NIGERIANS MUST RESIST INCREASING ASSAULT ON PRESS FREEDOM

The plan to muzzle the press is wrong and counterproductive

At a period when Nigerians are seeking ways to salvage their country from its present travails, the wilful courting of dictatorship cannot be a route to national salvation and healing. That unfortunately seems to be the preferred destination choice for the current administration. From inserting controversial clauses in the electoral bill to circumscribe transparent elections to a desperate plot to plant a partisan presidential attack dog in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), it is obvious that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has scant regards for democratic ethos. However, the real concern is the crude attempt to tamper with fundamental freedoms, going by proposed bills to regulate the print and electronic media via a dubious press code and licensing regime that would register or delist journalists based on the whims of some politicians.

Titled, ‘An Act to amend the Nigerian Press Council Act. Cap. N128, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1992 to remove bottlenecks affecting its performance and make it in tune with the current realities in regulating the press and for related matters,’ the bill confers on some bureaucrats in the Nigerian Press Council (NPC) the power to determine ethics and fake news, investigate infractions and impose fines on journalists, publishers, and distributors. It prescribes jail terms of one to three years and outrageous fines on journalists, newsagents, and media outlets.

The Nigerian Press Organisation (NPO), the umbrella body for the Newspapers Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN), Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) say the bill seeks to ambush judicial resolutions of the issues already before the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Similarly, provisions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code (NBC) are designed to give the Information minister not only power to oversight the industry but also to practically determine what is to be broadcast and how in a cynical proposition that must have been copied from the North Korean rule book.
Stripped of pretensions, by seeking to criminalise journalism as a profession, suffocate media operations and usurp the powers of the courts, the ultimate aim of the bill and its sponsors is to constrict the civic space and destroy dissenting voices. By cynically taking away rights that are already guaranteed in our constitution, the proponents seek to take Nigerians back to the military era and its arbitrariness. This is a dangerous proposition that should be resisted by all critical stakeholders in Project Nigeria. It is even more galling that the National Assembly that is never attentive except on issues that border on its own privileges is treating the controversial media bill almost as a matter of ‘urgent national importance.’ Hence, pertinent questions remain: Why is an administration that came to power with a promise to fight corruption obsessed with regulating the media in an environment where there is little accountability? Why are members of the National Assembly afraid of scrutiny in the discharge of their public duty?

The proposed amendments to the Press Council bill, as noted by the NPO, is a poor attempt to resurrect the obnoxious Public Officers Protection Against False Accusation Decree No. 4 of 1984 and the Newspapers Registration Decree 43 of 1993, enacted by military rulers of past eras. “It assumes that there are no extant laws to penalise media infractions and exact restitution for the aggrieved persons,” argued NPO which described the new NBC code as no less provocative, “making the Minister of Information the Monster Minister with sweeping powers to make and enforce regulations online and offline.”

The multifaceted assault on the media must be seen in the context of the wider political inclinations of the incumbent administration. A ban has been placed on Twitter. There is impending action to limit other social media platforms. The electoral law is being amended in a manner that forbids the electronic transmission of election results that has helped to curb malpractices while the rights of the people to freely assemble are constantly being called to question by the police. Amid all this, an ever-compliant National Assembly stands ready to rubber-stamp the autocratic reflexes of the executive branch, thus leaving the public interest undefended.

Taken together, these actions point clearly in the direction of increased authoritarianism and deliberate departure from the liberal democratic foundations of our constitution. They must be resisted.