Of failed security due to twisted intelligence, harassment of journalists by agents of the state and my expectations for the next 70 years of the NUJ

By: Bodunrin Kayode

Of a truth I have too many expectations about the future of journalism in Nigeria. The future to me is like a pregnant woman heavy with just a baby yet looking as if she will give birth to triplets. If colleagues mean well like I do, they will never be comfortable with a lot of things happening to our dear profession in this year of our Lord 2025. We will not even accept the blame of the media being complicit with the lingering insurgency and banditry in the land. This is because journalists can only report but can’t do anything beyond reporting and writing of terse editorials to urge people in authority to account. That is the letter of the Nigerian constitution. It is the obvious failure of actionable intelligence by those who claim to be working for the national interest that is responsible for the lingering security Challenges Nigeria is going through now. It is equally the failure of the nation’s political leadership to act usually when the iron is very hot.

Sadly also, most of those in political authority hardly have time to read and educate themselves about the difference between right and wrong. Even when writers of conscience waste their time to educate and inform them.They bother mostly about how to arrange the next contract to enable them divert the commonwealth of the nation to their pockets. Later they use our stolen billions to further entrench themselves in power. Often times setting dangerous examples for willing security operatives in the Intel services to learn to soil their hands by enriching themselves and compromising their sacred patriotic stands. That is the vicious circle that goes around and comes around according to the boss of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ola Olukoyede. The media has never been the villain and will never be in this vicious circle as some people want to paint us. Even though the conventional media has its challenges like dealing with the flawed orientation of some of our itel gathering people, it is still part of the greater Nigerian society full of ostentation, perverseness and vainglory.

Matters arising within national interest and the security sector of Nigeria

Think about this premise of truth as it concerns the grim situation of our security in the federation. How many times have the media based on intelligence exposed sponsors of terror in the land? Did the government do anything about it? Who are those advising the central government to stand down instead of punishing these wrong doers? Some label the Nigerian journalist as lazy when it comes to reportage of insecurity, can he do anything beyond reporting and advocacy? I doubt because journalists don’t have guns like the agents of state to forcefully arrest wrong doers for prosecution. Or do they want us to bring down our security operatives like the military before the eyes of right thinking people in the world? Have we not called for the establishment of state police for sub nationals to bypass some of these insecurity challenges? What is delaying the Governors after approval of same in their forum? Have we not called for restructuring of the federation yet nobody is listening? Do the Oligarchy behind behind the power mask really want restructuring? Are they willing to decentralize security for the state to participate in true federalism and separation of powers? Is someone afraid that if states have their Police, insurgents and foreign bandits can no longer be used to destabilize the state? These are the many plethora of questions that demand answers in the eyes of right thinking people we reporters relate with.

The media is also a protector of national interest, never the enemy of the state

Too many blames have been placed on the doorstep of the Nigerian media for so called inability to play the constitutional role of the 4th estate of the realm yet few individuals seem to understand that certain agencies have placed the media at the sidelines as the enemy of the state. They don’t seem to like the high level of independence given to the Nigerian media because some have been trained by agents of the dark period of military which explains their strange orientations. Some are just lame ducks brought in by god fathers making them just empty cans lacking the capacity to act based on the training they were supposed to have received. The Directorate of State security services (DSS) is one agency that these politicians use their loot to fix useless cronies into the system who turn out to be nitwits unable to face the reality of our times. Some of them join such an intelligence based organization simply to use the weapons attached to intimidate and cow people they insultingly called “bloody civilians”. And by making such mistakes, they fall into easy traps set up by politicians against them like those who lost their lives a couple of years ago when they wrongfully went after a mystic called Baba Lakyo around Nasarawa Egon council area of Nasarawa state. My emphasis of wrongfully is made in the sense that the sitting Governor then business man Umaru Almakura had a personal beef with the mystic Baba and his “Ombatse group” and used the federal operatives to settle unnecessary scores. The rest is history as many widows have been produced from that mistake which cost many lives. They would have used their understanding of national interest to navigate through the impasse instead of going headlong into the den of a mystic. Sadly, 70 policemen and 10 state operatives perished unnecessarily. That should serve as a case study in their regular update conferences on how superior wisdom is sometimes more profitable than force or power in the management of state security issues. There is no shame in using wisdom to avoid unnecessary confrontations for instance.

