World Day of Social Justice: Nigerian news media germane to tackling social exclusion, corruption, insecurity, others through human interest stories

The 2024 World Day of Social Justice presented another opportunity for the news media to scale up the call against social exclusion and tackle social injustices through investigative human-interest stories. Social justice, embodied in principles like equitable access to resources, participation, diversity, and human rights, ensures everyone has an equal opportunity in life. It fosters national unity by bridging gaps in access to wealth, resources, and opportunities between different socio-economic groups. In line with the 2024 theme – Global coalition for social justice: Bridging gaps, building alliances – the news media and other stakeholders must unite to reaffirm commitment to combat social injustice.  Five areas of intervention readily come to mind that need urgent attention – corruption causing poverty, insecurity, education, and girls and women issues.

The global and national poverty index on inequality is scary. Poverty is a major form of injustice in Nigeria and corruption is the main culprit. According to the 2023 corruption perception index released by Transparency International, Nigeria ranks 145 out of 180 countries assessed. While there was a slight improvement from the 2022, the rating underscores the ongoing challenges of advancing social justice through anticorruption. The Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) continues to work with many news media organisations and other stakeholders to contribute to the change Nigeria needs.

The media exposes corruption in public and private sectors and  WSCIJ will continue to recognise and honour their resilience through the Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting (WSAIR). In 2011, many of the award-winning stories focused on corruption in public and private institutions. On the Collaborative Media Engagement for Development Inclusivity and Accountability (CMEDIA) launched in 2022, WSCIJ some partners have advanced the use of Freedom of Information Act for investigative reporting on corruption, project implementation compliance and data journalism. Some impact stories under CMEDIA include the ‘Transborder certificate scam‘ report by Daily Nigerian that resulted in the Federal Government suspending degrees from Benin and Togo. Similarly, a Dataphyte report on a contract breach for the supply of 200m naira worth of computers to UNIOSUN prompted action shortly after the investigation.

On security, the Institute for Economics and Peace ranked Nigeria 144 on the 2023 Global Peace Index. According to the Civil Society Joint Action Group, at least 2,423 people were killed, while 1,872 were abducted within eight months of President Bola Tinubu’s administration. The calls for the safety and security of citizens’ lives and property must become a top priority. Umaru Pate, Vice Chancellor of Federal University Kashere, during the 2018 Wole Soyinka Centre Media Lecture traced the breakdown of local governance and radio systems to the violence in the North East and North Central. The impacts of insecurity on education, economic prosperity, health and safety of survivors as documented by some of our CMEDIA partners are dire. The media must objectively report issues, and raise awareness about security threats, their causes, consequences, and possible resolutions.

As part  interventions working with journalists and other partners, the WSCIJ addressed  cultural challenges, insecurity impacts on displaced women, surrogacy ethics, delayed justice for Sexual and Gender-Based Violence cases, female coaches’ struggles, inheritance rights, birth attendants’ hazards and economic exploitation women face. Also a five part documentary titled ‘The Untold Stories Of Girls And Women In Nigeria’ and the media justice status report on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in Nigeria titled ‘Missing data, missing justice’ by WSCIJ highlighted challenges women face in Nigeria and difficulty in getting justice. To achieve justice for women, the news media must lead by example. The ‘Who leads the newsroom and news?‘ report launched on February 15, 2024, exposed disparities between men and women in newsrooms and news. If there is no justice for women in the newsroom how does the news media, ensure justice for women in the society?

According to a 2022 UNICEF report, 1 in 3 children are out of school (10.2million at the primary level and 8.1 million at the junior secondary) and more than 50% of girls do not have basic education. Also, 12.4 million children never attended school and 5.9million left school early. Nigeria accounts for 15% of the global number of out of school children.  Education serves as a cornerstone of social justice, provides individuals with opportunities, and equal participation in society. In 2015, WSCIJ enabled story support for journalists under Developing Effective Private Education Nigeria (DEEPEN) of the Department for International Development (DfID). We also raised concerns at the 2017 Wole Soyinka Media Lecture Series about declining regulation and performance in education, with the launch of the Regulators Monitoring Programme (REMOP) and supported reports on the effects of students’ abductions on parents and victims and the failure of the government to make schools safe for learning in Zamfara, Niger and Kaduna states among others. With these and efforts of many other organisation’s interventions on education, not much has changed.
With their stories, investigative journalists must expose cases of social injustice, uncover human rights violations, raise public awareness, hold perpetrators accountable, and foster a more inclusive society. As WSCIJ joins the world to emphasise the importance of social justice, we reiterate the words of Wole Soyinka, Africa’s First Nobel Laureate in Literature and WSCIJ’s grand patron, that “Investigative reporting is the vital force for the restoration of human dignity” and urge the news media to work harder to uplift the dignity of the most vulnerable in society through human interest investigative reports.