excited and interested in the profession. I want journalism to be what I accepted it to be in other parts of the world. Basically, I think journalism here has got a real troubling heart. You are very colourful and exciting people. But I sense the passion which I regard journalism with, in many of you and as long as that is there, journalism will flourish.

Sometimes, in many parts of the world including the UK and the United States, journalists are thrown into the prison because of their beliefs and if you don’t want anyone to be thrown into the prison, then you will be doing it wrong. But I can see here that you want to get things right and perform your role as watchdogs of the society.

Worst experience in the profession

The worst experience I ever had in the profession was when I was going out on patrol with British Army in Belfast in the heart of the trouble when people were being shot and bombed regularly. We went out in the midnight on patrol and a soldier was shot in this particular regiment and here I was in the line in the midnight around terrorist area. My mind kept on saying am I going to be shot? We have no idea of what was going to happen but when we finished the patrol and I discovered that I was still alive, I was excited. I think working in such circumstances is very difficult.

Also in Kosovo where I received report on journalists. I was appalled by the international organisations’ stand on how they treat journalists. They said all journalists must wear free dress and they were treating them as if they were slaves. I fought that and you know it is not easy to fight an establishment. I made some headway. We had a good ending. I was not a rebel but I was made a rebel by the establishment. I think when I get to Kosovo now, the media, the journalists would ask me to go out for a drink and listen to what I have to say and that is a good thing. The bad thing is why do international organisations who say they are working towards the freedom of the press try to take away the freedom they profess. I never understand this.

Happiest moment

I don’t know what my happiest moment was. I think it is a question of mental satisfaction. You get a job you are doing and that makes you happy because you have a target to make a change.

Coverage of Politics in Nigeria

I think you get constraints which are recognised in other parts of the world. I have worked in Romania and up to two or three years ago, Romanian government were sending journalists to jail for saying or writing such naughty things about them. It is not pleasant to go to jail and I have never advocated journalists going to jail because what do you do when you go to jail? That means you will not be in the system trying to help make a change. I have to talk to most of you because I understand you have much task in asking difficult questions from politicians and leaders.

I am very cynical about politicians anywhere and I don’t care where they come from. That is the lifetime of journalism and I have been in this business for 40 years. I understand you take it one step at a time. I like you guys for that kind of step. It is not that we are anti-government or anti-establishment. What we do feel as journalists is that we must ask questions to make sure the civil society is served the way it should be and particularly, when it comes to money because it is our money. It is our tax money that government is spending. They are not spending their money but our money and journalists must keep an eye on this to make sure they are spending it openly and honestly.

I didn’t know very much about Nigerian journalists but I have been to Calabar where I talked to journalists. I will be in Abuja after this Damaturu training course. What I see here is that you are all excited and interested in the profession. I want journalism to be what I accepted it to be in other parts of the world. Basically, I think journalism here has got a real troubling heart. You are very colourful and exciting people. But I sense the passion which I regard journalism with, in many of you and as long as that is there, journalism will flourish.

Sometimes, in many parts of the world including the UK and the United States, journalists are thrown into the prison because of their beliefs and if you don’t want anyone to be thrown into the prison, then you will be doing it wrong. But I can see here that you want to get things right and perform your role as watchdogs of the society.

Worst experience in the profession

The worst experience I ever had in the profession was when I was going out on patrol with British Army in Belfast in the heart of the trouble when people were being shot and bombed regularly. We went out in the midnight on patrol and a soldier was shot in this particular regiment and here I was in the line in the midnight around terrorist area. My mind kept on saying am I going to be shot? We have no idea of what was going to happen but when we finished the patrol and I discovered that I was still alive, I was excited. I think working in such circumstances is very difficult.

Also in Kosovo where I received report on journalists. I was appalled by the international organisations’ stand on how they treat journalists. They said all journalists must wear free dress and they were treating them as if they were slaves. I fought that and you know it is not easy to fight an establishment. I made some headway. We had a good ending. I was not a rebel but I was made a rebel by the establishment. I think when I get to Kosovo now, the media, the journalists would ask me to go out for a drink and listen to what I have to say and that is a good thing. The bad thing is why do international organisations who say they are working towards the freedom of the press try to take away the freedom they profess. I never understand this.

Happiest moment

I don’t know what my happiest moment was. I think it is a question of mental satisfaction. You get a job you are doing and that makes you happy because you have a target to make a change.

Coverage of Politics in Nigeria

I think you get constraints which are recognised in other parts of the world. I have worked in Romania and up to two or three years ago, Romanian government were sending journalists to jail for saying or writing such naughty things about them. It is not pleasant to go to jail and I have never advocated journalists going to jail because what do you do when you go to jail? That means you will not be in the system trying to help make a change. I have to talk to most of you because I understand you have much task in asking difficult questions from politicians and leaders.

I am very cynical about politicians anywhere and I don’t care where they come from. That is the lifetime of journalism and I have been in this business for 40 years. I understand you take it one step at a time. I like you guys for that kind of step. It is not that we are anti-government or anti-establishment. What we do feel as journalists is that we must ask questions to make sure the civil society is served the way it should be and particularly, when it comes to money because it is our money. It is our tax money that government is spending. They are not spending their money but our money and journalists must keep an eye on this to make sure they are spending it openly and honestly.

“I am very cynical about politicians anywhere and I don’t care where they come from. That is the lifetime of journalism and I have been in this business for 40 years. It is not that we are anti-government or anti-establishment. What we do feel as journalists is that we must ask questions to make sure the civil society is served the way it should be and particularly, when it comes to money because it is our money. It is our tax money that government is spending. They are not spending their money but our money and journalists must keep an eye on this to make sure they are spending it openly and honestly.”

On politicians establishing media houses in Nigeria

I think it is going to be a temporary thing. Nigeria is slowly and painfully coming into the ruler world. The ruler world is one of the most proper democracy, proper open market, proper international development, globalisation, internationalisation. This means that the communication will no longer be limited to a country. For example, I may say I want to start a television station, I like to broadcast locally. The fact is I would have to worry about things that will be coming on satellite, on internet. The whole field of international gathering of communication is changing and politicians cannot stop that.

The fact that they are buying or starting private television stations, radio and newspapers is good luck to you. But you should understand that slowly you are going to competitive market and if you lose your money don’t blame anybody but yourself because this is going to be a tough industry to be. Slowly, media is creeping around the world. People will come in, they will invest, they will start to buy or start media houses. Actually, government can say we are not going to allow that. The United Kingdom and the USA have tried it and they couldn’t keep outside investors from it. I doubt if Nigerian politicians would also allow that.

Message for upcoming journalists

It is a good thing to be a journalist. It is very easy to give way to all sort of things. I must stress that I am not advocating that you go and do silly thing or become a revolutionist. All I am saying is that journalists have a duty and responsibility toward the civil society, and toward the people.

As journalists, you have to take that responsibility on board otherwise why are you in this profession. So, if you take that responsibility on board, you should follow the basic principles by which journalists must live. You must not be afraid to ask the basic questions. You must try to determine what is going on, particularly regarding public demands and you must report them accurately, fairly and sensibly. I always tell journalists that we are simply story teller. We take information, we ensure it is accurate. We take a medium whether radio, television, newspaper and now the internet and we pass it to an audience. So, what we do is to tell a story. If we pass our story properly and well, the people will listen to us and understand what the story is all about. That means we are doing our job.