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A renowned media scholar and former Director-general of Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), Tonnie Iredia, a professor, said on Wednesday that section 22 of the Nigerian constitution often cited by journalists as guaranteeing freedom of the press isn’t as effective in protecting journalists as being touted.
The section of the constitution reads: “The press, radio, television and other agencies of the mass media shall at all times be free to uphold the fundamental objectives contained in this Chapter and uphold the responsibility and accountability of the Government to the people.”
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But Mr Iredia explained that the section is merely a mandate given to journalists by the constitution but the same section did not explicitly provide for the practitioners’ freedom.
The scholar spoke at the annual conference of the International Press Institute (IPI) Nigeria in Abuja, the nation’s capital city. He delivered the keynote address titled: “Democracy, Media Freedom and the Imperative of Protecting the Nigerian Civic Space.”
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He said: “Section 22 of our constitution that many of us mistakenly assume to be press freedom is not freedom but an assignment, a mandate.
“Some people will not agree with me that there is no freedom because they are seeing some freedom. I am talking about statutory freedom – freedom that is official, that you can take your job from, that if you are arrested you can quote. It doesn’t exist here.”
Ghana, Malawi constitutions protect journalists
Mr Iredia compared the cited section with the first amendment in the United States (US) and other countries which states explicitly that nothing shall be done to take away the freedom of the press.
“Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…,” reads, parts of the first amendment cited by Mr Iredia.
“Maybe the US is too advanced,” he said, adding: “Our neighbours, Ghana, section 162 of their constitution grants freedom of the press, not general freedom, freedom of the press, freedom to hold the government accountable, freedom to walk about and be given your due regard and support. In Malawi, section 36 does exactly the same thing in that constitution.”
Section 162 of the Ghanaian constitution reads; “Freedom and independence of the media are hereby guaranteed.”
Section 36 of the Malawi constitution reads; “The press shall have the right to report and publish freely, within Malawi and abroad, and to be accorded the fullest possible facilities for access to public information.”
‘It does not exist in Nigeria’
The media scholar noted that the Nigerian constitution regards or recognise that the media is to be given an assignment to do something. “(But) there is nowhere that will give you freedom for that assignment,” he said. “It does not exist in the Nigerian constitution.”
He explained that the manipulation laws such as the Cybercrimes Act have been used to target journalists and threaten the practice for the media in an ecosystem that is “overregulated”.
“Of course, nobody intended that when you publish an article, you’ll be arrested for cyber crime. But that’s what happens because the Cyber Crimes Act was so structured. Even the amendment to section 24 of that act that makes it better now is still available,” he said.
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Going by the provisions of the cybercrimes act, he said a journalist can be arrested for writing a piece that annoys someone.
“I use the word annoy,” he said. “It’s in the (cybercrimes) law.”
Commenting on the argument by some individuals that the media also needs to be responsible, Mr Iredia noted that there must be freedom before responsibility for that freedom.
“I agree with them. We also need responsibility. But let’s have freedom first,” he said.
“As it is now, there is no freedom. So there is no place from which you are taking your background that when there is freedom, there is responsibility.”
Media Freedom in Nigeria
The freedom of the media in Nigeria has nosedived in recent times as attacks on journalists rise.
At least 135 Nigerian journalists have been harassed while carrying out their duties in the last few years, according to Busola Ajibola who oversees the Press Attack Tracker, a project of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) which tracks and verifies attacks on journalists. Mrs Ajibola, a deputy director at CJID also spoke at the event.
PREMIUM TIMES reported in July that the Nigerian Police Force accounts for nearly 50 per cent of all harassment faced by journalists in the first half of the year.
