Says Media bill worsens Buhari regime’s war on free press

Prominent lawyers and groups on Friday warned the National Assembly that any bill that seeks to abridge the freedom of speech and the press is unconstitutional.

They spoke in separate interviews with newsmen while reacting to a bill seeking to amend the Nigeria Press Council Act currently before the National Assembly.

There are fears that it may lead to the death of serious newspapers in Nigeria if it scaled through the two chambers of the National Assembly and finally assented to by the President Muhammadu Buhari.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Mike Ozekhome, warned the National Assembly not to pass such bill.

He said, “Any bill, such as this one allegedly being planned or debated, that seeks or attempts to abridge freedom of speech and the press which are rights expressly guaranteed in Sections 22 and 38 (1) of the 1999 Constitution is unworkable, unconstitutional and must be struck down under Section 1(3) of the same Constitution.

“Every Nigerian, subject to the exceptions specifically provided for in the Constitution itself, is entitled to freedom of expression, including the freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference.

“Section 22 of the Constitution is the reason the press is regarded as the fourth estate of the realm, being the only organ accorded specific functions by the Constitution aside te Legislature ( Section 4 ; the Executive, Section 5 ; and the Judiciary, Section 6).

“Section 22 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 Chapter 2 ( dealing with fundamental rights) and to highlight the responsibility and accountability of the Government to the people. No part of this section is rendered voidable, void, abridgeable, or abridged in any way howsoever in the said Section 22, by or the derogatory section of the Constitution ( Section 43 ).”

Another lawyer, Inihebe Effiong, faulted both the executive and legislative arms of governments for stifling the serious media houses in the country.

He said it was obvious the President was not comfortable with the democratic system of government in place in the country

Effiong said, “It is an escalation of the current regime’s war against a free press and the civic space. President Buhari is not comfortable with democracy, he wants to decimate the remnants of democracy beyond repair.

“This regime’s obsession with stifling the traditional and social media is an indication that those ruling Nigeria today have run out of ideas on how to develop the country. Since they have grossly failed to change the country for the better as they promised when they sought our votes, they are now on a mission to suppress dissent.

“Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution gives the press and the mass media a scared responsibility of holding the government accountable. Section 39 guarantees freedom of expression without interference.

“The ongoing efforts to amend the Nigeria Press Council Act and the National Broadcasting Commission Act are being made in furtherance of censorship. It is against the tenets of democracy. It is also not necessary at this time given the serious issues that plagues Nigeria at the moment. Sadly, the National Assembly is complicit in this anti-democratic adventures.”

Another lawyer who is the Chairperson, Transition Monitoring Group, Dr Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, described the situation as unfortunate.

She said, “It’s unfortunate that the current government is determined to bring the country back to the military era of Decree 4 where freedom of expression was restricted by the regime, yet we claim we are in a democracy.

Media NGOs criticise NASS over proposed Press Council Act amendment

A consortium of media development and media freedom organisations, including International Press Centre, Media Rights Agenda, the Centre for Media Law and Advocacy, and the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism, have opposed the proposed amendment of the Nigerian Press Council Act by the National Assembly.

They also said measures contained in the amendment seeking to make the government “the arbiter of truth” and subjecting the entire media sector in the country to the control of the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, were in violation of internationally accepted norms and standards.

The groups presented the position in a statement titled ‘Media NGOs criticise proposed amendment to Press Council Act as a threat to media freedom,’ signed by the Communications Officer, IPC, Olutoyin Ayoade during a public hearing by the House of Representative Committee on Information, National Orientation, Ethics and Values in Abuja on the proposed bill.

Now that the government is scratching its head IPC’s Executive Director, Mr Lanre Arogundade, who made the presentation on behalf of the groups, said, “Although regulation is necessary in ‘this age of fake news and hate speech,’ such regulation should not erode media independence or freedom and should not be unduly punitive.

“The regulator must also be free of the stranglehold of the powers that be, political or other interests, so that it can judiciously adjudicate in matters bordering on the infringement of the code of ethics of the profession of journalism.”

In the memorandum signed by Arogundade; MRA’s Executive Director, Mr Edetaen Ojo; Executive Director of CMLA, Mr Richard Akinnola; and PTCIJ Executive Director, Mr Dapo Olorunyomi, the organisations noted that although masquerading as regulation, the proposals contained in the amendment bill were aimed at restricting freedom of expression and media freedom.

They complained that the amendments as proposed would give exclusive powers on the composition of the boards of sensitive bodies such as the press council, whose independence is of paramount importance, to the President and the minister without confirmation by the National Assembly.

According to them, this is unlike what obtains with other regulatory bodies such as the Nigerian Communications Commission.

The groups also criticised the proposal to empower the council to “receive, process and consider applications for the establishment, ownership, and operation of print media and other related media houses” as a violation of section 39 of the constitution, which gives everyone the right to own, establish and operate any medium, and called on the Committee to reject the proposals on the composition and functions of the Council.

The organisations suggested that the power to determine sanctions relating to hefty fines should be vested in the courts and not the Council, adding that the provision relating to revocation of license for alleged publication of fake news should be removed from the Act as decisions on appropriate sanctions for such offences should belong to the courts.

“We call on Nigerians to collectively resist this development, the media in a democracy is the fourth realm of the estate, this bill is an aberration and a confirmation that Nigeria is titling towards autocracy.”

The Executive Director, Institute of Media and Society, Dr. Akin Akingbulu, said, “he National Assembly should wait for the Supreme Court to make its pronouncement on the issue.

“The issue of regulating online communication, if you look at the way the government is going about it, they want it included in the amendment to the Nigeria Press Council Act.

“Government should not the way it is going now. What they did is to create a section in the bill which they call classification of licenses.

“Ordinarily, it is not a bad idea because we now operate under the digital transmission unlike the analouge but they went ahead to include some categories like IPTV , internet broadcasting among others this is very dangerous.”

The IPC’s Executive Director, International Press Centre, Mr Lanre Arogundade, said although regulation is necessary in “this age of fake news and hate speech”, such regulation should not erode media independence or freedom and should not be unduly punitive.

He added that the “regulator must also be free of the stranglehold of the powers that be, political or other interests, so that it can judiciously adjudicate in matters bothering on the infringement of the code of ethics of the profession of journalism.”

The Executive Director, Centre for Public Accountability, Olufemi Lawson? said, “The ongoing attempt to amend the Nigeria Press Council Act is just another in the series of the many attempt, by the incumbent regime, to stifle press freedom and take the right of Nigerians to free speech away, in a way that demonstrates how intolerant the regime has become to free speech, which is a bedrock of democracy.

“I seriously consider the proposed amendment as not only draconian, unconstitutional, anti-people, anti-business and anti-free speech which seeks to strangle the media, despite the fact that the laws of the country already had enough provisions that covers every area of concern, that is prompting the regime, to be desperately, seeking this amendment.”