Nigerian media failing in environmental reporting, says Edetaen Ojo

Edetaen Ojo, the executive director of Media Rights Agenda (MRA), says the Nigerian media are failing in environmental reporting.

Ojo spoke in Lagos on Tuesday at a symposium organised to commemorate 2024 World Press Freedom Day.

World Press Freedom Day is celebrated every year on May 3 to raise awareness of the importance of free presses and freedom of expression across the world as enshrined under article 19 of the 1948 universal declaration of human rights.

This year, the celebration was dedicated to the importance of journalism and freedom of expression in the context of the current global environmental crisis.

The theme of the symposium was “A Press for the planet: Journalism in the face of the environmental crisis”.

Ojo highlighted the constitutional obligations of the media to monitor and ensure compliance with environmental protection laws as enshrined in various legal frameworks.

He bemoaned the lack of significant media coverage and accountability regarding the government’s failure to protect the environment effectively.

“The media is given the duty of ensuring that all organs of government and all authorities and persons exercising legislative, executive, or judicial powers, conform to, observe, and apply the provisions of chapter 2 of the constitution, which cannot be enforced by the courts,” Ojo said.

“In the context of our current conversation, the most relevant provision of chapter 2 of the constitution is section 20, which provides that ‘The state shall protect and improve the environment and safeguard the water, air, land, forest, and wildlife of Nigeria’.

“So my question to you is, can we in all sincerity say that as a sector, we are sufficiently or adequately highlighting the responsibility of the state to protect and improve the environment and safeguard the water, air, land, forest, and wildlife of Nigeria?

“Do we see in the media any significant level of reporting or commentary focused on this responsibility that the state has such that we can say that we are enlightening society about the fact that the government has a constitutional duty to protect and improve the environment and safeguard our water, air, land, forests, and wildlife?

“Furthermore, are we really holding the government accountable for not performing its constitutional responsibility? Do we ever require the government to justify its actions or inaction with respect to the environment, safeguarding the water, air, land, forest, or wildlife in Nigeria?

“At the international level, nearly 65 years ago, the United Nations Economic and Social Council, at its 29th session, adopted a declaration wherein it outlined the role of the media of information in society.”

The programme was organised by the Human Rights Journalists Network Nigeria (HRJN) in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) office in Nigeria, the office of the High commissioner for human rights, and the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC).