Thesearchlight.com

By Matthews Otalike, The Searchlight Investigative Correspondent / October 15, 2026

Nigeria once possessed a fearless tradition of investigative journalism that held power to account even under military dictatorship. In print, Dele Giwa and his colleagues at Newswatch, Ray Ekpu, Yakubu Mohammed and Dan Agbese, raised the bar with rigorous, document-driven reporting that challenged the powerful and informed the public. The assassination of Dele Giwa by parcel bomb on 19 October 1986 remains unsolved four decades later, yet the magazine he co-founded is still remembered for breathing new life into investigative work in the country. In broadcasting, practitioners such as yours sincerely at the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and some colleagues, exemplified the craft of probing television journalism, combining reporting, production and presentation over decades of public-service work.

That tempo has dropped sharply. Today, politicians routinely traffic in falsehoods, half-truths and recycled propaganda, often with little sustained challenge. Many journalists and media houses have chosen the path of least resistance: collaboration, soft coverage, sponsored content and self-censorship. The result is a public sphere in which accountability is optional and power operates with reduced fear of exposure.

The Cost of Retreat

Investigative journalism is not a luxury. It is the mechanism that turns democratic formalities into lived accountability. When it weakens, several consequences follow.

First, falsehood travels farther and faster. Without rigorous verification and follow-up, official narratives dominate the airwaves and digital space. Citizens are left to sift propaganda from fact with inadequate tools.

Second, corruption and abuse of power face fewer consequences. Complex schemes involving public funds, procurement, security contracts or regulatory capture require time, resources, legal protection and editorial courage. When newsrooms prioritize speed, traffic and access over depth, these schemes flourish.

Third, public trust erodes. Audiences notice when critical stories are diluted, delayed or abandoned. They notice when journalists appear more concerned with maintaining relationships with office-holders than with serving the public interest. Trust, once lost, is difficult to rebuild.

Multiple structural factors explain the decline: chronic underfunding and collapsing advertising revenues; media ownership by political and business interests that constrain editorial independence; physical threats, legal harassment and the risk of job loss; poor remuneration that makes journalists vulnerable to inducements; and weak implementation of the Freedom of Information Act. Talent has also drained from newsrooms as experienced reporters leave for better-paying opportunities. Yet structural pressures do not fully absolve the profession. A significant portion of the problem is cultural: the choice by some practitioners and managers to prioritize access and survival over the watchdog role.

Recommendations for Practicing Journalists

1. Reclaim professional identity. Treat investigative work as core practice rather than occasional prestige projects. Resist the pressure to become public-relations extensions of politicians or corporate interests. Maintain clear boundaries between reporting and advocacy or paid content.
2. Build collaborative networks. Complex investigations often exceed the capacity of a single newsroom. Journalists should form or join secure cross-media collaborations, share verification methods, and support one another when threats arise. Independent centres and digital platforms have shown that focused investigative work remains possible even when traditional outlets retreat.
3. Prioritize skills and safety. Continuously upgrade data journalism, open-source intelligence, financial-document analysis and digital-security skills. Demand basic safety protocols from employers, risk assessments, secure communications, legal support and trauma resources. Refuse assignments that place journalists at unnecessary risk without institutional backing.
4. Insist on editorial standards. Challenge internal decisions that kill stories for political convenience. Document interference. Where possible, publish methodology and source documentation to raise the credibility threshold and make it harder for powerful actors to dismiss findings as mere opinion.
5. Diversify revenue consciousness. Support and experiment with models, membership, philanthropy, grants, specialized newsletters, that reduce dependence on advertising or government patronage that compromises independence.

Recommendations for Journalism Training Institutions

1. Centre investigative methods in the curriculum. Move beyond basic reporting modules. Teach advanced techniques: public-records research, data analysis, forensic accounting basics, source protection, ethical dilemmas in undercover work, and the legal environment (defamation, cybercrime laws, FOI procedures). Case studies should include both Nigerian successes and the failures that led to self-censorship or compromised reporting.
2. Integrate safety, ethics and resilience. Train students in physical, digital and psychological safety. Address the real pressures of brown-envelope culture, ownership interference and political intimidation. Ethics courses must confront collaboration with power as a professional failure, not a pragmatic necessity.
3. Create practical pipelines. Establish investigative desks or laboratories within institutions where students work on real stories under supervision, with pathways to publication in partner newsrooms. Partner with existing investigative centres for internships and mentorship.
4. Update faculty and resources. Ensure instructors have recent newsroom or investigative experience. Invest in tools for data work and secure digital practice. Invite practicing and experienced investigators, including veterans who still uphold high standards, as regular contributors rather than ceremonial guests.
5. Foster institutional independence. Training institutions should model the independence they teach. Avoid over-dependence on political patronage for funding or accreditation. Publicly defend press freedom and the safety of journalists as part of their educational mission.

The Stakes

Nigeria’s democracy cannot function on managed narratives and transactional journalism. The tradition represented by Dele Giwa and serious broadcast practitioners, demonstrated that rigorous, independent inquiry is possible even under far more repressive conditions than those of today. The current decline is therefore not inevitable; it is the cumulative result of economic pressure, institutional weakness and professional choices.

Recommitting to investigative journalism will not be comfortable. It will cost money, strain relationships with power, and expose journalists to risk. The alternative is worse: a public sphere in which politicians ride roughshod on falsehood, citizens remain poorly informed, and the profession steadily loses the authority it once claimed. The media’s choice is clear; recover the watchdog role or accept permanent irrelevance as a conveyor of official talking points. The public interest demands the former.