Nigerian Media Slams Buhari, National Assembly Over Proposed ‘Anti-media’ Laws
Several major Nigerian newspapers Monday carried a front-page advertorial that accused the authorities of planning to clamp down on freedom of information.
Sponsored by the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Nigerian Guild of Editors and Newspaper Publishers Association of Nigerian, the advertorial, which featured a man behind a cage, said the Nigerian government is sponsoring amendments for two acts – Nigerian Press Council (NPC) and National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) acts.
“Information blackout – this is what the federal government want to achieve with the NPC and NBC (Media) Act amendment bills,” the advertorial published by The Guardian said.
“Federal government” was replaced with “National Assembly” in the one published by Punch, Tribune, The Nation, Tribune, Sun, New Telegraph and Daily Trust.
The publication on Monday marked a turning in the media’s fight against the amendment bills.
Many journalists and groups have condemned the proposed amendments, describing them as an attempt by the Buhari government to stifle the freedom of speech and a way of muzzling the media into silence.
“Nobody is saying you should not amend a law if it will advance democracy or to accommodate technology but provisions that do not promote press freedom are not democratic,” Lekan Otufodunrin, a former editor with The Nation and the CEO of Media Career Development Service, told The Guardian on Monday.
NUJ president Christopher Isiguzo told Channels Television in June that the union is opposed to the amendments and that any regulation that tends towards the control of the media by the government would be resisted.
“We are opposed to the planned amendment. We told the National Assembly that the matter was of contention in court and it would be sub-judice to discuss,” Isiguzo said.
