Arewa Media Summit:Big Promises, Little Substance
By Tijjani Sarki
I was genuinely amazed that the inaugural Arewa Media Summit ended without a communiqué. For an event presented as a defining conversation on media, governance and accountability in Northern Nigeria, the silence was difficult to understand. It was only after analysts and observers questioned the omission that a comprehensive communiqué eventually emerged.
I have read the document carefully. It was professionally written, politically appealing and rich in democratic vocabulary. Unfortunately, it is also painfully short on substance.
Beyond the impressive language, there is no implementation framework, no timelines, no measurable targets and no independent mechanism to ensure that its resolutions become reality. That is not how transformational policy conversations are measured. It is how public relations documents are often written.
Even more disappointing is what the communiqué failed to confront. The media space in Arewa is under siege, not only from misinformation but from increasing political manipulation.
Today, media platforms are too often deployed to inflame unnecessary controversies, deepen divisions, promote personality cults, settle political scores and manufacture enemies instead of advancing public enlightenment and good governance. This dangerous trend deserved to be the centrepiece of the summit, yet it received only passing attention.
If the gathering truly sought to reshape the future of media in Northern Nigeria, it should have produced practical strategies to strengthen investigative journalism, protect editorial independence, support indigenous media institutions and insulate the media from political capture.
Arewa does not need another annual media jamboree with polished speeches and elegant communiqués. It needs a platform that speaks truth to power, promotes professional journalism, unites rather than divides our people, and produces measurable reforms.
Until then, many will continue to question whether this summit advanced the public interest or merely refined the language of political communication.
Tijjani Sarki is a Good Governance Advocate and Public Policy Analyst