Apex Media Monitors

The International Press Centre (IPC) Lagos-Nigeria, has released (see the attached) a compilation  of  the campaign promises made by President Muhammadu Buhari in the course of electioneering activities for the 2019 general elections. Thirty (30) of such promises covering  pledges on specific and general issues of Road/Rail infrastructure, Education, Agriculture, Poverty Eradication and Inclusion of Youths/Women in government as well as the  fight against Corruption and Insecurity w ere documented. The documentation was done by IPC’s Media Monitoring Team, while the promises were derived from quoted statements of the President  in  The Nation , The Punch, Daily Sun, Daily Trust, Vanguard, This Day, Leadership  and  Nigerian  Tribune   newspapers  over a four-month period from November 2018 to February 2019. The specific sources were page 6, The  Nation  newspaper of Monday, November 19, 2018;  page 2,...

By Raji Rasaq Youths are regarded as agents of change, considering their vibrancy, youthful and energetic spirit running in their veins as well as their ability to add freshness to activate old and wearied logic. Reports have shown that the youths constitute 61,306,413 or 31.7% of Nigeria’s population, according to a release by the Nigeria Population Commission (as referenced by Atthairu Jega, 2017) .  This population is formidable enough to drive the wheel of development in Nigeria. To do this, the youths need political power. Unfortunately, they have been relegated from the same political pedestal by the same society that turns around to tag them as ‘unscrupulous’, ‘exuberant’ ‘too young to run’ and what have you. To change these negative narratives, the contribution by the media, through positive youth development reporting approach is very significant. To be frank really, the considerable volume of media coverage of issues around youth’s participation in the e...

By Raji, Rasaq In 2003, the Nigerian government signed what is today known as child rights act, years after ratifying and had domesticated regional and international laws on the child's rights. Despite this feat, the Nigerian child still faces myriads of denials, scuttling their chances of reaching their full potentials. These challenges range from acute poverty, extreme hunger, little or no access to quality and affordable education, inequality and gender discrimination, insecurity, diseases and sicknesses among others. Incidentally, of all these, education remains the only key that unlocks the solutions to other bottlenecks. While acknowledging the denial of access to good education as the most destructive weapon by the elite and the duty bearers against the Nigeria child, it is imperative to dwell on the  immediate, underlying and the root causes of the denial to quality education, its undesirable impact on the child as well as the way forward. In a...

By Raji Rasaq       As the race to 2019 elections is in top gear, Nigerian Media should report female candidates as ones who are wearing their gender as a sign of honour; as ones treating their gender as an asset and never a liability. If women's participation in the 2019 election is anything to go by, the impact of the media cannot be toiled with. Media serves as a source of powerful tool in mirroring and influencing the thoughts, world-view and philosophy of a human community. This highlights the role of the media as an agenda-setting platform for development. Women issues are development issues.  Check all the Millennium Development Goals, it is the women that will benefit most if the goals can be achieved. Unfortunately, these cannot be unless media mainstream women issues. If there must the desired change and development we want to see in our world, the media must priotise and CONSCIOUSLY accord the issues of women the right prominen...