Opening

Dear distinguished guests; panelists, moderator, partners, WSCIJ board members, journalists, students, members of the diplomatic corps, ladies and gentlemen, good morning.

It is my pleasure to welcome you to the 12th annual Wole Soyinka Centre Media Lecture Series. Today’s subject—Data, media and development—appears easy at a first glance. It is a complicated issue in reality. Before I delve into my note, I would like to honour two people who have been part of the Centre’s work, who died this year with a mention.

The first person is Professor Harry Garuba, poet and literary scholar, who died on February 28. Professor Harry Garuba was the lead speaker at the maiden edition of this lecture in 2008. The second person is broadcaster and toastmaster, Richmond Dayo Johnson; popularly know as RDJ, who died on July 6. RDJ made it a culture to attend this lecture regularly after he served as a compere for the our annual award programme in 2011… Thank you.

Only what we count will count as Nigeria turns 60

On October 1 2020, Nigeria will be 60. This number 60 tells us many things. One is that we have been around for a while. As we mark the milestone, Nigeria will be benchmarked with other countries that are 60, have been 60 and those that will be 60. When I disaggregate the number 60 into 10 years of intermittent democracy, 29 years of dictatorship and 21 years of continuous democracy and layer this with the data of about 190million people most of whom are young, poor and live in rural areas, a Gross Domestic Product of 448.10 billion US dollars as at 2019, over 500 languages, three-years of civil war, and other multi-level data, one will be better equipped to account for being 60 because data can help explain the past, the present and the future.

Whatever is counted and documented can be accessed and assessed. It will be difficult for us to account for the things we failed to count accurately, including the number of barrels of oil Nigeria produces a day or the money that has accrued from oil sales since 1956. Policymaking, effective resource allocation and development can only happen for people when we know the numbers of the people, the resources and their needs and use this knowledge as a tool for social justice.

The Centre carefully chose the theme and panelists today to highlight the connection between data, media and development and spotlight the issues so that all stakeholders, can see where their responsibilities lay and work towards the change we deserve. My colleagues and I will be attentive as we hope to use lessons from this engagement to launch a comprehensive data programme for journalists and the media.

Raising debates on critical issues affecting Nigeria has been the focus of this annual lecture since its first edition. From 2009, we have held the lecture on 13th July to celebrate the birthday of Africa’s first Nobel Laureate in Literature and the Grand Patron of the WSCIJ, Wole Soyinka, who is 86 today. Happy birthday to our dear Kongi! You inspire us greatly.

When Covid-19 hit Nigeria in the first quarter of this year, WSCIJ worked to adapt to the new normal. The result of our planning was the covid19 reality check project, which has produced over 60 reports about the realities of Nigerians vis-à-vis the promises of government. The most important action we have taken however, is to ensure we put safety first. We moved work online and repurposed all in-person meetings and trainings including this lecture to follow safety protocols of health experts and the government. Today, you all are a part of history as we host the 2020 lecture virtually for the first time.

Talking about data and covid19, the number of cases in the world as I speak is well over 13 million. Nigerians, this is serious! I encourage the media and other leaders in the society to continue to create awareness and show responsible example by wearing masks, washing hands and not hosting or attending events where it will be difficult to keep social-distancing rules.

Our dear moderator will close this event when it ends in two hours. I am therefore saying thank in advance to you all for attending. Thank you to our panelists for their time and what I know will be a useful discussion. I thank the MacArthur Foundation for their partnership. The humane support of the Foundation is a major reason we have adapted more easily, taken care of our members of staff and kept this important work going as an organisation.

Despite the short time we will have together today, I hope the discussion will be the beginning of many more conversations and contribute to setting Nigeria up for higher standards, substantiated by the evidence of attained Sustainable Development Goals. As Nigeria turns 60, let us all remember that only what we count, will count.

 Wecome and thank you.

Motunrayo Alaka
Executive Director/CEO
Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism

*Motunrayo Alaka was unable to join the virtual lecture in real time due to technical hitches