WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY: HOW FREE IS THE NIGERIAN PRESS TODAY?

Adesuyi Adeniyi

In the mood of anticipating tomorrow’s celebration of the international freedom of the press day, it is pertinent for one to examine how the virtue of a free press has thrived in Nigeria both politically and in all spheres of our nationhood.

With Nigeria returning to full democratic rule in 1999, the grass seemed greener on the horizon for the Nigerian press which had been submerged in repressive military administrations for over three decades. Fast forward nineteen years, Nigeria is today ranked 119th of 180 countries on the 2018 World Press Freedom index published by Reporters Without Borders (RWB), having gone up three places on the log from the previous year.

Though there is no such thing as a truly free press. Everywhere, the press serves the interests of whoever controls it, even in the U.S. Some are pro-republican and some are pro-democrat. The press has an inordinate ability to influence public opinion, and as a result, the political outlook of its audience. Because of this, nobody will ever allow the press to be truly free.

And even that is a reflection of society. Nobody is ever truly free. One persons right ends where another person's rights begins. Your right to information is limited to another’s right to privacy, etc. Thus a truly free press is seemingly unachievable.

The press theory in operation in this part of the world today is AUTHORITARIAN. Journalists are always at the whims and caprices of their employers who are either politicians or businessmen benefiting from the government of the day and he who pays the piper they say calls the tune. The owners of media outfits control the content of their ppublications thereby, compromising objectivity.

Nigeria as it stands does not have an independent press. So, the WATCHDOG responsibility of the press cannot be achieved. Another point is that our journalists are too lazy to engage in investigative journalism especially in this computer age where it is easy for them to sit in the comfort of their offices and lift unverified stories online and publish same. This type of journalism can be called "Armchair journalism"

Investigative journalism is down the drain as nobody wants to be blown into a million bits like Dele Giwa. Impartiality by the press is a fallacy everywhere in the world. Close critical analysis of the media will convince you that the press is always a tool in the hands of its owners and can never be truly impartial.

Just within two years of Buhari’s administration, series of arrests of bloggers, newspaper reporters and even a dog owner have raised worriess about the freedom of expression.

The latest assault on the freedom of the press was the clampdown and whisking away of Premium Times publisher, Dapo Olorunyomi, alongside the paper’s judiciary correspondent, Evelyn Okakwu on trumped up charges in January 2017.

Sometime ago, the army said it wanted to question a journalist who had posted a link to a video released by the Boko Haram extremist group. Also, a journalist investigating arms smuggling was assaulted in June 2015 after a meeting at a Nigerian border post.

Musa Azare, a blogger known for being critical about the government of Bauchi State, also found himself under arrest. In Ogun State, the story is even worsee, as the Governor has been unleashing his executive power on bloggers and who dares to write anything negative about him.

It’s not just journalists that are facing threats. Police took a man in Ogun State Sometimes ago into custody for naming his dog “Buhari”.

It is worrisome that this dastardly act still happens as Nigeria’s leaders have pledged to respect the freedom of the press.

Recall that during the military era many journalists were arrested, detained, tortured and jailed. Several media organizations were sealed off, closed down, proscribed or banned. Several thousand copies of newspapers and magazines were either confiscated or destroyed. Some media houses were either vandalized or locked, yet the Nigerian press survived.

It was during that dark period of the Nigerian press that Dele Giwa of Newswatch magazine was assassinated in a manner suggestive of systematic and deliberate government involvement, yet the press did not go underground.

Apart from the risks of reporting in Nigeria, the structure and policies of government parastatals and even the constitutional backing of the press, have all contributed in militating the failure of Press Freedom in the country. For instance, the Nigerian constitution in Section 39 expressly guarantees that "every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including the freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without inference." It however goes on to read in the following subsection; "No person other than the government or any other person or body authorized by the president shall be allowed to own, establish, or operate television or wireless broadcasting for any purpose whatsoever."

That same section of the constitution further affirmed the prohibition of civil servants in the employment of government services to divulge any information privy to them and this is plainly presented in the Official secret code act.

It is important to note that giving total freedom to the press will help transform this country. It is worth to note that every little thing go to the press in Ghana. Anybody can say anything about the president’s mistakes without fear or favour. Interestingly, you can’t see policemen drinking openly, or collecting bribe from motorist, pedestrians will waste no time in making videos and pictures available to the press immediately and they will be seen on national TV.

Nigerians have smart people that can do more than taking pictures and videos. We need the press to be empowered, the people to be empowered. If the press is empowered, the fear for public disgrace can motivate political office holders to do the right thing at the right time.