Flawed orientation of contemporary agents of state who have been told journalists are enemies and desperate need for synergy

I sat in a recent workshop by the human rights commission where the rights of refugees and IDP’s were being refreshed and in the process of individual introduction, and an obviously very green operative of state refused to introduce himself properly like others in the hall. From his looks and timidity in his persona, he was clearly within the lowest rank in his service. Possibly not more than the equivalent of a constable in the Federal police. When asked why by the trainer, name withheld, a doctor of Law, he said bluntly, “I don’t want the journalist present in the hall to know my name or who I am”. Literally meaning that others can know him but journalists who should be his partner in progress should not know him. Imagine the faulty and sick orientation. The innuendo here is that the journalist is obviously the enemy of state instead of his partner in the protection of the national interest.
The trainer, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) was livid with rage and warned the state coordinator not to allow green brats like the fellow attend such functions again. “The next time you are inviting anyone from the Intel services, ensure that whoever is coming here is from the management cadre. Is that clear” he posited.

Not the fault of badly oriented Intel brats like him

I felt sympathy for the young man in suite because he was virtually vomiting what was taught to him in their training school. I can almost visualize the mantra; ” The media is a vital enemy of state because of their disrespect for the status quo” he had laid barely on the table. I also imagine how those directed by Yusuf Bichi when he held sway as the boss would be thinking now. There would be so much bitter bile in their mindset against the journalism profession. This is because Bichi belongs to the old guard of the Nigerian Security Organization (NSO). And we all know the orientation of the then NSO, a very repressive organization. Umaru Shinkafi took over as DG in 1979 and virtually created an agency with a similar orientation with the repressive colonial police he had joined in 1959. But thanks to former head of state Ibrahim Babangida (IBB), we now have what is a bit close to a secret service. While there are fine officers within their organization who know how to give actionable Intel to political authorities to end some of these security challenges, we still have charlatans unfit to wear their uniforms or black suits. These unfit operatives who use force more than intelligence abound in many state commands and I think the management should start fishing them out and showing them the door. They are the permanent haters of journalists believing that young operatives should never drop their guards for us not to talk about mutual trust because of our ability to bring down rouge people in authority who do wrong. The truth is that the media does not deliberately go out to embarrass or bring down anyone in authority. The press has never been the enemy of the state. We are harbingers of the truth which to us is sacrosanct.
Journalism is a public service profession aimed at protecting the people and the national interest. Our duty is to inform, educate, and hold power accountable for all their actions and inactions. We respect constituted authorities like other professionals of state but we do not owe our allegiances to those who are supposed to be accountable to the people. We are permanently for the generality of the people who are our bosses. We are the fourth estate and our duty is not necessarily to serve as mouthpieces of authority but to ensure that the common and oppressed pepper and tomatoes seller is not trampled upon with arrogant force and impunity that can make them cry. To criminalise this duty is to criminalise truth itself. We have our own bad eggs from the pool of the rotten Nigerian society but they are very few and the NUJ and other arms know how to deal with them. They always pay the prices attached to their rebellion against the truth.

The Constitutional role of the media, relationship with DSS and the national interest

But come to think about it, the Nigerian Constitution supports the media’s effective functioning primarily through Section 22 (Obligation of the mass media) and Section 39 (Right to freedom of expression and the press). Section 22 outlines the media’s duty to hold the government accountable. Section 39 however guarantees the right to freedom of expression, including the right to receive and share information and to operate media outlets, with a note on government licensing for broadcast media. Section 39 is a fundamental right under Chapter IV and is key to the media’s legal operational freedom. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) of 2011 also supports the media by improving access to public records. If we have all these instruments of operation, how then can anyone declare the media as the enemy of state? Is it because the journalist owes his allegiance only to the people and nobody else? Why is the journalist so much in the so called “bloody civilian” list of “badly trained” operatives of the state who have marked us as enemies? Is the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) worried about this? What are we doing about laying the foundation to correct excesses like these in the next 70 years? If we do almost similar jobs, of protecting the national interest and our people, why then does some of the state service operatives so hate journalists as to put some colleagues on watch list sometimes up to 20 years? When I learnt that a senior colleague I had admired so much as a cub reporter was just removed from the watch list of the state operatives after two decades, I marveled at the mere thought of putting the revered Lanre Arogundade on such a witch craft manipulation list. A highly committed professional who has served humanity for as long as I have known him. But thank God people like Adeola Ajayi are far better than old guards like Yusuf Bichi who was brought in to wrongly redefine what we all know as national interest. It was during Bichi’s tenure that a lot of unthinkable things happened yet life went on. Bandits and insurgents paraded all over the savannah and life went on. It made some of us worry if we were in the same country and what their own definition of national interest was. He was so inept that he could not help his people internally in terms of welfare rather he was trampling on them. No wonder there was a tumultuous celebration at the national headquarters of the state service when Bichi was dropped. An impeccable source hinted me that most of the rotten eggs flushed out by the state service recently were beneficiaries of Bichi’s wrong orientation and misguided understanding of patriotism. Some came in before Bichi but it was worthwhile that 115 operatives were flushed out from the system. “And don’t be surprised more will soon be thrown out for the same nasty reasons if the godfather syndrome of recruitment continues instead of merit ” said my source.

