphasised. The life and existence of democracy rests
on credible elections. Democracy means different things to different people and
communities to the extent that universalism has not been attained in defining
the concept.
However, it still remains as
inevitable catch phrase of contemporary political discourse and analysis. No
better word than democracy has been found to describe man’s quest for freedom,
equity, equality, justice and better standard of living. For want of a
universal definition, it is not uncommon to hear adjectives like ‘popular’,
‘consensus’, guided’, ‘bourgeois’, and liberal’ democracies. Nigeria has had
adjectives to qualify its brand of democracy. It is not uncommon to hear words
like ‘quasi’, ‘bizarre’, ‘peculiar’ and ‘home grown’ democracy. But no matter
the adjective used in modifying the concept of democracy, there exists a
general agreement among scholars and political scientists that certain minimal
conditions must be met by polities before they can deservedly be described as
democratic.
It is pertinent to note that the
specific form democracy takes depends on a country’s socio-economic conditions
as well as its entrenched state structures and policy practices. Hear the
argument of two American scholars Phillippe Schmitter and Terry Lynnkari:
modern political democracy according to them “is a system of governance in
which leaders are held accountable for their actions in the public realm, by
citizens acting indirectly through the competition and co-operation of their
elected representatives”. The definition canvassed by these two authors could
be interpreted as an intellectualization of the Lincolnian viewpoint which
simply says that ‘Democracy is a government of the people, for the people and
by the people’.
Democracy reforms open political
space in which citizens can easily speak their minds, express their concerns,
organise for common interest, seek out information, join political associations
and parties, and also choose their leaders. Since the electoral process is a
form of expression where people express their freedom to choose their
representatives it becomes a challenge if election are not fair and transparent.
Citizens then lose personal confidence in their political influence, and sense
of political efficacy. This can quickly turn into frustration. When this form
of frustration is not tackled promptly increasing the confidence of the people,
they become aggrieved and disenchanted. This now dovetails into a
confrontational approach, especially where you have grievances among minority
communities. This gives rise to self determination among the aggrieved person
as we have seen in some parts of Nigeria, both recently and in the
past.
Democracy blossoms the best of
society when practiced unfettered. This is the lesson that some leaders in Africa need to learn, with the era of sit tight,
profligate and visionless leaders gradually fading out. It is no wonder President
Barrack Obama of United States of American in his speech delivered in Ghana not too long ago, urged Africa
to build strong institutions and not strong
men.
Newspapers as purveyors of information
Democracy and free flow of
information are siblings of the same family. Where one thrives, the other is
firmly entrenched. This is where the media-with particular reference to
newspapers-make their entry.
The need for communication is one of
man’s basic instincts for survival. Man has always wanted to express his
thought and feelings to the outside world. This he did through drawings and
writing in caves, trees and on rocks.
Community newspapers bring the news
to the rural man’s doorstep. Like the traditional newspapers, it is a market
place of ideas, except in this case, the lowest tiers of government. The first
group of newspapers that made their entrance in pre-Nigeria era were community
newspapers. The first to be published was lwe lrohin Fun Awon Ara Egba Ati Yoruba (the
newspapers for the Egba’s and Yorubas). Iwe lrohin was established by a Scot
named Henry Townsend on December 3, 1859 at Abeokuta. Townsend, a reverend gentleman was
sent by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) from Exeter
in England
to gather flock for the Christian fold. The paper was bilingual, it carried
both English and Yoruba news simultaneously. Iwe lrohin lasted for
eight years. It was sold for 120 cowries later increased to 300 cowries. The
next newspaper after lwe lrohin was the Anglo
African, established by a West lndian Mullato Robert Campbell in June
1863. Anglo African was written only in English, and carried an editorial and a
front page advert slot. It was sold for six pence, and remained the only local
paper till the 1880’s. This period is referred to as blank period in print
journalism.
The rapid growth of the Lagos Economy in the 1880’s brought
into existence a number of newspapers. Lagos
Times and Gold Coast Advertiser was established in November 10, 1880.
It was owned by R.B. Blaize and edited by Andrew M. Thomas. Lagos
Observer followed on March 2,
1882 and was edited by J.B. Benjamin. The Eagle and Lagos Critic came on
March 31, 1883. It was edited by O.E. Macaulay. The Weekly Mirror, December
17, 1887 and was edited by P.A. Adolphus Marke. The last and most popular among
them was Lagos
Weekly Record. It was
established 1891 and was edited by John Payne Jackson. It stayed on for forty
years because it was powered by subventions it received from the colonial
government.
Other vernacular newspapers written
in Yoruba emerged. They were lwe lrohin Eko in 1888 owned and
edited by Andrew Thomas. Eko Akete came in 1920, Eko
lgbehin came in 1925, Akede Eko came in 1927 it was owned and edited by l. B. Thomas. The last one, Gasikya Ta Fi Kwabo which was written in Hausa language, came in
1939 and owned by Alhaji Abubakar lmam.
The role of newspapers whether
traditional or community are basically that of awareness, education and
sensitization. That was why the newspapers of pre-independence era became
veritable tools to deal with colonialists and checking their not very humane
style of governance. These newspapers were very aggressive and militant in
their style, fueled by the drive for self assertion and self rule by Nigeria’s
foremost nationalists. An example was The West African Pilot which was
owned by Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe.
