The Nigerian Media: An Assessment of its Role in Achieving Transparent and Accountable Government in the Fourth Republic

Abstract

This paper seeks to analyse the role that the media has played in the quest for transparent and accountable government in Nigeria since the General Yakubu Gowon era generally and under the Fourth Republic particularly. The period since 1975 in particular coincides with one in which Nigeria earned great amounts from her oil (Turner, 1978) and was noted both domestically and internationally as a corrupt nation. In 1975, the Gowon regime was overthrown by the military in a palace coup precisely because the regime was perceived as corrupt. The subsequent regimes were faced with the same problem of pandemic corruption in government. Public officials took huge bribes and the cost of public goods and services were inflated; government often paid for non-existent goods and services. What role did the media play or not play in the fight against corruption then?