Nigeria: The role of journalists in peace building

By Dr Moses George

Nigeria is one of the most divers countries in the world. Its heterogeneity is built on ethnic, religious and historic disparities. Over the years, the country has experienced recurrent violent conflicts and political instability that has adversely affected its wellbeing.

Political manipulations of religion and ethnicity among others are some of the factors fuelling conflicts across the country. Recurrent bloody disputes between supposed local groups and “settlers” are most of the time ignited by individuals or groups working behind the scene to achieve one selfish objective or the other.

The effects of conflict in several parts of Nigeria are unambiguously obvious. Apart from deaths, injuries, population displacement and the destruction of properties; social and economic systems gets adversely affected to the detriment of the people and the nation.

Sadly, some journalists in Nigeria have played inglorious and dubious roles by reinforcing divisions and conflicts in the country through inflammatory reportage. Such unhealthy dissemination and propagation of conflict situations by journalists is a potentially dangerous activity because of its capacity to influence and shape people’s opinions and perception of conflicts which can further cause deterioration of bad situations.

While inflammatory reportage by journalists can provoke more crisis and cause wanton destruction of lives and properties, peace journalism on the other hand would calm tensions. It can achieve this by objectively emphasizing the underlying causes of conflicts and encouraging solutions rather than stressing divisions through inflammatory reportage. Nigerian journalists should act responsibly by avoiding explicit use of divisive and inflammatory languages when reporting or discussing conflicts.

The recently inaugurated Journalists for Peace (JfP), an advocacy group that is aimed at promoting peaceful coexistence of all people in Nigeria should be applauded by all lovers of peace. As critical stakeholders, JfP has identified the role of journalists as crucial in promoting peace and security in the country. Journalists should report conflicts as objectively as possible, but in a manner that would not exacerbate a conflict situation. They should make deliberate choices of words in their reportage that will advance the prospects for peace without compromising the basic principles of good journalism.