COCIN Church and the reason for friction with operatives and arbitrary arrest of journalists by State operatives.

The recent embarrassment of the President of the church of Christ in nations (cocin) in Jos shows how deep seated the hatred some of them have for journalists. Imagine a scenario in which the President was yet to take off from Abuja to attend a funeral in Jos. While preparing for the service, the President of the church Rev. Amos Mohzo was stopped from getting into the head quarters church to prepare for the funeral. He assumed the position after being elected in November 2021 so that should not be a strange detail for even a non Christian operative to keep upstairs. They should know who he is. But how on earth an operative of state will be so myopic that he or she can not spot such an important figure is scary. Let’s pretend as if this is not part of their training. How do you guard VIPs without being able to spot them on the field? Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Jamatu Nasir Islam (JNI), Sultan of Sokoto, powerful church leaders like Catholic Bishops and even the Imam of the national mosque. How do they guard such people without knowing them? It looks so absurd that even green horned operatives will not know such important people. The COCIN boss his deputy and assistant secretary wanted to access the church to prepare for the funeral of the mother of the All Progressive Congress (APC) national chair Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda ahead only to be told that they are not allowed into their official property. While the subordinates of Dr Mohzo were trying to educate these people that they were actually stopping the landlord of the building from going in an argument ensued and that was what the JFM reporters were said to have been recording. Sadly, that was what triggered the arrest of the reporters. To me that was equally the height of arrogance and impunity from small brats who still take instructions from middle cadre officers against a giant public official of no mean repute. They were so so wrong in their actions and needed to be told so. From what I can figure out from my binoculars, something has to be done about the fundamental flaws in the doctrine of these organizations quickly before they start shooting people on the streets of Nigeria in the name of killing enemies like reporters. If that is not corrected this pathetic wickedness will continue with impunity. Why? This is because it is often said in Africa that no matter how you wash a leopard it cannot drop it’s black spots. Equally, no matter how you wash the black hand of a monkey, it can never change to white even for those who eat monkey meat. “No matter how clean you wash am, na black e be.” That is the sad reality among even some of those who rank above the Assistant director’s level. What happened in that church was completely wrong and sources told us that the DG of DSS was miffed by it and rightly directed a query to be issued to those green horns for wrong doings and warnings to them not to smear the image of their organizations again. This was how the management of JFM radio station reacted with a final release to the wrong doing of the operatives of the state in Jos recently:

OFFICIAL STATEMENT BY THE MANAGEMENT OF JAY 101.9 FM JOS ON THE ARBITRARY ARREST AND DETENTION OF OUR JOURNALISTS BY THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE SERVICES IN JOS

Gentlemen of the Press,

Further to our earlier statement regarding the arrest of our staff, Ruth Marcus and Keshia Jang, who were assigned to cover the burial rites of the late mother of the APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda Goshwe, at the COCIN headquarters Church, we wish to inform you that they have been released. Upon confirming that the DSS was holding them, frantic efforts were made to secure their release. Although our efforts were initially rebuffed, they were eventually released. This event has once again prompted us to draw attention to the disturbing issues of press freedom violations, human rights abuses, and the erosion of the rule of law by security agencies. We want to reiterate that as professionals, our staff did what journalists are trained and ethically mandated to do: they documented an incident on video for public record and accountability.

