Nigerian muslims, Islamic media and loss of identity

If the Muslims refuse the importance of Islamic media as Dawah tools, if the Muslims refuse to invest in the Islamic media, if the Muslims turn down the participation in Islamic media programs and refuse to make projections for the next generation?, how do we move forward from a complaining Ummah to a media active Ummah.

The need to invest in the existing Islamic media and make them stand tall with their peers, falls on the entire apex body, Islamic organizations, religious leaders and scholars, Muslim philanthropies, Muslim families and individuals to act but fast, before it’s too late.
In my article of June 10, 2016, I wrote in my preambles to the story that “To be more specific, larger percentage of entire Muslims in Nigeria, including leaders of Islamic Organizations, respected Islamic Scholars and enlightened individual Muslims are still far behind in understanding the important role Islamic Media Dawah Industry (IMDI) is all about”.
It has become pertinent for me to speak on the Nigerian Muslims Identity as it relates to media, which you will all agree with me that we are nowhere to be found.

The problem of no media representation for the Muslims that is, no standard media houses for the Muslims that can be figured out clearly as the Islamic stand on matters relating to our religion, social affairs and the well-being of Nigerian Muslims in a country where everything is designed by Allah to in our favour, is always misrepresented.  To the extent that most of the media practitioners in Nigeria, both print and electronics are almost one way or the other at  logger heads  with the Muslims based on their biased  and unconfirmed stories that they might have written in the past against the Muslim ideology.
It is quite astonishing, when the Muslims lament for not being well represented in media affairs in Nigeria and most importantly, in the area of blasphemy and the pointless allegations of terrorism. Moreover, you may see some Muslims raining abuses on the few active Muslim media practitioners in Nigeria, querying their ineffectiveness in defending the positions of Islam from Islamophobia tendency and the open enemy stands by some media houses.

Most of the time, I ignore such denunciations and move ahead. Sometimes, I would decline to make annotations, even if such requests were directed to me in public functions.
My reasons are not farfetched, but before I lay my arguments, I would like to quote the expression I overheard from a senior colleague, who works in a National TV station. While he was at the university studying mass communication, his lecturer usually says:
The Muslims are the richest in Nigeria but they are repudiated to invest on building any media institution of their own in other to defend their ideologies. And also, refuse to project for the participation of the next generation on media.

But they are expecting the Media houses built and owned by the Christians and the personnel trained by the Christians to report and promote issues relating to Islam on their own media houses?
I am sure you will all agree with the above statement that, it’s not conceivable. And at the same time, you can’t blame any misrepresentations on any Muslim media practitioners who also work in media outfits that do not believe in Islamic ideology to defend Islam, even when you have to pay for the services. In such cases, when it’s domineering to report any issues on Islam, the only available option is to make some investigation from any Muslims and regards such opinion as Islamic position.

The consequences would now be left for the Muslims to chew.
If we go down history lane, you will discover that when the local TV stations where in vogue, based in every state, the Muslims were nowhere to be found.  Except for the intervention of  the likes of Chief MKO Abiola, Alhaji Arisekola Alao, Alhaji Wahab Iyanda Folawiyo, Alhaji Musa Yar’Adua and others, who spend their fortunes on the ownership of Media houses and sponsorship of some programs, majority  of these people are late now, may Allah forgive them. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been any channel to showcase the worth of what the Muslims in Nigeria are contributing to the unity and development of this country.
More so, during the era of cable networks, it became worse because most of the sponsors of Islamic affairs on media in Nigeria are almost dead and few are only feel active on sponsorship of Islamic programs which is largely based on their organizational interest and the likes.

While other religious bodies are waxing higher in organizational and National ownership of major media houses both prints and electronics in Nigeria. Devoting time to train in hundreds media practitioners to fill up their media houses. The monthly budget of one of the Pentecostal churches in Nigeria could pay off the entire budget of the Islamic organizations yearly.
With my twelve years’ experience in both print and electronic media in Nigeria under Islamic Media Dawah (IMDI), it would be appropriate to explain why many Islamic organizations or individual Media practitioners couldn’t dare venture into owning a media outfit on cable network, despite the availability  of them now. To start with, you may have to pay a yearly fee in millions to any of the cable networks you may wish to station. Mostly, the Muslim would prefer the known cable networks like DSTV, Star Time, GoTv and ConSat to mention but few.  And you will need millions to run the cost of your productions and logistics yearly. And the worst of it all, is that the only way to make up for all these money plus your profit to keep you in the business is through adverts and sponsorship of your programs.

The question is who are the targeted sponsors that can spend their money in millions for adverts and sponsorship? They are, alcohol industries, fashion houses, gambling industries, entertainment industries, and to cap them all, the politicians.  And you will discovered at the end that these are no go areas for the Muslims. How feasible would Muslim media cope with cable network in Nigeria, expect donations and for how long? These facts are among the reasons responsible for non-inclusions of Muslims own media houses on cable network. But if we look at it from another point, we may wish to ask, how is media profitable to the other religions, and why are they devoting millions of Naira in it yearly?
One may also wish to proffer some answers to that effect, Muslims are yet to see media as the main tools of Islamic Dawah in Nigeria. That may be one of the reason responsible for not having a national Media House that may stand the light of the day. Others that are in operation now are basically sectional or organizationally oriented and those with the intentions of national reach are grounded with lack of funds for standard equipment, manpower, logistics and above all acceptability.
Acceptability in the sense that, caution is required in the choices of the programs which is being dictated by the tenets of Islam.  Most of the established Islamic channels in Nigeria presently, can only operate on one lecture program to another, one discussion program to another, this greatly reduces the choices of patronage. And patronage also determines power of the negotiation for sponsorships and adverts. The Muslims are also always giving excuses to participate on TV programs, interviews and creative Islamic episode, for the reason I am yet to figure out.

All these must also change before investors could participate in investing on Islamic Media industry in Nigeria. Nevertheless, this looks possible and do able, no that is not my point, it actually do able and achievable with more Islamic channels only when we could devote our resources.
In other words, Muslims are preserving using social media as an alternative to spread their information globally, since this medium is cheap compared to the conventional media procedure. This is also at the midst of condemnation by some scholars who believe that there may not be any bases for taking pictures and using such picture as profile pictures. While other kick against excessiveness of picture taking and the show up of such pictures, as against the Islamic injunction of Tasweer. Otherwise, this is a good development, but the erroneous aspect of it is that no government official would take seriously issues raised through social media.

This is because of obvious reasons. But some leaders believe using social media could satisfy the patronage of media.
Other factors could be the nonchalant attitude to down play the power of media influence on information dissemination, some freedom on the control over the Islamic content of news materials, editorial independence, official censorship and self-censorship, the ability of the Islamic media to operate freely and without harassment,  threat of being seen as a sectional or fronting for a sect, and the intimidation of journalists by the organizers of Islamic programs with the threat to prefer the conventional media than Islamic oriented, both in programs and choice of station patronage.
Technology has made the Islamic media the most important immediate influence on opinions and understanding in the industrialized world and has significantly heightened Islamic media impact in the developing countries as well.

Islamic media has a powerful capacity to encourage global awareness of Islam thereby promoting cross-cultural understanding, tolerance and acceptance of ethnic, cultural, religious and gender differences in communities across the globe. Unfortunately, the media’s potential to be a force for good can easily backfire. By disseminating messages that create and reinforce negative stereotypes and perpetuate misconceptions, the media frustrates dialogue and works against mutual understanding.  For this reason, is important for the Muslims in Nigeria to invest on Media and train personnel to develop the Islamic Media Industry in Nigeria.
I rest my case.