NASS vexatious media accreditation requirements

“The NASS guidelines negate the constitutional principle of freedom of expression and run contrary to the African Charter on fundamental rights and the right of the people to know. The Guild strongly objects to these guidelines in their entirety as they serve no public good except the myopic interest of its chroniclers and purveyors.” – General Secretary of Nigerian Guild of Editors, Mary Atolagbe while reacting to the new accreditation guidelines for journalists released by the National Assembly on May 20, 2019

I like the way News Agency of Nigeria captioned the story, “NASS stings media houses: Sets stringent accreditation guidelines”. A fresh attempt to gag the Freedom of Information and Press Freedom was made by the National Assembly on Monday, May 20, 2019. A new re-accreditation guidelines signed by the Director of Information in NASS, Mr. Emmanuel Agada Esq was released to the public barely three weeks to the June 11, 2019 inauguration of the 9^th National Assembly. The most disappointing thing was that there was no rationale given for the introduction of the new accreditation guidelines which has been described as “Satanic” by the Nigerian Union of Journalists.

Some of the 20 conditions listed by the management are evidence of incorporation of the media organisation, proof of membership of the NUJ with registration number and the code of certification from the National Library of Nigeria. Others are circulation of at least 40,000 newspaper copies daily with evidence to support the claimed figure, evidence of 5,000 daily views in the case of online media and photocopies of media organisation’s tax return for at least two years. Other requirements for fresh accreditation are evidence of membership of professional bodies for media organisation, a functional bureau in Abuja with staff strength of not less than five editorial staff publishing daily and on weekend. Also, the re-certification form must be signed and endorsed by the Chief Executive Officer of the media organisation and the bureau chief, or the city editor as the case might be.

While the Nigerian Union of Journalist through its National President, Mr. Christopher Iziguzo, said the action of the Assembly was against the spirit of free press and that the Union “have given the National Assembly 24-hours within which to withdraw the satanic guidelines.”, the Nigerian Guild of Editors in a statement by its General Secretary, Mary Atolagbe said inter alia that “The Guild urges all media houses across the nation to rise up and reject this medieval intrusion into the media space in the 21st Century, much more in a democracy which Nigerian media doggedly fought for and for which some journalists paid the supreme price.”

There is no gainsaying that Nigerian media is once again under siege unfortunately by institution of democracy which is the people’s parliament. I was privileged to be among the panelists that spoke on the occasion of 2019 World Press Freedom Day organised by Safer Media Initiative in conjunction with United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation on May 2, 2019. There I pointed out that much as Nigeria ranks top among African countries with vibrant media; however, from time to time, Nigerian press is still being subjected to excruciating attacks by institutions of government.

As a proof of Nigeria’s press freedom retrogression, the 2019 ranking of press freedom which was conducted by Reporters without Borders, also known as Reporters Sans Frontières, saw Nigeria drop a place from 119 in 2018 to 120, among 180 countries. RSF bemoaned the incessant harassment and intimidation of journalists by military officers and politicians in the country. The international NGO also stated that journalists in Nigeria experience obstacles when reporting stories that have to do with politics, terrorism and financial embezzlement. It thus challenged that “The defence of quality journalism and the protection of journalists need to be priorities during Buhari’s second term.”

It will be recalled that under this administration, The PUNCH State House correspondent, Lekan Adetayo was unceremoniously sent packing by the Chief Security Officer to the President, Bashir Abubakar in April 2017. Jones Abiri, publisher and editor of the Weekly Source newspaper based in Bayelsa State was detained by Directorate of State Services for over two years; in August 2018, Samuel Ogundipe of Premium Times was wrongfully detained by the Nigerian Police while the Army invaded the Maiduguri and Abuja offices of Daily Trust in January of this year.

Some obvious attempt to gag the media in the last four years also includes the introduction of an anti- social media bill, sponsored by Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah (APC, Kebbi State). In March 2018  Senator Sabi Abdullahi (APC, Niger State} came with another toxic bill called  “Hate Speech Bill” which carried a death sentence and allegedly meant  “to eliminate hate speech and discourage harassment on the grounds of ethnicity, religion or race among others.” In July 2018, there was yet another attempt to gag the press with the introduction of the “Press Council Amendment Bill 2018, to regulate the news media and ‘assist’ in registering journalists in Nigeria.”

Back to the new National Assembly accreditation guidelines, is it possible for the NASS management to come forth with the rationale behind the provocative guidelines? Do the NASS Press Corps constitute security threat or nuisance to the functioning of the Assembly? Are the accredited journalists a drain on the resources of the NASS? What is National Assembly trying to hide?

As far as am concerned, the unilateral introduction of these draconian guidelines is not acceptable. Whatever concerns that may have warranted the review of conditions for accreditation of journalists covering the National Assembly should have been raised with the different media regulatory bodies and unions such as the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission, Nigerian Press Council, Nigerian Guild of Editors, Nigerian Union of Journalists, and the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria. There are enough laws in the statute books to deal with professional misconduct of any media house or journalists. Press freedom in Nigeria is non-negotiable!