We call on the DSS to note that:

1. Their actions in abducting and detaining them are illegal, undemocratic, and unacceptable. They represent a blatant violation of the fundamental rights to freedom of the press, freedom of expression, and personal liberty as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and various international conventions to which our nation is a signatory.
2. The press is not an enemy of the state. Journalism is a public service profession. Our duty is to inform, educate, and hold power accountable, not to serve as mouthpieces of authority. To criminalise this duty is to criminalise truth itself.
3. The DSS must act with civility and restraint. We remind the agency that this nation is under civilian rule, not military dictatorship. Security agencies exist to protect citizens, not to intimidate or abduct them. Power must always be exercised within the bounds of the law and in accordance with respect for democratic norms.
4. This pattern of intimidation and repression must stop. It sends a chilling message to journalists that telling the truth may lead to persecution. Such conduct undermines the very fabric of democracy and fosters a climate of fear and impunity. We reaffirm that Jay 101.9 FM will not be intimidated or silenced. Our commitment to truth, objectivity, and the democratic ideal remains unwavering. To those who wield power, we remind you that the freedom of the press is the life blood of democracy. When journalists are silenced, democracy dies in darkness. We call on all citizens, the media fraternity, and the international community to stand in solidarity with us in demanding respect for the rule of law, freedom of the press, and for journalists to carry out their statutory duties without fear or hindrance, as well as respect for human rights.Thank you. Signed, Clinton Garuba.

I am happy that the President of the NUJ Comrade Alhassan reacted to the release of the two journalists later. The journalists are seen as the ones who put the operatives in trouble by fishing out what they were supposed to see that they failed to see and alert their superiors about it. So mark them as enemies quickly. Arrant nonsense.
These operatives who see us as permanent enemies, visit our homes when we are not around to fix bugs to listen to all our discussions will never stop seeing the fourth estate as enemies. In 2025 they still bug lines of reporters to know what we are doing at every given time. And sadly they put some of us on watch list illegally for being outspoken as if it is a sin to be outspoken or straight jacket. The most insulting of all the assaults against us is using colleagues closest to us to record and send same to them in the name of protection. The way they placed one of our own Lanre Arogundade on watch list for over 20 years for doing nothing against them.

After 70 years of practice in this country we are still being labeled as “enemies of the state” because we cause the state to account for all their atrocious tendencies against the people. From the President of the NUJ Comrade Alhassan to the rest of us they have always classified as enemies. No one is spared because your teeth is whiter than the other or due to the sound of your name. Some of them are quite pleasant and respectful when we encounter them on the field but a sizable number of them are wired for a phantom republic they will never see in their lifetime. They are extremely distrustful of themselves and others and this is why the government has not been making progress in securing the country. They don’t even trust themselves not to talk of the citizenry. No wonder whenever they come to Maiduguri, they psychologically disarm their own colleagues on ground and take charge of the security architecture because we are all seen as perceived insurgents for leaving our states far away to agree to serve humanity here. Well if they have enemies within we don’t. Only God knows how the next 70 years of the NUJ will be. But I tell you we will make progress by Gods grace.

Bodunrin Kayode, a journalist wrote from maiduguri.

Of failed security due to twisted intelligence, harassment of journalists by agents of the state and my expectations for the next 70 years of the NUJ

My binoculars:
Borno Health Sector coordination and the challenges of the risk communication pillar against emergencies

By: Bodunrin Kayode

Sometimes the speed at which we journalists poke our noses into important matters that concerns the truth when government authorities are involved is welcome. Especially when it involves sensitive sectors of the economy like health and the welfare of the people. And we do so when any public officer is obviously economical with some truths. And this nosing around usually annoys such powers that be like Principal Medical Officers (PMO’s) where such practitioners are civil servants. The lack of deep understanding of the essential biostatistics by the every day manager of our hospital systems equally forms a clog in the wheels of progress in elimination of dangerous emergencies in real time.

Most top civil servants in government in Nigeria usually do not like being challenged when they do wrongs regardless of their professional learning. They want to be the last to speak and it should be the final like we had during the likes of a former health minister, name withheld who always wanted to assert his weight in spite of his small stature on the union leaders who refused to be intimidated by him. He turned out to be one of the worst in the history of this country because his tenure was spiced by several strikes. Speaking after his ilks have vomited their sometimes inadvertent mistakes in a emergency meeting, is a taboo especially in the medical sector where life is involved directly. Even within themselves, a pharmacist who tries to correct the mistakes of a medical doctor is frowned upon as being insubordinate. This is because the general practitioner no matter his years of experience has been given the tag leader of the medical team because he is the doctor. This reporter was reliably informed that this dominance was given to the doctors by late Prof Olikoye Ransom-Kuti who felt strongly that the entire health family should have a team leader if it must succeed. The entire national health policy he enacted gave a strong emphasis on preventive health especially at the primary health level. And you know preventive health cannot stand properly without massive enlightenment and mobilization of the locals to see sense in all the screamings of the epidemiologists. That is why I find it amusing when some people give certain levels of reverence to world bodies ass if they are so perfect that they don’t make human mistakes.

