THe media frenzy that followed the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA)’s purported purchase of two bullet-proof cars for its logistic use and ferrying of foreign missions to Nigeria has shown the inability of the Nigerian media to determine when it is unconsciously lending itself to frivolity or dutifully discharging its function of keeping the public abreast of developments in the society.  The sustained attention on the Ministry of Aviation is an intelligent exploitation of the agenda-setting role of the media by career politicians, self-acclaimed activists and battered concessionaires who have age-long scores to settle with Stella Oduah for her transformational efforts.
Surprisingly, we read more noise than the real issue in the papers; and the media seem to be failing in its responsibility by acting lame as evidenced by its inability to intelligently investigate the matter rather than joining the frenzy. I desire some level of sanity and professionalism in the reportage of this matter to enable the reading public whose addiction to reading newspapers remains the oxygen on which the lives of the various publications hang, to have value for their daily investment, as against the unwitting response to orchestrated campaigns that enlist Oduah’s and the Aviation ministry on front-pages of newspapers daily since the leakage of “the armoured cars purchase documents” to Sahara Reporters by a faceless Nigerian Edward Snowden.
In some of the opinion pieces I have read on this issue, it was suggested that the ongoing unintentional media-framing of Oduah as a corrupt officer had the hands of concessionaires that her revolution at the Aviation industry had swept away and political opponents who have decided to take the opportunity to deal with her because of her effectiveness and closeness to the President
Imagine the following scenarios and contemplate what the integrity of our media will be in months to come. Let us say Ms. Stella appears before the respective panels of enquiries and it turns out that the purchase of 2 armoured BMW cars by Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is a hoax or at best an idea that is yet to be executed.  Also, has anyone in the media thought that the documents hosted on Sahara Reporters could be fake, created to attack and unsettle the Minister or has anyone attempted to obtain a copy of the same document from the responsible agency?
Is it not possible that these documents do not exist in the records of the NCAA and associated agencies in the Ministry of Aviation, and this nonexistence explains why the cars were not sighted or registered with the National Security Agency (NSA) and the State Security Services (SSS)?  Do you know that this position can be validated by the fact that Sahara Reporters did not obtain the documents from any of the agencies under the Ministry of Aviation? Is it Sahara Reporters that will substantiate the originality and existence of the trouble-generating documents? Or has Sahara Reporters told anyone that it has a copy of the order made by NCAA for purchase of the armoured vehicles?  And if it does, do the documents show that the cars are for the personal use of the Aviation Minister or registered in her name?
Has anyone thought that Oduah’s response to this allegation of unsubstantiated corruption could become the most embarrassing moment for the Nigerian media for its non-diligence and lack of professionalism in the reportage of the event? I thought of this because inferences drawn from newspaper reports and the judgmental posture assumed by some of the newspapers have shown the inability of our media to read in-between the lines to sense the dangers in partaking in a mob action.
Okay, let us imagine that there was actually a bid for the purchase of the cars and First Bank won the bid but the cars are yet to be purchased, and a project at ideation stage has unfortunately generated so much controversy. What will the media tell the reading public? Or, say, the vehicles were ordered; do people not know that vehicles financed by financial institutions are more expensive than outright purchase? Considering available information, these vehicles were said to be on lease for 36 months and financed by First Bank, can’t a journalist go to First Bank to find out the terms of the agreement?
It has just occurred to me too that should this hypothesis play out in this manner, the only individual who could help unravel the misery will be the person who leaked the documents to Sahara Reporters in the interest of the country. He/she will have to come out and say what he/she knows about the transaction and tell Nigerians that the document leaked is indeed authentic, otherwise I will not be fooled by the daily headlining of Oduah as a wrongdoer. Rather, the name will continue to resonate in my mind as a champion of the Nigerian Aviation sector transformation and will continue to wait for her building of the Aeropolis that will total change the face of air travel in Nigeria. Our own Edward Snowden needs to show his/her identity.
Dododawa lives in Ondo State.