Education and Gender Equality
I will want us to consider two out
of the eight millennium development goals, which are 2 & 3: Achieving
Universal Primary Education, Promoting Gender Equality and empowering women.
These two goals seem to sum up the entire eight millennium development goals.
Nelson Mandela said ‘education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to
change the world’. There is compelling evidence that education attainment-both
in terms of schooling and skills acquisition – is positively linked to earnings
and productively. Countries like Korea. China and lndia among others who
focused on human capital development through education and training have become
top economies in the world. Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-lweala, CFR the coordinating
minister for the Economy in a paper she presented in Lagos recently titled
‘Reforming Nigeria’s Education System: Paradigm Shift’, said “beyond economic
impacts, education also leads to better health, reduced fertility, improved
resilience to economic shocks, and greater civic participation. In Nigeria, an
analysis of the impact of expansion in education during in 1970s associated
with the Universal Primary Education Movement showed that for each one year
increase in female education, there was a 26 percent reduction in early
fertility. Another important point to note about education is that it leads to
an enhanced ability to adopt new technologies. According to the World Bank,
education yields its greater benefits in countries undergoing rapid
technological and economic change because it can give workers the ability to
continue acquiring skills throughout life, as well as the capacity to adapt new
technology.”
One major human development
indicator that accurately indicates the level of a nation’s development is the
status of women. Countries where women’s rights are protected, where women have
high levels of education, have property rights, have less violence against
them, and a say in their countries’ direction generally tend to be more
developed.
Hillary Clinton, United States
secretary of States in her book Living History argues that women’s
rights are human rights. She also posits that “Seldom are issues such as
women’s health, the education of girls, the absence of women’s legal and
political rights or their economic isolation rejected into foreign policy
debate. Yet it was clear to me that in the new global economy, individual
countries and regions would find it difficult to make economic or social
progress if a disproportionate percentage of their female population remains
poor uneducated, unhealthy and disenfranchised”.
The place of education in the life
of a woman cannot be over emphasised. Education makes a person easy to lead; it
gives a woman a measure of confidence and self assurance. It also gives her the
increased ability to think critically and analyse situations before acting.
This translates to her taking the necessary steps to act on information and
refuse usage and risky behavior especially where the health of her body is
concerned.
In most cases where poverty is
prevalent, such confidence is usually eroded. The danger of dropping out of
school due to lack of money to pay for the required school fees can create a
dangerous and sad distraction in the life of a young girl. She could become
vulnerable to unwanted pregnancy, a communicable diseases and sexually
transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS. It is a real challenge to both the
economic and social workforce if a greater percentage of women are not encouraged
to take up political, public and corporate appointments, for women constitute
about fifty percent of our population.
However, I will wrap up this
discourse by proffering these solutions:
1.
Community
newspapers should help women have access to important information, to enable
the rural women to recognize the importance of their role in society, with
regards to decision making.
2.
Work
in conjunction with governments at various levels to institute population wide
gender-sensitive communication and advocacy to dispel harmful myths,
traditional practices and stereotypical notions of masculinity and feminity
that underlie behaviours and attitudes.
3.
The Press must be credible, operational free,
independent and pluralistic to act its role as the gate keeper or watchdog of
the society. It should be able to check corruption and other excesses, and also
contribute to the education and enhancement of the well being of the citizens.
This would help in no small way to nurture democracy. Thomas Jefferson, the
third president of the United States speaking about the American Press in early
years of its independence write “were it left to me to decide whether we should
have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I
should not hesitate to prefer the latter.”
4.
A
universal political education, which must be affordable, effective and
sustainable, to prepare people to be informed voters. To participate in public
discussions, and to work across ethnic boundaries. It should also, on another
level, educate them for leadership, and help overcome the pervasive culture of
powerlessness in our psyche, by fostering their political skills to operate
with a wider vision. The political skilled see people not as threats, but as
assets.
5.
Professional
Media Women should utilize their positions in the media to assist and motivate
vulnerable and disenchanted women through mentoring by showcasing accomplished
women who have made their mark. These women may now serve as beacons in
charting a way forward in their lives through counseling and offering to tell
their success stories, as a way of encouraging and motivating them.
The price of success is high, and
the road to success is not smooth.
Women have to understand that nobody
will give you anything-including power-on a platter. You have to earn it
yourself.
6.
Finally, women should increase participation
in the social transformation which will change the society in the direction of
a higher quality of life and social justice, so that they can maintain
established values consonant with development. This is where women’s groups
participation is key; to spearhead the move for equipping their members with
the necessary political and communication skills for her full realisation of
their potentials.
Having said this much, I come to you
now, Association of Community Newspaper Publishers of Nigeria (Delta State
Council), you gave me this topic to present, Democracy, MDGs and Community Newspapers: lndivisible partners for
sustainable development. I am giving you back this topic, in the form of a
vehicle. The Millennium Development Goals is the engine to give life to the
vehicle, true democracy borne of hardwork, honesty, integrity and vision are
the tyres to move the vehicle. While the driver of this vehicle is you, ACNPN –
the media, you will drive this vehicle to the Promised Land.
The future of this country is our
collective effort.