A journalist contributing to make things work effectively in the public health sector team by trying to rectify their excessive misuse of acronyms, for instance makes some of them angry that someone is interfering in their business.These hospital practitioners rather prefer to remain conservative and seemingly mystical because that is what it should be. And with this other partners can easily shut down and remain docile maintaining the necessary amoebic tendencies needed to survive. And with this, the obvious disunity within the medical sector will continue to linger instead of moving as team players as is the case in saner climes.

Sadly the world does not work that way anymore. Some of those who express these worries hardly want to think outside the books especially when it comes to their turf even when the world has gone far in the realm of “public health communication” for instance. And most times big mistakes are made as a result of wrong communications from the so called experts from the world bodies charged with fixing health. And that has been the bane of the “risk communication pillar” of the Borno Health sector partners during coordination meetings. But thank God that for the first time in the last decade, 14 pillars have been created and public health professionals in the meeting are meant to think in one accord which is very important for the progress of the “emergency health sector machinery” which Governor Babagana Zulum is interested in. We now have these pillars firmly rooted including the sensitive “surveillance” who are the epidemiological ” “secret service” going around hunting down emergencies and hinting the clinicians before ensuring that the house is fully briefed. The risk communication or state health educators are also being straightened up to meet emerging emergencies as they come. They are collaborating with the surveillance and security which I had suggested should be made a pillar in one of our public meetings and that the head of the police hospital should be given that task. Whenever he is busy, he can always send a representative to be physically present before critical campaigns against stubborn diseases like polio for instance. Sadly the policy makers and some of those above have not seen any reason to include a uniform medical person even as observers in such regular meetings. They only look for them when they are done with their inner meetings and it’s time to send urgent vaccinations to dangerous areas in the lake Chad. The troops vaccinate the victims and return their containers. This sadly can be corrected if there is a will to apply the right courage by thinking outside the box away from the stereotype of the civil service.

What is risk communication or what civic servants prefer to call public health educators

We must keep in mind that “risk communication involves the real time exchange of information, advice and opinions between experts or officials and people who face a hazard or threat to their survival, health, or economic or social well being.” Having said that, we should be mindful of the purposes and reasons for the risk communication pillar which is very vital in reaching out to the vulnerable people we are supposed to protect in the Borno insurgent war theatre. We cannot stop cholera from moving like a dangerous wizard from one council area to another if the risk communication pillar is brutally divided as it was some years back in the state. The division obviously stems out of the fact that the big world players do not see eye to eye on several issues and that to me is sad. There is no reason for the typical competition spirit common in our clime for instance. Another mistake they sometimes make is that they send misfits as communication coordinators who end up brutalizing partners psychologically with their rotten egos instead of working with them. We had one name withheld who pretended to be a communication coordinator in the World Health Organization (WHO) yet lacked the requisite humility and knowledge that it takes to operate from that office. He was so full of himself that he started having trouble within his organization and was finally sent to Abuja to go start from scratch in his real field which is computer science. He worked together with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) only when it was obvious I was a slight threat that needed to be eliminated. One of them said that he was aware I had documents that could implicate their dangerous corrupt and “grab it all mentality” when dealing with journalists in the theatre of war. What they forgot was that a big chunk of the correspondents chapel of the NUJ knew what they really were inside in spite of the facade of protectors of humanity they paraded around. They had stepped on so many toes of my colleagues. But sadly all of them failed woefully in their satanic plot to chase shadows where there were none. They are all out of the war theatre now.

Why the risk communication and health educators in world bodies must continue to work together to strengthen the Borno health sector

The WHO and UNICEF communication experts must work together as a team under the supervision of the state ministry of health and not the other way round. What we had even up to early last year before the flood was two world bodies flexing their muscles in different rooms, churning what they thought was best for Borno but which is usually confusion for the crudely trained health educators. That is a wrong and it must be reversed as quickly as possible if the risk communication should be uplifted to where it should be. You cannot because you are coming to spend donor funds treat people as if they are beneath you. It’s not right. Whatever meetings they want to hold in their respective agencies should never rubbish the risk communication pillar meeting which should have only one head from the state ministry of health who speaks for all of us during critically challenged periods of emergencies.

