World over, a cardinal responsibility of the media is to make neutrality an integral part of its daily function. That way, it is able to remain objective, win and retain the confidence of its audience while performing its social obligations, including informing, educating and entertaining. Essentially, it must be seen to be non-partisan so that even when it errs, the verdict of history will be on its side. Albeit so, renegades found their way into the profession and have continued to employ it as weapons against individuals and groups that do not share same political or religious inclinations.
This appears to be the situation in Benin City , the Edo state capital, where the Independent Television, ITV and its sister radio station, took up the responsibility of becoming the weapon used by those opposed to the state government and governor, Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole. Indeed, it is virtually impossible for the network not to find something negative in anything and everything, including policy decision taken or project implementation carried out by the current administration. It does not matter even if such policy decisions or projects are receiving plaudits from everyone else as was the case on Saturday, January 30, 2016, when the television network went to town to write off the almost completed Central Hospital as an unnecessary project designed to waste scarce public funds.
In the main, the network went to the streets of the capital practically prompting its respondents into agreeing with its position that the state governor abandoned every project initiated by his predecessors, including the Stella Obasanjo Hospital and Edo Line. Besides concluding that the people of the state will have to pay more for services to be rendered in the new complex on account of its size and grandeur, the station added that funds used in constructing the new Central Hospital structures would have been better directed at addressing phantom manpower issues in both institutions. Socially responsible as critics of the government may see it, the report reeks of double standard.
ITV was in operation when the Stella Obasanjo Hospital was constructed and certified a done deal by the then governor, Chief Lucky Igbinedion who also told the world that he equipped and fully staffed hospital for the benefit of the people of the state. It is therefore curious for the station to conclude that against the declaration of the scion of the Igbinedion family, owners of the station, the hospital is an abandoned project. Assuming that the hospital is an abandoned project as the station claimed, the report would have been more responsible if demanded that the former governor apologized to the people of the state for hiding the truth from them.
The second reason why the people of the state must be wary of ITV reports is not too far to seek. Stella Obasanjo hospital was constructed at a time the Central hospital, built in the 60s, needed rehabilitation. Yet, the station never questioned Igbinedion on the propriety of spending scarce state funds, as it puts it, for the construction of a new medical facility.
From all indications, ITV and its owner seem determined to take the state back to the era when certain individuals and groups use blackmail to intimidate leadership of the state into doing their bidding. They used the same antics against late Ambrose Folorunsho Alli when he decided to build then Bendel state university. They accused him of improper conduct for building another tertiary institution in the state when same funds should have been used to improve facilities at the federal government-owned University of Benin . Just as they did then, they failed to realize that there is need to expand social facilities given the ever increasing needs of the people.
ITV and its sponsors also gave the impression that Edo Line and Bendel Brewery are some of the other projects initiated by former administrations but abandoned by the current one. While it will not be proper to comment on the latter for reasons of an on-going litigation, the point must be made that both establishments went down as a result of the era of profligacy operated by the Igbinedion administration. As they became cash cows for the governor and his cronies, the people, the real owners became unfortunate losers as none could pay its workers let alone sustain themselves.
The case with Edo Line is particularly instructive. ITV can testify that while Igbinedion was in charge, no private transporter in the state had as many vehicles as Edo Line. However, while the former continued to move from strength to strength, the state-owned company went under. Yet, rather than ask Igbinedion to explain to the people of the state how he ran the company and other public facility aground, ITV is in a hurry to create the impression that the current administration should be held responsible. Certainly, that cannot be one of the qualities of a socially responsible media organization.
ITV should check its facts again. No private hospital in all of Edo state has as many workers as, for instance, Stella Obasanjo hospital. Yet the hospital cannot boast of better quality of service compared to what obtains in its privately owned counterparts. Clearly, that cannot be the result of inadequate manpower as the station puts it. It is more of the attitude of the workers given their conviction that “government work no bi my father work”. Flowing from that perception, it is not in doubt that majority of them regard the hospital’s business as no man’s business that requires any serious commitment. The result is that they care less about what happens to patients the same way workers in private clinics do. Instead, they only pretend to carry out semblance of responsibility the moment they are aware that government officials are around.
ITV should be able to re-strategize its approach to its intended goals, irresponsible as they seem. At least, it will no longer be so base in the manner it dishes out ill conceived reports designed mainly to malign and undermine anyone not in the good books of its owners and sponsors. Rather than attempt to pull others down, it should pursue the more professionally responsible and objective obligations to the people. That is more honourable than being a hatchet organization.
