API Urges Journalists to Promote Social Cohesion Through Responsible Reporting

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The Africa Polling Institute (API) has urged journalists to take a leading role in fostering social cohesion through responsible reporting.

The Institute made the appeal during a two‑day workshop for policy executives and media professionals in Abuja, themed “Equipping Media Practitioners as Champions of Social Cohesion Towards the Promotion of Responsible Journalism.”

It highlighted that the media remains essential in shaping public narratives that can strengthen national unity, trust, and peaceful coexistence.

The programme, backed by the Ford Foundation, trained participants in social cohesion reporting, data‑driven journalism, and responsible media storytelling using findings from the Nigeria Social Cohesion Survey (NSCS).

Prof. Bell Ihua, Executive Director of API, said that social cohesion depends on trust in government and public institutions, social justice, and active civic participation.

He added that the concept of social cohesion assumes that citizens agree to work together, cooperate to survive, and prosper.

“So there are two major components. The one is the survival component. The second is the prosperity component. And for that survival and prosperity to happen, certain things have to be met. One is a uniform national identity. Who talks about a shared vision, developmental goals and all of that. The second is trust. Trust towards the government, trust towards government institutions, and trust towards other institutions of the country.”

“So we’re talking about institutions such as the religious leaders, traditional leaders, the police, the army, both public sector and civil society.”

“Then we’ll talk about social justice. How can we ensure that public goods go to every citizen in spite of religion, in spite of ethnicity, in spite of regionalism, in spite of where they come from? How can we ensure that every citizen has access to the benefits of government? Then we’ll talk about civic participation. How can we ensure that every citizen goes out there to participate in their civic duties?” Ihua said.

He called on governments at all levels to formulate policies that foster unity and inclusion.

According to him, the institute has consistently generated nationwide data on social cohesion since 2019 and will unveil the latest edition of the Nigeria Social Cohesion Survey on June 25, 2026.

“As academics, as researchers, we played our part. Our part is going to provide the data. We’ve been doing this since 2019. This is our fifth edition. We’ve been running this nationwide. We visit every state, we visit every senatorial district to gather this data.”

“The question therefore is, who are the burden bearers? We consider media practitioners, journalists, pressmen and women, the burden bearers, because they are the ones that shape the narratives.”

Development expert Odoh Okenyodo also called for improved welfare for journalists, saying financial security would enable them to produce more patriotic and socially responsible reports.

“The real corollary of this teaching is that we must take care of the welfare of journalists. It is not just training them, but there are human beings that are incurring costs, transportation, school fees for children, accommodation, and they are 24 hours a day seven days a week on call.”

He argued that better remuneration and insurance would reduce journalists’ vulnerability to financial inducements.

“If journalists are properly taken care of then they can write the socially cohesive stories, more patriotic stories without being afraid of their livelihoods.”

Dr. Olusoji Adeniyi urged journalists to avoid stereotypes and ethnic profiling in their reports, saying such practices undermine national unity.

He warned against assigning criminal activities to particular ethnic groups.

“We need to avoid situations where we assume that certain groups of people are responsible for certain ills in the society. We have situations where we’ll talk about Fulani herdsmen. We will talk easily about people who are called the unknown gunmen. We have created all kinds of titles and labels, which are sometimes unverified.”

“Criminals are criminals. We should criminalize the act, but humanise the process and ensure that we look at our stories from the human angle and make very clear objectives for our stations and for our programmes that focus on the unity of the nation,” Adeniyi added.