The cliche of he who pays the piper dictates the tune can’t work in this instance when we have a war at our backyard. It’s a boring cliche that has killed this country and brought us to the sickening level we find ourselves now where humanity is thrown to the dogs. It is not permissible for UNICEF and WHO to speak on behalf of the state at all times. That is a wrong which I believe even the state coordinators know should be corrected. What happens when that fellow is transferred? The head must be a ministry staff and both agencies must answer to him. At least that is the ideal we subscribe to. The non governmental organizations have already fallen in line. It’s only the big players that are rustling feathers as if they are infallible. Sometimes they feel they are too big to take instructions from the government. But this governor is a no nonsense man. You rather do it his way or get out.

Within the almost comatose health sector which existed in Borno from 2009 when the real insurgent war started, health practitioners had been called to account to the people they claim to be dishing out dividends of democracy to even if it is on a humanitarian level which makes it free. And I believe it’s because of this accountability that the sector partners meeting was formed to evaluate and make progress. It’s about ten years now into the rebuilding of the Borno health sector and some of us who have been around since then can gladly say well done to all the managers who have passed through the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) in maiduguri till date injecting their own expertise in one way or the other. The world bodies inclusive and the myriad of non governmental organizations. A special dedication to Dr Simon who was holding the fort in the EOC till the Trump hammer came down on everything that makes sense to right thinking people in the world.

Attracting more media practitioners into the risk communication

Colleagues, of a truth, the media practitioner is not out to witch hunt anyone but purely to ensure that every one accounts for his stewardship as leaders in the sector. A practitioner’s presence in the risk communication or health education business in the polio sub sector is to assist in disseminating the good news when there is need to do so. If Cholera has killed hundreds in the last ten years, he says so. Why? So that the people will take corrections from the way they have been living to what the health authorities have designed for them to stay alive. This is because no Commissioner of Health or trained doctor wants his patients to die out of ignorance. So they need the risk communication or health educator’s latest skills in contemporary media practice. And if one lacks knowledge of the workings of the media even if the fellow is from the WHO or United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) he will surely fail in most of his plannings as it concerns the people. Media related intervention is needed in every profession that is involved in communication. From security to teaching to medicine. You cannot succeed in modern medicine without effective communication or even the media. And when I emphasize media, I am not talking about radio which is believed to be the widely used to hear from government by the northern illiterates in the country. The so called radio which is believed to reach at least 50% of the population is a luxurious instrument now in Borno because at least 40% of that 50 or 60% which could be reached if their surrounding transmitters have not been blown off by boko haram cannot afford to buy a mini radio of N1000. With the floating of the naira, this figure may even be an understatement in the market.
TV is ruled out for the most vulnerable who even if you give a free radio set to listen to cholera or covid jingles will rather sell same to buy his immediate needs. So how do we correct these lapses? Simple. Involve the media more proactively by creating of health desks in the media houses. Health desks cannot be just one person. I made this point during a round table at the NUJ in maiduguri recently and someone showed me a health correspondent in a radio station. The fellow obviously does not know the difference between an ideal health desk and just one correspondent. For maiduguri, just one correspondent covering emergencies and the entire health ministry is not right. In fact, that is a huge joke as long as insurgency persists. A minimum of three to five reporters should form the fulcrum of a functioning health desk. A senior correspondent or line editor and a bevy of reporters ready to cover the primary, secondary and tertiary centres were things happen daily. One person is just a correspondent not a desk and is grossly inadequate. You do not parade just one person to handle emergencies and non emergencies it’s a sick joke that can fly anywhere without a war but not in Borno, Adamawa or Yobe (BAY) states because of our peculiarities and mortality rates. The creation of health desks in the near future will produce a massive army of professionals ready to handle the risk communication even in the entire BAY states. That is the ideal. And it is very much possible to handle if the Commissioner visits the general managers and advocates for their creation with support from them. Getting a sound professional as information officer in the parent ministry of health will also help because it is he who will be the go between after the courtesy calls which speaks more than a mere memo. Translators in local languages will fall in line easily. Not just one or two people serving as health education officers in the entire state of 27 council areas.

The voice of the journalist as the fourth estate of the realm is equally the voice of the people. So when they call for accountability within the news managers about the health sector for instance to appear before them in the Press Centre, they are simply saying account for your stewardship before the people. They do not mean to disrespect anyone who is a “big man” who may not want to appear before the gentlemen of the media as if they are before their Lordships in a court of law as it were.

