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Press Freedom in post-military Nigeria

By ALPHONSUS OKOROIGWE

Legac^y Computer Institute, Kaduna – Nigeria

 
 

 

The Nigerian media is regarded as one of the most vibrant in Africa. This is simply because state-run radio and television services reach virtually all parts of the country, operating at federal and regional levels. More so, all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, run their own radio stations, with most operating television services.

In 2005, the nation’s media regulator, Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC), reported that more than 280 radio and television licences had been granted to private operators. Prominent among indigenous television stations are the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), a state-run outfit operating at federal and regional levels; Africa Independent Television (AIT), a fast-growing private commercial firm; Degue Broadcasting Network (DBN), also a private, commercial medium; and Minaj TV, which is another independent medium serving eastern Nigeria. Others include Galaxy TV, a commercial network operating in western Nigeria; and Channels TV, another independent broadcast medium in Lagos.

Major Nigerian radio stations are the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), a government-owned company operating across the country; Voice of Nigeria (VON), a state-run external broadcast service; Ray Power FM, another private commercial service; and the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), which is also government-owned.

In Nigeria, radio is the chief source of information, as television viewing tends to concentrate more in urban areas, especially among the middle-class and the affluent.

 

Today, there are over 100 national and local newspapers and publications in Nigeria. Some of them are government-owned, while there are also other well-respected dailies and popular tabloids. Among state-run publications are New Nigerian, Daily Times, The Ambassador, The Statesman, Nigerian Herald, Legacy, Triumph, and The Standard, while private ones include This Day, The Sun, The Guardian, The Punch, Daily Independent, Daily Trust, The Nation (formerly The Comet), Vanguard, Tribune, Champion, Newswatch, and Tell.

But citing a high level of violence and repression, Reporters Without Borders, a media rights body, once said that Nigerian journalists operate amid a “prevailing culture of brutality”.

Notwithstanding, some interviewed Nigerian journalists share similar opinions about press freedom in Nigeria today.

Tukur Abdulrahman, editor of the government-owned New Nigerian newspaper says that freedom is never absolute because it stops where another person’s own is encroached upon. He maintains that people are afraid of the law, especially when it is twisted. To him, this impinges on freedom of expression as people suppress their feelings in fear of being charged with slander or libel in courts which are mostly manipulated. Despite this, he says there is more press freedom in Nigeria than anywhere in Africa today because Nigerian journalists pride more in writing negative stories about government with litle or nothing happening to them in most cases.

 

Theophilus Abba, editor of The Companion, a private weekly newspaper based in Kaduna also says there is more freedom of expression in Nigeria than anywhere in Africa. He says there is no censorship of publications in Nigeria today, as it is possible for anyone to set up a media outfit and start publishing anything unlike during the military era when the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) monitored and restricted the circulation of local publications. He observes that censorship is not done by the government but by publishers who mostly do so to protect certain interests. And to him, one problem of freedom of the press in the country is the restricted access to government information such that it is easier to get information from the Metropolitan Police in London than from the Nigeria Police. Another problem, according to him, is the lack of ^qualitative manpower which is threatening the future of journalism in Nigeria.

Similarly, the editor of New Nigerian Weekly, Zakari Adamu believes that freedom of the press has extensively improved in Nigeria. According to him, anti-government stories are freely sensationalized to appeal to vulnerable readers who usually like negative news about the government. He maintains that press freedom does not mean press recklessness, implying that journalists should regard the profession from the perspectives of social responsibility and patriotism as the essence of the journalistic endeavour is to build, not to destroy.

Indeed, media freedom has improved in Nigeria from the inception of democratic governance in 1999 but not without occasional infringement on the freedom of expression. This may be atributed to some restrictive decrees that are still in force. For instance, rebroadcasts of foreign radio stations

 

were banned in 2004 and concern was expressed over a proposed media law. To this end, a sketchy review of injustice to journalists in post-military Nigeria hereby becomes necessary.

On December 2, 2003, three senior editors of the Insider Weekly magazine were arrested and detained by police authorities in Lagos for allegedly conspiring to publish a seditious story against the government.

On August 11, 2004, two journalists, Isa Musa and Ahmed Yahaya, were arrested and detained for over seven hours in Jigawa State by the police for allegedly releasing photographs to ridicule the state government. The said photographs were published in an advertisement which the advertisers countered the government’s claims of successful governance in the state.

On August 18, 2004, eight journalists were beaten up by policemen at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) depot in Ibadan, Oyo State. The journalists were there to assess the extent of damage done by the inferno that guted the loading bay of the depot.

According to International Press Institute (IPI) World Press Freedom Review 2005, journalists in Nigeria often face arrests and legal penalties such as fines or imprisonment. Also, there have been assaults and a murder atempt herein.

On January 4, a team of police officers and members of an anti-riot s^quad atacked journalists atending an emergency meeting of the National Executive Council the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

 

On March 4, Ayodele Ale, a reporter for the Sunday Punch, was seriously beaten and injured with sticks and thrown into a cell by members of the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) paramilitary brigade in Sabo-Yaba, Lagos for taking photographs at a site where KIA agents were detaining people crossing a highway without using the pedestrian bridge.

At a press briefing organized by Muniz Banire, Lagos State commissioner for transportation, a group loyal to the ruling Alliance for Democracy (AD) forced its way into the press centre and atacked journalists. As a result, Femi Akinola of New Age sustained several injuries, dislocating his lower jaw and breaking a tooth. Bamidele Ayodo of Gateway Broadcasting Corporation sustained a deep cut on his lower lip on April 26.

On June 27, 2006, Gbenga Aruleba, the presenter of Focus Nigeria on Africa Independent Television (AIT) and Rotimi Durojaiye, a senior correspondent with the Daily Independent newspaper were arrested by men of the State Security Service (SSS) in connection with a story about a supposed new jet bought by President Olusegun Obasanjo. Both men were released on bail after much pressure by civil rights bodies on June 29, 2006 to face trial on July 27, 2006 for seditious charges under Section 50 of the 1990 Criminal Code and be jailed for two years if found guilty.

However, it is worthwhile to conclude that press freedom has improved tremendously vis-à-vis the military era as there are many news and media organizations in Nigeria today. But because journalists are still atacked,

 

harassed or intimidated, the freedom of the press is still some miles away from reality.