Abstract
The Mass Media play crucial roles in achieving developmental objectives at local, national and international level. The mass media has been recognized as an important resource for mobilizing an entire nation towards national development. Being an integral part of the social system, the mass media is a major stakeholder in the realization of sustainable development in Nigeria. However, several factors like corruption, poor communication channels, illiteracy, inadequate infrastructure, poor implementation framework and political instability has continued to pose great challenges to the achievement of sustainable development in Nigeria. The study is anchored on the theory of functionalism and development media theory. Considering the fundamental role the mass media occupy in national development, the paper argues that for sustainable development to become a reality in Nigeria, the identified issues that impede the achievement of sustainable development in Nigeria should be addressed, so that the mass media can effectively championed sustainable development efforts in all the sectors of the economy.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
The Nigeria media over time and consistently has been on the vanguard of championing the cause for sustainable development in the country. The strategic role of the mass media in achieving national development in any society cannot be downplayed. The central role of the mass media stems from section 22 of the 1999 constitution which states thus: The press, radio, television and other agencies of the mass media shall at all times be free to uphold the fundamental objectives contained in this chapter and uphold the responsibility and accountability of the government to the people (constitution, 1999) By this provision, the mass media is expected to join hands with the government to promote programmes and policies that will lead to national transformation of the country. Nigeria government over time had come up with series of development plans, programmes and policies that would have enlist the country among the top economically developed country in the world. Successive regimes embark on the execution of wonderful plans to see this noble dream achieved. Popular among these policies includes; National Accelerated Agricultural Food Production Programme and co-operative bank (NAFPP) introduced in 1972 by the General Yakubu Gowan administration. The Green Revolution of the 1980’s, Operation Feed the Nation (OFN) of General Olusegun Obasango in 1976, War Against Indiscipline of General Buhari and Idiagbon administration, and General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida’s Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI) among several other programmes. With the return of democracy in 1999, the new government of Olusegun Obasango rolled out so many policies and reform programmes in a bit to put Nigeria on the path of national development. The administration came up with programmes such as; Poverty Alleviation Programme, Hearth of Africa project, Vision 20-20, electricity for all in the year 2000, Health for all in the magic year of 2000, and food for all in the year 2000. The administration quest to fight against corruption in the country led to the establishment of anticorruption agencies such as the Economic Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC). Also, the administration established the office of due process, budget monitoring and implementation in the presidency. This was aimed at making Nigerians and government alike adhere to procedural process in all activities. In furtherance with the Olusegun Obasango’s policies, the Musa Yar’adua regime provided a blue print for the development of Nigeria in what he termed as the “Seven Point Agenda” which serve as his transformation plan for the nation. These plans cover major sectors of the economy like power and energy, rule of law, security, human capital development, agriculture, land reform, and industrialization. It is worthy to note that the mass media threw their weight behind these programmes by making sure that people were acquainted with them. However, despite the massive support of this programmes and policies by the media, achieving sustainable development in Nigeria is still not very visible. This is pathetic considering the billions of naira usually spent on the execution of government programmes, and yet there is no any tangible evidence of development in the nation. Unemployment is still high, our health services are in a deplorable condition, and the power sector is decaying by the day. Likewise the manufacturing sector has totally collapsed and political instability and insecurity is growing worse by the day. In view of these un-ending national problems, this study attempts to examine the place of the mass media in sustainable development in Nigeria. It also discusses some of the challenges that the mass media faces in promoting sustainable development in the country. The paper concludes by recommending some measures that will help transform the country.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
the impact of the mass media especially radio is enormous despite the problems facing them in discarding their responsibilities. One thing certain is that radio helps in economic development due to its easy reach and penetration to diverse and scattered listening audience, the literacy level notwithstanding. But of all these impact and contributions to the economic development of Nigeria, there are still case of poor funding and poor management of the electronic media especially radio to effectively carry out these impacts of economic development. The ESBS radio as an agent of news, information, education entertainment and advertising organ of mass media has been affected due to poor funding, obsolete equipment and poor management.