Risk communication practices within the Borno health sector

Risk communication in Borno particularly can never succeed without the major imputes of journalists within the Health sector. This pillar equally needs the massive support of the translators in the programs department which may not necessarily be journalists but media practitioners in their own rights. We cannot go to northern Borno and be speaking English with resident idps for instance. Such messages must be knocked down into Kanuri not even Hausa because these are people who do not understand the Hausa language no matter how international you may think it is. These are some of the challenges that have characterized the health sector meetings when handling urgent challenges like Cholera. The Borno radio television can boast of translators in shua Arab, Kanuri, kibaku, Bura, and margi languages any day we need them. Not this Hausa charade which I see as a lazy man’s way or handling serious issues here. Borno is not katsina or Kano. Borno is peculiar so attention should be paid to mobilization issues.
The world bodies will be harming the recipients of messages if they sit down in Abuja and draft messages for the risk communication sub sector only in English and Hausa and forgetting that there are about 15 dialects in Gwoza alone some of who barely understands the Hausa language which was virtually forced on them by virtue of recolonization. That could be applicable in the north west of the country surely not north east and central. There are always willing hands in the media ready to help out to produce these sound bites if management makes proper inquires. You do not go to Limankara in Gwoza and start speaking Hausa if you want the residents to drop some daring inhibiting habits which invites killer diseases. You look for someone who understands their dialect and make him do the translation or speak after you have spoken in Hausa. That is the trick.It would sink better than Hausa. These are the solutions which would help us from watching people die when we could help keep them alive.

The Borno health sector is in a critical buildup situation in which some forms of basic communications must be handled by local people who studied, communication, journalism or even some form of social science or public relations. Risk communication is not something you can handle simply because you did general studies in medical school. Far from it. Its something you must study to apply same so you save yourself from the pains and embarrassments being faced when it comes to the nitty gritty and you are watching people die from cholera, COVID-19 or diphtheria. That is why the intervention of the ministry of health into the various newsrooms by way of “lobby” for a news desk is very pertinent. No Radio general manager in Maiduguri or Biu will refuse sponsorship of reporters and translators for refresher courses in the health sector as is applied in the more developed climes. Send them abroad for three months and by the time they return, they will forget politics or sports and follow health as if it was their initial calling.
That is the only way we can attract more hands on deck to perfect further the myriads of mistakes being made by the risk communication pillar in the Borno health sector. I have tried severally to drag in my colleagues to join me in the sector meetings but they do not see the attraction to come in because of the ultra conservative mentality of some practitioners in government.
We have to create the attraction by following the tips I gave above. We are very much still in an emergency. So nothing is too big to be done to attract more practitioners in the health education sector.

Finally, now that we all know that a lot of damage has been done to most of our radio transmitters in the state rendering the capability of the old fashion radio to get to at least 50% of the populations useless, the plan B option left to the sector for emergency enlightenment especially in cases of polio is interpersonal communication and that is done by using vehicles to all the secured crannies of the state whenever there is an emergency to ensure that the people get to know what is going on. It’s obvious that less than ten percent of this 50% of the affected population can afford phones. Let’s say we teach them how to tune to their radio in their phones, how many of them will be able to listen to jingles in their native dialects? When you have at least 70% of the rural population of the residents as stark illiterates as alluded to not too recently by Governor Babagana Zulum, how then do you continue to reach out to them in English or Hausa? It is the duty of the risk communication people to size up the environment they want to penetrate and communicate in the language they will get maximum effect and not waste the scarce resources in radio stations that package programs purely for the elites. English language should be made a secondary language of communication in rural Borno until the war ends and emergencies subside. Too much English can never eliminate the stark reality of “zero dose” of which Dr Mohammed Khalid lamented in a recent sector meeting for instance is increasing. In fact he expressed the fear of new cases coming from the other side of lake Chad and how to stop this by using appropriate communication skills.

Lastly, there are many areas that vehicles may not access in the local councils of Borno State. The director of information, in the ministry of information can be drafted to work with any of the pillars he is wired to handle. As they hold their sector meetings at council level, he should be able to produce his own army of translators who will be on standby to enter any corner where strange diseases are coming up to kill people. And they should be able to feed his team or report directly to the state health educator for onward transmission if they can’t get their pillar heads directly. Trained risk communicators or educators volunteering during campaigns in the entire council areas should not be less than 54 while the state should not be less than 20 very fluent in diverse local languages and dialects of the people. That is the ideal instead of balkanizing everyone into kanuri and Hausa. The Commissioner of Health should be able to liaise with his colleague in the transport ministry to ease the stress on the resident health communicator in each council area in worst case scenarios. By resident I mean each council area should have one personnel trained for the job because all the resident media houses in Borno cannot be able to supply enough personnel for the job. The risk communication pillars should be given bikes and megaphones to get to those safe remote places and shout on top of their voices if need be. Only this change in pattern can change the narrative of any wicked emergency that dares rears its head beyond 2025. That is the drill for excellent coordination between the health educators, mobilizers and risk communication pillar in 2025 and beyond.

