A maritime lawyer, Mrs Jean Anishere, SAN, has urged the media to drive economic growth by promoting accountability, transparency and informed public discourse on politics, ports and public interest.
Anishere made the call in an interview on Thursday in Lagos.
She said economic growth required sound policies, efficient institutions, productive infrastructure, investor confidence and an informed citizenry, adding that the media had a role to play in shaping public discourse beyond reporting events.
According to her, Nigeria’s maritime sector, ports, trade corridors and logistics infrastructure are critical to national development, placing greater responsibility on the media to provide effective scrutiny.
“Ports are critical components of the national economy and instruments of trade policy, significantly influencing the ease and cost of doing business,” she said.
She said decisions on port infrastructure, concessions, regulation, security, tariffs, customs procedures and investment directly affected the business environment and consumer prices.
Anishere, who is President of the Maritime Arbitrators Association of Nigeria, said the media’s role went beyond reporting events in the maritime sector to helping the public understand government policies and scrutinising regulatory decisions.
She said the media’s catalytic role lay in its ability to connect policies with the people affected by them and ensure that public interest remained central.
Anishere noted that government involvement in the maritime sector was inevitable because of public infrastructure, national security, international trade and significant economic interests.
She said modern ports required substantial private investment, technical expertise and efficient commercial management, creating a critical relationship between government and private operators.
The lawyer said port efficiency directly affected the cost of doing business, adding that issues concerning concessions, charges, infrastructure and cargo clearance were also governance issues.
She urged journalists to go beyond announcing policies and ask what problems they were designed to solve, how they would be implemented, who would be affected and what measurable results were expected.
According to her, the media should help Nigerians understand that inefficiencies at the ports ultimately translate into higher costs for consumers and the wider economy.
Anishere stressed that new regulatory structures must translate from policy documents into practical improvements for port users and the economy.
She said public-interest journalism should expose corruption, regulatory failures, conflicts of interest, inefficiencies that increase the cost of trade and failures in infrastructure delivery.
She noted that Nigeria’s maritime sector involved several institutions, including the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the Nigeria Customs Service and other regulators, making accurate reporting and scrutiny essential.
She said the Freedom of Information framework provided an avenue for journalists to obtain information needed for public-interest and accountability reporting.
Anishere advised the media to explain complex maritime concepts, such as concessions, dwell time, demurrage and charges, in ways that ordinary citizens could understand.
She, however, cautioned that the watchdog role should be balanced with accurate and fair reporting, noting that inaccurate or sensational reporting could create uncertainty and undermine investor confidence.
“Nigeria needs a media that not only reports the economy but also helps society to understand, interrogate and improve it for sustainable growth,” she said.
