The Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ Abuja chapter, in a bid to promote good governance and democracy in Nigeria, has organised a two day town hall meeting.
The event, which was held at the council’s hall with the Theme: “Governance and Citizenship Participation: Making Democracy Work”, was geared towards shedding light on the duties of citizen in ensuring good democratic practice in Nigeria’s political sphere.
One of the panelists, Mr. Amos Duniya, Editor in-Chief, Forefront Magazine, who spoke to Raye24reporters on the theme, noted that the citizens have to stop patronizing politicians for crumbs but rather hold public officers responsible to delivering the dividends of democracy and good governance.
Duniya added that, once the dividends of democracy is delivered, the complaint of unemployment, infrastructure will be a thing of the past and citizens will now have the financial capacity to purchase what they want rather than going to public officers for crumbs.
According to him ” when you have a job that can pay your salary, you won’t have to go to the politicians for crumbs, when you have good roads, where farmers can bring their farm produce to the market at cheaper rate, when you can have access to good housing, good health facility and education.
“As long as citizens and followers want to constrain themselves to pittance, democracy and good governance will not favour them, but democracy will only favor them when good governance is provided by public officers”.
He stated that good governance can only be possible if citizens checkmate their public officers.
Speaking on the role of the media in ensuring good governance and democracy, Duniya noted that the media in Nigeria, while discharging their duties, have played a pivotal role in ensuring good governance and democracy in Nigeria.
Speaking on Nigeria’s democracy, he opined that since its inception in 1999, Nigerians have not really felt the impact of democracy as expected.
Speaking on the 2023 general election, Duniya explained that the just concluded elections didn’t meet the expectation of Nigerians due to the irregularities that marred the process.
In his word, “I must say that the general election didn’t evolve as one would have expected, but it’s a continuos process.
“This year’s election may not have met the expectation of the people but that shouldn’t in any way discourage the people, they should continue to strive for good result for the future”.
Meanwhile, another panelist, Kemi Yesufu, who spoke to Raye24reporters on the role of social media in ensuring good governance and democracy, stressed that social media is an open space, where Nigerians can air their views about almost everything including governance, accountability, transparency.
According to her: “In 2015, social media played important role in installing the present administration and they have continued in various way to hold government accountable. You can also see that social media played an integral role in organizing the EndSars protest, which is the most organized and the biggest citizens protest”.
“What we can do about social media is to try and curtail it so that this democracy we are promoting, we wont destroy it. We should try and curtail fake news, we need to mind the way we spread fake news and this that can divide us along ethnic and religious lines”. NUJ FCT Council Holds Town Hall Meeting on Governance and Citizenship Participation
The Nigeria Union of Journalist NUJ Abuja chapter in a bid to promote good governance and democracy in Nigeria, have organised a two day town hall meeting.
The event which was held at the Council’s Abuja chapter headquarters with the Theme: “Governance and Citizenship Participation: Making Democracy Work”, was geared towards shedding light on the duties of citizen in ensuring good democracy practice in Nigeria political sphere.
A panelist Mr. Amos Duniya, Editor in-chief Forefront Magazine Who spoke to Raye24reporters on the values of citizens towards insuring democracy and good governance, noted that the citizens have to stop patronizing politicians for crumps but rather hold public officers responsible to delivering the dividends of democracy and good governance.
Stating further, he noted that once the dividends of democracy is delivered, the complain of unemployment, infrastructure will be a thing of the past and citizens will now have the financial capacity to purchase what they want rather than going to public officers for crumps.
According to him “when you have a job that can pay you salary, won’t have to go to the politicians for crumps, when you have good roads, where farmers can bring their farm produce to the market at cheaper rate, when you can have access to good housing, good health facility and education. as longs as citizens and followers wants to constrain themselves to pittance democracy and good governance will not favour them democracy will only favor them when good governance is provided by public officers. Good governance can only be possible if citizens checkmate their public officers”.
Speaking on the role of the media in ensuring good governance and democracy, Duniya, noted that the media in Nigeria, while discharging their duties, have played a pivotal role in ensuring good governance and democracy in Nigeria.
However, speaking on Nigeria democracy, he opines that Nigeria democracy since it inception in 1999, noted that Nigerians have not really felt the impact of democracy as expected.
Speaking on the 2023 general election, he stated that the just concluded election didn’t meet the expectation of Nigerians due to the irregularities that marred the process.
In his word “I most say that the general election didn’t evolve as one would have expected but is a continues process. This year’s election may not have met the expectation of the people but that shouldn’t in any way discourage the people they should continue to strive for the result for the future”.
Meanwhile, one of the panelist, Kemi Yesufu, who spoke to Raye24reporters on the role of social media in ensuring good governance and democracy, stressed that social media is an open space, where Nigerians can air their views about almost everything including governance, accountability, transparency.
According to her: “In 2015 social media played important role in installing the present administration and they have continued in various way to hold government accountable. you can also see that social media played an integral role in organizing the ENDsars protest, which the most organized and the biggest citizens protest”.
“What we can do about social media is to try and curtail it so that this democracy we are promoting, we wont destroy it. We should try and curtail fake news, we need to mind the way we spread fake news and this can divide us along ethnic and religious lines”, she concluded.