UMTH: A need for assistance due to Maiduguri’s terrible flood

By: Dr. James Bwala

Those who recently visited the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) expressed dissatisfaction with the flood-soaked equipment and the enormous amount of money required to restore it to operational condition. This is particularly true of the machines in the radiology department, the cancer center, the hospital stores, the child institute, the trauma center, the burn center, and numerous other centers. The largest hospital in sub-Saharan Africa, with a capacity of over 1300 beds, takes pride in it. These have exacerbated the management’s efforts to devise a plan to restore UMTH to its pre-flood pedestrian status and ensure that it regains its position as a behemoth on the West African pride stage

In fact, the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), which has been badly damaged, has made urgent appeals for help in response to the recent flooding in Maiduguri, Nigeria, after the Alau Dam, a vital water supply for the city, collapsed, Maiduguri was hit by unheard-of flooding that flooded half of its land and impacted more than two million people. Due to significant damage to its infrastructure and equipment, the hospital—which is essential for medical services in Borno State, Nigeria, and west Africa—was shuttered for two weeks. Basic services will soon restart, but full operational capacity is still questionable. As a result, the government, as well as motivated individuals and organizations, must take the necessary actions to make full operationality a reality.
Beyond just providing healthcare, the humanitarian crisis has made pre-existing issues like food shortages and displacement among vulnerable groups worse. Around a million people have been affected by the floods, and there have been reports of a rise in family separations, gender-based violence, and illness epidemics that need immediate medical attention. As a result, UMTH, which offers incalculable assistance to families attempting to restore their health in the face of tremendous destruction, needs immediate support.

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This circumstance emphasizes how urgently governments and international organizations must coordinate their assistance efforts. For the purpose of meeting urgent needs in Maiduguri and the adjacent areas, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is actively looking for more resources. To guarantee proper healthcare service returns at the UMTH, the UN agencies and other INGOs should also concentrate on the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital. The long-term recovery prospects for people and healthcare facilities like UMTH remain dire in the absence of prompt action and consistent support from multiple stakeholders.

It is crucial that government agencies and motivated citizens work together to support organizations like UMTH in the face of frequent flooding. In addition to displacing people, floods destroy livelihoods, resulting in a vicious cycle of poverty from which it is difficult to break. This poverty raises the likelihood that healthcare services will collapse, especially when diseases are spreading. All hands must be on deck to specifically look into the needs of health institutions at this time to lessen the impact of disease outbreaks as Maiduguri has started to experience, as a breakdown in medical equipment will further short-lived efforts in managing such epidemics.

In order to prevent the degradation of vital medical services, UMTH management has called for safe collapsing equipment due to flooding. Government agencies and concerned citizens must unite to offer the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) immediate support and resources in their fight against flood damage. As we have seen at the UMTH, the teamwork may act as a beacon of resilience, demonstrating the effectiveness of shared accountability and group efforts in reducing the effects of disasters.

In addition to guaranteeing the continuation of vital healthcare services, this united front promotes a culture of readiness and adaptability that goes beyond the current crisis management of healthcare services at the UMTH due to equipment shortages. Furthermore, UMTH’s ability to withstand future flood events can be greatly increased by addressing its infrastructure vulnerabilities through targeted interventions. This will protect public health and minimize medical service disruptions, which is especially important for the people of Borno State at this time.

In order to do this, government organizations must give top priority to financial and policy measures to strengthen UMTH’s infrastructure against flood threats. In addition, enthusiastic people can help by participating in community-based projects and fundraising campaigns that directly benefit UMTH, thus enhancing governmental actions. We can establish a sustainable framework that not only tackles current issues but also establishes the foundation for long-term resilience against future calamities by cultivating a strong collaboration between governmental programs and community-driven initiatives.

Dr. James Bwala, PhD, writes from Abuja

UMTH: A need for assistance due to Maiduguri’s terrible flood