By Jim Fisher-Thompson
Staff Writer
Washington - In addition to material attractions, educational opportunities and political openness, the United States is a beacon to the world because of its sense of social justice and protection of minorities, says Nigerian exchange student Bako Kantiok.
Since beginning graduate studies in communications at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, in September 2008, Kantiok told America.gov, he has learned that "social justice is very strong and is one of the major gifts we have here in America, the sense that your rights are protected and not just on paper. If anyone threatens you in any way, the authorities will respond and protect you."
As a member of the Bajju people - a minority group in the middle belt of Nigeria - Kantiok said he experienced prejudice and discrimination in the past. "But here in America, as a Nigerian, I feel the same as any other American who is from a European, African or Hispanic background. I am treated fairly and with respect. For me this is special. I don't need to fear being judged because of the ethnic group or religion I belong to."
Kantiok comes from near Plateau state in Nigeria - a melding ground between the predominantly Muslim north and Christian south. Cities in the region, Jos and Kaduna, periodically undergo communal violence fueled by ethnic and religious tension.
A critical factor underlying the turmoil, Kantiok said, is that "there is very little sense of social justice and trust in government - major reasons why people turn on each other and take the law into their own hands."
Before coming to America on a Ford Foundation fellowship, Kantiok attended Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria in northern Nigeria, where he received a bachelor of arts degree in drama and worked part time with Renaissance Theater Network, a nongovernmental organization that does shows for disadvantaged communities. He served for two years in the National Youth Service Corps working in Minna under the Nigerian State Council for Arts and Culture.
Kantiok said the greatest lesson he brought away from his first year at Ohio University is that "communication is essential to social change." His curriculum's focus on pragmatism impressed him the most, he said. "It's not just about theory, but you get to experiment with different broadcast technologies and this allows you a measure of creativity." His first year of studies included an internship working at the United Nations headquarters in New York City.
The Nigerian said he has expanded his knowledge and use of different media like the Internet, radio and television broadcasting, which "broadened the scope of the issues I believed can and should be addressed by people in the communications field.
"The media has a responsibility to further good governance," he said. "This is an issue, especially regarding corruption, that has bedeviled Nigeria for a long time now.
"The press owes the Nigerian public the duty to be the watchdog of society and try as much as possible to expose cases and causes of corruption, because it is the bane of the Nigerian polity and economic system," Kantiok said.
The student said he is doing his part by communicating with Nigerians about the U.S. society and how Americans deal with social problems through the Greetings From America ( http://greetingsfromamerica.org/ ) radio program, sponsored by the U.S. State Department.
The program follows the experiences of students from Nigeria ( http://greetingsfromamerica.org/studentsn.html ), as well as from several other countries, who study in the United States. Kantiok said he has an audio recorder and does interviews that are broadcast weekly on Freedom Radio, a Nigerian station in Kano, Jigawa and Kaduna.
The programs, which began broadcasting in Nigeria in October 2008, are also broadcast on Ray Power Radio, Abuja; Rima Radio Sokoto; Plateau State Radio and Bauchi, according to the Web site. ( http://greetingsfromamerica.org/indexn.html )
Source: U.S. Department of State
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