The Nigerian Press Organisation (NPO) comprising the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN), the Nigeria Guild of Editors, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) as well as other media stakeholders has rejected the Senate Bill seeking to repeal and re-enact the Nigerian Press Council Bill 2018 as a futile attempt to interfere and curtail press freedom in Nigeria.
According to the group, the Bill which has passed second reading in the Senate is at odds with section 22 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which guarantees press freedom and other relevant provisions of the Constitution such as section 39 (1) and (2) which entitles persons to the right of freedom of expression, freedom to opinions and the proprietary right to establish and operate any medium for the dissemination of information, ideas and opinions.
While the proposed Bill appears to contain many provisions currently contained under the extant Nigerian Press Council Act, 1992, one of the major arguments put forward by the media has been in the amendment to the composition of the Council to include two National Assembly members[1] as an undue interference with its independence as the fourth estate of the realm checking against the arbitrary abuse of power by the three arms of government.
In part, this view held by journalists may be rooted in the growing crackdown of journalists in recent years. In 2017, for example, it is reported that 2 journalists were killed in the course of their duty while 12 were assaulted[2]. Nigeria’s record of press freedom also fell from 111th in 2016 to 122nd in 2017, out of 180 countries graded[3]. In addition to these is the news of arbitrary arrest of some journalists such as the Premium Times Reporter, Samuel Ogundipe who was recently arrested and detained by the police and the detention of Jones Abiri, publisher of Weekly Source Magazine by the Department of State Security Services (DSS) for over two years.
Furthermore, it would appear from a perusal of the Bill, that it would have been more useful for the National Assembly to address pertinent issues arising from the propagation of false information and hate speech through legitimate media platforms online. This has been made imperative by the fact that modern day journalism and news reporting has shifted from traditional print to online reporting and the use of social media. Therefore, including these issues in the Bill may have been a better attempt to bring the law at par with socio-technological changes.
[1] Clause 2(v) of the Bill
[2] https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/248117-two-nigerian-journalists-killed-12-assaulted-2017-full-list-ipc.html
[3] http://saharareporters.com/2017/04/26/nigeria%E2%80%99s-press-freedom-record-worsens-one-year-reports