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I admit, I am jealous.

On Friday, I got
the call from a friend who has links with CNN. She asked if I would be
interested in having exclusive access to transcripts of an interview
our president, Goodluck Jonathan, was scheduled to have with the
station later that day.

You can’t be
serious, was my response to her. My disbelief was not so much that I
didn’t believe and trust that my friend knew what she was talking about
and would send the transcripts once the interview had been conducted,
(after all it was she who gave NEXT exclusive access to transcripts of
the Amanpour interview with Mr. Jonathan) it was more like he is
talking to CNN, AGAIN, just five months after doing the Amanpour
interview but also at a time when his handlers are busy dribbling
Nigerian journalists and refusing to give us access to him for one on
one interviews? What on earth could he be thinking, I pondered?

Does he realise how this will look?

In the end, my
friend called me late in the day to say in far away New York, Mr.
Jonathan had ducked out of the interview. So there is at least someone
on his team who is thinking, I said.

Can you imagine if
he had appeared live on CNN so soon after that first interview? I would
not have been pleased and neither I suspect would a few of my other
colleagues who have spent months trying to persuade the president to
grant us interviews. I am not talking about an interview granted to a
few handpicked people on a state controlled station like that which was
aired on NTA recently, but a one on one interaction with individual
journalists where hopefully a candid conversation can take place.

But Mr. Jonathan
is not the first and probably won’t be the last Nigerian leader to shun
the local press. Most would rather speak to the CNN’s and BBC’s of this
world than speak to us.

Why this is, I
really don’t know especially as the local media not only serves their
primary constituency but is also a part of that constituency. That is
not to say I don’t understand why there is a need for them to tap into
the reach and spread of the international press. I do. What I find
difficult to fathom is why there is no balance and why we are not given
the same access as the foreign press but treated as second class
journalists by our leaders?

Many foreign
journalists come to Nigeria and make their name from reporting out of
this country. In addition to having superior resources, like equipment,
qualitative training and adequate funds, they also enjoy an easy access
to the corridors of power that Nigerian journalists can only dream
about.

Already
disadvantaged by our limited resources, this final indignity of been
discriminated against by our leaders makes it that much harder for us
to compete with our foreign colleagues.

During my time
with the BBC, all I had to do was place a call and Nigerian government
and public officials would be tripping over themselves to accommodate
my request for an interview. On occasions when they were not available,
leaving a message meant seven times out 10, they would return the call.

Now that I am at
NEXT, how things have changed. The majority refuses to answer phone
calls and will not even acknowledge messages sent. This is a scenario
that breeds confusion and misinformation as typified by the dodgy
Yar’Adua interview on BBC.

While it is true
that the media in this country is not perfect and some might even argue
that the problems we face are of our own making, it is also correct
that the work we do under very difficult conditions is important and
can help in nation building.

If our leaders are
truly interested in that, they should make our jobs easier by giving us
access to information. Interviews with key people, like the president,
particularly as we approach elections would be a good start.

An even better one would be the passage of the Freedom of Information bill.