Constitutionally, Section 22 of the second chapter provides that the press, radio, television and other agencies of the mass media shall, at all times, be free to uphold the fundamental objectives contained in this chapter and uphold the responsibility and accountability of government to the people.
Recall that in commemoration of this year’s Press Freedom Day held last month, President Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Mustapha Isah, said a democratic society like Nigeria has a role to play in maintaining media freedom and facilitating access to public information.
He advised governments at all levels to take the lead in making sure that their actions do not inspire violations of press freedom.
Speaking with The Guardian, Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda (MRA), Edetaen Ojo, reasoned that a free, independent and professional press, is absolutely critical to the development and sustenance of a democratic culture in any society.
He argued that without the media, the society would be largely uninformed about the government and its activities and would not be able to make an informed assessment of the governance.
On the other hand, he also said without the press, the government would not be adequately informed about the needs, interests, preferences and priorities of those they govern.
Pointing out that the Nigerian press is a very diverse sector, he said, while some members have performed exceptionally well over the last 23 years, he noted that there are many others that have been plainly derelict in their duties.
He disclosed that it is important to carry out a deeper assessment of the factors that have inhibited the optimal performance of their roles by some members of the media community.
However, he said such an assessment should only be for the purpose of understanding the challenges with a view to improving their performance rather than to excuse non-performance.
Commenting on his rating, he said, “my overall assessment is that the press has performed satisfactorily, although it can also improve on its performance. I do not believe that we have done all that is possible to hold successive governments accountable for their repression of the press in Nigeria or for their failure to create a safe and enabling environment for the press to perform its social and constitutional duties.”
Making reference to available data regarding attacks on press freedom since 1999 and even further back, he said it is clear that governments, their officials and institutions have been the biggest culprits by far for the violations.
Today, he noted that if government sincerely commits itself to respect and defending media freedom and genuinely sets about doing so, the narrative would change.
He, therefore, said it behoves everybody – the media community, civil society, citizens and other stakeholders – to insist that government lives up to its responsibility to promote and defend media freedom and ensure that both the government and other violators of media freedom are held accountable whenever they trample on the rights or freedoms of the media.
He suggested that there are many tools available to pursue such accountability, “if we appreciate the importance of the role of the press for our democracy as well as for our individual and collective development and wellbeing.”
Professor of Applied Communication, University of Ibadan, Ayo Ojebode, said the media is expected to spot any threat to the democratic system and alert society to it.
To achieve this, he insisted that the press is expected to put an utmost premium on credibility so that when it ‘barks’, the society simply believes that there is danger. To him, credibility is a function of many other factors, paramount of which is objectivity.
He said no one believes a press that is pathologically biased, stressing that it is this important role of the press that qualified it to be referred to as the fourth estate of the realm in 1787 – coming after the nobles, clergy and the commoners.
He recalled that the press, during the military era, was a gallant platoon of pen-wielding soldiers, which put the military on its toes and thus played a major role in the return to democratic rule.
Since 1999, however, he noted that the press has become disunited.
He said, “In my view, they could no longer act as one team. It was not as if the military-era press had not splinters that pursued ethnic, religious and pro-military agendas, but there was a mainstream media, which spoke and the nation and the world listened.
“The polarisation of the press we have today is a destructive one. Added to that is the swarm of online outlets. Some of these are run by professionals while the majority are run by those who have absolutely no clue on the role of the press in a democracy, paid agents of politicians, and sheer mendicants just hustling for the next meal.”
Saying press freedom is indeed under attack, he revealed that the Freedom House rating of political freedom and civil liberties has been falling.
From 50 points out of 100 in 2018, he disclosed that the nation fell to 47 points in 2020, 45 points in 2021, and further down to 43 points in 2022.
To him, every year seems to bring a further decline in these freedoms, including press freedom.
With reference to freedom of the press, he noted that many of the governors are far less tolerant of journalists than any minister or the presidency.
He described many of the governors as irascible despots. For instance, he cited Agba Jalingo, who was arrested for criticising the Governor of Cross River State, Benedict Ayade, Murtala Tijjani, a student of Bayero University Kano, who was arrested and detained for 59 days for criticising a legislator on Facebook.
Another victim, he listed are, Michael Itok, who was arrested and detained for criticising Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State on Facebook. Joseph Israel was also expelled from Taraba State University for criticising Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State on Facebook.
He said that any efforts to reverse the falling press freedom must put the governors, state legislators and their political allies on the radar.
