Victor EzejaThe media industry in Nigeria has passed through series of travails occasioned by different governments in the past who made attempts to control the media. The aim has been to limit freedom of the press and expression generally. There are indications of the resurgence of such vicious antics towards media and the citizens in the country.
Stakeholders have in recent time expressed concern over attempts by governments at various levels to limit freedom of expression, which is one of the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental human rights of Nigerians. Section 39 of the 1999 constitution guarantees freedom of the press and expression, and the Freedom of Information Act passed in 2011 grants the citizens access to information and dissemination.
A recent report on the State of Media Freedom in Nigeria released by Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) in collaboration with the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) and Hewlett Foundation gave a detailed account of atrocities, torture, murder and other rights abuses of journalists practising in Nigeria. The report, which focused primarily on the last six years of President Muhammadu Buhari administration, noted no fewer than eight journalists killed on duty and 300 violations and harassment affecting about 500 journalists, media workers, and media houses in the country.
The report accused the Buhari administration, governors, National Assembly members, politicians, security operatives, and many others to be the most violators of press freedom in Nigeria.
Also, in a report on the assessment of Press Freedom across the world by Reporters Without Borders (RSW) titled Climate of Violence, Nigeria ranked 120th position in the 2021 World Press Freedom Index. The report noted Nigeria had dropped five points in ranking from its 115 rank in 2020.
The World Press Freedom Index is an annual assessment of the level of press freedom in different parts of the world by Reporters Without Borders. The ranking index assesses the level of freedom available to journalists discharging their duties in every country.
RWB stated that “Nigeria is now one of West Africa’s most dangerous and difficult countries for journalists, who are often spied on, attacked, arbitrarily arrested or even killed.” The report also pointed out the 2015 cybercrime law limits online freedom. “Online freedom is restricted by a 2015 cyber-crime law that is widely used to arrest and prosecute journalists and bloggers in an arbitrary manner.”
The above rating is not a cheering commendation for any country that shows keen and honest commitment to encourage the freedom of the press and consolidate its democracy. A free press is a free society governed by the rule of law and where democracy thrives.
In a recent chat with Prime Business Africa, the former Chief of Staff and Commissioner in the Ministries of Information and Culture, Economic planning and budget, Anambra State, Professor Chinyere Stella Okunna, said there are growing efforts by government at different levels in Nigeria to cage the various mass media platforms and deny the citizens their constitutional right to freedom of expression in a bid by the leaders to actualize their selfish political ends.
The cerebral scholar and first female Professor of Mass communication in Sub-Saharan Africa, Okunna said the government was “trying to gag the press” by introducing legislation at both national and state assemblies, all intending to limit the freedom of the press in the country.
She highlighted some of those activities to include: anti-hate speech bill, Twitter ban by the government, social media regulatory law or policy and introduction of other obnoxious press laws, noting that “press is the oxygen of democracy” and warned that “If the press loses its freedom, its courage to speak out, loses its watchdog position, democracy is dead.”
Professor Okunna went down memory lane to point out how members of the press had fought vigorously to entrench and retain press freedom in the country and remarked that when there is no press freedom, there is no democracy.
She advised that the press maintain their watchdog role, which according to her, means that journalists should ideally maintain a middle ground, supporting and encouraging the government when it is doing well and “barking” or criticizing the government when it is doing wrong.
“We must maintain our position in the middle, supporting government when it is doing well, through development journalism, barking when the government is doing something wrong, not governing well, and altogether serving as oxygen of democracy. If we lose that position, we have lost everything,” Professor Okunna said.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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