Is Nigeria’s press free?

 

May 3 has been set aside by UNESCO as World Press Freedom Day. The theme for the 2024 edition which took place last Friday was the importance of journalism and freedom of expression in the context of the current global environmental crisis. Information gleaned from the website of the United Nations says, “World Press Freedom Day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in December 1993, following the recommendation of UNESCO’s General Conference. Since then, May 3, the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, is celebrated worldwide as World Press Freedom Day.”

In Nigeria, media practice has undergone a lot of transformation. An internet source has it that on November 23, 1859, the first newspaper in Nigeria was published in Abeokuta, titled Ìwé Ìròhìn Fún Àwọn Ará Ẹ̀gbá àti Yorùbá. It was printed by the printing press of Henry Townsend, established five years earlier as an arm of the missionary endeavour he was involved in, and as a way to keep the few literate people in “high society” engaged in the day-to-day of society. Essentially media practice is in its 165th year in Nigeria. Over the years, there have been popular newspapers like Daily Times established in 1926, West African Pilot established by Dr Nnamdi Azikwe on November 22, 1937, and Nigerian Tribune established by Chief Obafemi Awolowo in November 1949.

Wikipedia has it that the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, arguably the first radio station in Nigeria, was founded in 1933 by the British colonial government. Named the Radio Diffusion Service, it allowed the public to hear the British Broadcasting Corporation‘s foreign radio service broadcasts in certain public locations over loudspeakers. The first television station in Nigeria known as the Western Nigeria Television Service was established on   October 31, 1959. In a paper titled “Management of Radio and Television Station in Nigeria”, Prof. I. W Udomisor of the Mass Communication Department of the University of Maiduguri, Borno State said, “In 1992, a new vista was opened in the annals of the Nigerian broadcasting history. The Federal Government under then Commander in Chief, General Ibrahim Babangida, deregulated the broadcast industry by granting licences to private individuals and organisations to set up radio and television broadcasting stations. The National Broadcasting Commission was founded to monitor and regulate broadcasting on a national basis.”

Thus, while the commercialisation and privatisation of the print media started in the pre-independence era, that of broadcast stations only started in 1992. Today, the Nigerian media has grown in leaps and bounds. Squirrel PR, an online medium, in a May 16, 2022 publication said, “There are at least 60 newspapers in Nigeria. More than half of them started out as national dailies but were eventually forced by realities to go regional.” The National Democratic Report on February 14, 2023, claimed that there are 740 functional broadcast stations in Nigeria. That is huge!

At present, there are now specialised broadcast stations that focus on specific thematic areas such as sports, human rights, women, military, police, road safety, etcetera. There are also several campus radio stations and community stations. Information Communication Technology has positively impacted media practice in Nigeria such that most print and broadcast stations now have an internet presence with many doing live streaming of their programmes. In fact, there are many newspapers that are basically online newspapers such as Premium Times, The Cable, Newsdiary Online, The Niche, among others

I have been a player in this industry since my first “Letter to the Editor” was published in The Daily Sketch on October 12, 1990. As of today, I have over 2,000 published commentaries in 73 Nigerian newspapers (some of them are defunct), magazines and newsletters, and I’ve been a columnist with The PUNCH since 2012. I have been interviewed by 56 television stations and 67 radio stations, both nationally and internationally. I was a news analyst with Arise News TV for two and a half years (October 2017 – March 2020) and a consultant to Channels TV on the 2023 election analysis. I hosted my television show, Development Focus with Jide Ojo, on Independent Television, Abuja between January 2021 and December 2022.

I started media practice during the military junta and I can say confidently that the Nigerian press is freer now than then. However, despite being in the 26th year of return to civil rule, the Nigerian media is still being gagged and persecuted. The BusinessDay of May 3, 2024, reported that the 2024 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders listed Nigeria among the most challenging countries for journalists in West Africa. Nigeria is ranked 112th position out of 180 countries, an improvement from the 123rd rank in 2023. According to the report, Nigerian journalists are regularly monitored, attacked, and arbitrarily arrested.

According to Reporters Without Borders, “The level of governmental interference in the news media is significant. It can involve pressure, harassment of journalists and media outlets, and even censorship. This interference is even stronger during electoral campaigns. Addressing political issues in a balanced way can also be difficult depending on the media outlet’s owner. To a large extent, government officials have a say in the appointment and dismissal of media officials, whether in the public or private sector. The authorities also make arbitrary decisions, such as the destruction in September 2023 of two private media transmitters in the South-East of the country.”

In March 2024, there was the case of abduction of a newspaper editor by the military only to be released two weeks after. According to PM News of March 28, 2024, “The Defence Intelligence Agency has released the Editor of FirstNews Online Newspaper, Segun Olatunji, after spending two weeks in custody. Segun Olatunji, who was said to have been whisked away by 15 soldiers from his home in Abule-Egba in Lagos, on March 15, was released to the General Secretary of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, Mr Iyobosa Uwugiaren, and a Deputy Editor with The NATION, Yomi Odunuga, under a bridge in Asokoro, Abuja. There were media reports speculating that Olatunji’s arrest might have been caused by a news story in his publication accusing an official working with the Nigeria Defence Intelligence Agency of not fairly allocating public contracts.” There is also the ongoing case of Daniel Ojukwu, a journalist with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism who was initially held incommunicado at the Police State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti in Lagos from Wednesday, May 1, 2024, to Sunday, May 4, when he was relocated to the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre.

These two aforementioned cases happening under the Bola Tinubu presidency and involving Nigeria’s security agencies are a pointer to the fact that Nigerian journalists are not yet free from physical and psychological harassment and intimidation. It isn’t that I am encouraging impunity in the media, however due process ought to be followed. There should be warrants of arrest and suspects should be granted access to their lawyers and family members. Moreover, they can be charged to court for whatever offences they may have been alleged to commit.

As regards the theme of this year’s World Press Freedom Day, I was a guest on Radio Now 95.3 FM, Lagos, last Friday, together with the Executive Director of the International Press Centre, Mr Lanre Arogundade, to discuss the issue of journalism and the environment. I quite agree with the position of the United Nations which says, “Awareness of all aspects of the global environmental crisis and its consequences is essential to build democratic societies. Journalistic work is indispensable for this purpose.” I do hope the Nigerian media will do more to promote the issue of the environment.