A former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, has called on media practitioners to stand firm in holding political officeholders to account for their services to the nation.

Ms Ezekwesili made the call at a media roundtable in Abuja on Sunday with the theme: “The Accountability Imperative: Holding Politicians’ Feet to the Fire”.

She said until media practitioners rose to their responsibilities, politicians might never deliver good governance to Nigerians.

“It is established empirically that the media is central to the development of any society. The 1999 Constitution empowers the media to hold public office holders accountable.

“No group is feared like media practitioners. Therefore, media organisations must live up to expectations,” Ms Ezekwesili said.

She said the time had come for Nigerian media practitioners to rise above sentiments and hold politicians accountable for discharging the role of the media as the fourth estate of the realm.

The former minister, who also served as vice-president of the Africa Region of the World Bank Africa, expressed her concern that media practitioners in Nigeria were no longer holding politicians accountable like in the past.

According to her, some politicians have made themselves demigods and have remained non-challant to the plight of the masses.

“When we talk about accountability, what upsets people the most is that you dared to speak up objectively and publicly about matters that concern the people.

“All over the world, what is known of the government is that it exists to deliver improvements in the quality of life and to ensure the security of lives and property,” she said.

Ms Ezekwesili said each time media practitioners could not carry out their obligations, politicians would have the impetus to continue to impoverish the masses.

She said it was time for media professionals to fashion out factors responsible for the inability of the media to carry out its constitutional responsibilities effectively.

According to her, until the media can look inward to fashion out lasting solutions to problems mitigating its responsibilities to the citizenry, it will not be able to hold politicians to account.

Also, Haroun Adamu, a former managing director of the Triumph Publishing Company, said the history of Nigeria would not be complete without recourse to the media.

He said many journalists in Nigeria had lost their lives while holding politicians to account.

Mr Adamu noted that most of the journalists who lost their lives in the course of their duties never had life insurance.

(NAN)