Cagging the Media

Jerry Ugokwe: Sponsored the FOI Bill in 1999.

Following its refusal to pass the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill into law, the National Assembly plans to enact a new law which Nigerians say will hinder free journalism practice
By Bayo Bernard
Sporadic fireworks enveloped the National Assembly last Monday, November 16, during the public hearing on a bill seeking to repeal the Nigerian Press Council Act, 1992 and establish the Nigerian Press and Practice of Journalism Council (NPPJC). For the few hours that the high-wire cross-arguments lasted, opposing sides to the bill canvassed their positions stridently, and by the time the curtains were drawn on the day’s event, nothing suggested that a consensus has been reached on the issue.
For all intents and purpose, the NPPJC seeks to regulate journalism practice in the country. But as it seems, the intention of its sponsors goes beyond this as stakeholders contend that the lawmakers’ target is to use the bill to gag the media.
Coming at a time when the National Assembly has refused to pass the Freedom of Information Bill (FOI) many Nigerians believe that the new bill is an attempt to deal a final blow on the FOI Bill, which appears not to be enjoying the supports of the lawmakers.
But what the country needs now, media experts contend, is the passage of the FOI bill which has been crisscrossing the National Assembly and the presidency since 1999, after it was sponsored by Jerry Sonny Ugokwe, a lawmaker representing Idemili North/South Federal Constituency of Anambra State, and co-sponsored by Tony Anyawu and Nduka Irabor, both also lawmakers at the time.
The FOI Bill, as suggested by its sponsors, was a Bill for an “Act to make public records and information more freely available, provide for public access to public records and information, protect public records and information to the extent consistent with public interest and the protection of personal privacy. " It is also to “protect serving public officers from adverse consequences for disclosing certain kinds of official information without authorisation and establish procedure for the achievement of those purposes and related purposes thereof.”
Majorly, to the average Nigerian and indeed media practitioners, the FOI bill is an attempt to remove bureaucratic and legal bottlenecks that confront journalists in the performance of their daily duties. But for reasons best known to the lawmakers, the Assembly has refused to pass the bill into law, despite the popularity it enjoys among cross- sections of Nigerians.
During last week’s public hearing, for example, one of the proponents of the FOI bill, Abike Dabiri -Erewa was listed at the fore front of those canvassing for the new bill. Though she denied any plot by the lawmakers to ensure that the FOI did not see the light of day, her argument appeared not to have convinced proponents of the FOI bill.
Lateef Jakande, a veteran journalist and former governor of Lagos state, Tony Momoh, ex-minister of of Information and other stakeholders opposed to the new bill contended that if passed into law, the NPPJC will criminalise journalists and media practitioners. To this group of people, what the nation’s media requires at the moment is freedom to operate and not regulation.
The FOI Bill, they argued, will rather widen the scope of democracy in Nigeria, by making information readily available as opposed to the NPPJC, which they believe is an attempt to tighten the noose on the nation’s vibrant media.
Dabiri-Erewa, who is also the chairman of the House committee on Diaspora had contended that the latest attempt was meant to strengthen rather than strangulate the media. She said the lawmakers were being misunderstood, as there was no plot to substitute the FOI for the NPPJC.
Her words: “It is not possible that at this stage, I will be thinking of promoting a bill that will gag the media. That cannot be.”
According to her, the latest bill was to fill the vacuum that existed in the area of promoting the welfare of media practioners, especially journalists. “Journalists themselves will come to appreciate this because it is for them and caters for their professional interest,” she contended.
But other stakeholders insist that all the corresponding issues have been captured in the FOI bill. Momoh, for example, contended that the proposed press council would merely “criminalise” media. The former Minister of Information said Nigeria may be heading for an era when draconian laws were enacted to inhibit journalistic practice. He said the NPPJC, as it is, prescribes harsher penalties than any other media law in the past had done.
Momoh: “The FOI is a mark of democracy everywhere in the world, it should be given immediate priority by the National Assembly rather than setting up a body that will criminalise the practice of journalism.”
Momoh alleged that the NPPJC is a counterfeit of the FOI bill and is of no use for the enhancement of free journalistic practice as its proponents would want Nigerians to believe. “This bill combines all the previous provisions made to regulate media operations in Nigeria,” he stressed.
Ralph Akinfeleye, a professor and head, Department of Mass Communications at the University of Lagos is among those that spoke out against the enactment of the NPPJC.
The university Don, like Momoh and Jakande, stoutly opposed some provisions in the new bill. Specifically, Akinfeleye opposed the provision which seeks to appoint the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ) as the certifying body for journalists. If passed, the NPPJC would confer the NIJ with the powers to certify graduates of Mass Communications. But the Don contended that the NIJ is inferior to degree- awarding institutions.
Also, the proposed law in the recckoning of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) was “the kind of predatory legislation which neither the profession nor the public needed.” The NGE said in a statement that the NPPJC will achieve no public good and that it contains evil clauses so strong to consume media practitioners in the line of duty.
In particular, the Guild expressed reservations on the bill’s 12 parts and 79 sections, especially the section which gives the President powers to appoint and dismiss the Council Chairman upon the recommedation of the minister of Information. It said the constitution of membership to the NPPJC is similar to that of the Nigerian Press Council (NPC), which is currently under litigation.
“How can the independence of such an appointee be guaranteed? The Guild recalls that the media industry’s principled opposition to the nature of composition of the Nigerian Press Council, including appointment of its chairman, remains not only a subject of litigation, but also one of the main reasons for the ineffectiveness of the NPC “," the NGE statement said.
Section 10 of the new bill requires members of the NPC to swear to an oath of secrecy. This, to Nigerians, is simply preposterous in the sense that it will further hamper the ethics of transparency and openess that journalism practice requires. Section 16 of the bill similarly recommends the setting set up of a Media Practitioner Complaint Commission. This, in the reckoning of analysts, will criminalise libel, because an erring journalist will incur a fine of N50,000 and N100,000 on the media organisation, if found guilty.
Besides, sections 26-28 of the bill canvasses the licensing of journalists by writing a pre-qualification examination, which the NGE said is “unacceptable” because such has become archaic “in an age where the profession continues to be enriched by cross-disciplinary knowledge and increasing specialisation...”
Indeed, many Nigerians believe that the lawmakers are not eager to pass the FOI bill, as doing so will give journalists and essentially Nigerians unhindered access to public information, which can help in exposing corruption in high places. In fact, some lawmakers have publicly opposed the bill.
The FOI bill has spent 10 years at the National Assembly. It was initially passed into law by the first session of the Assembly between 1999 and 2003, but former President Olusegun Obasanjo had refused his assent, thus necessitating that the bill be returned to the Assembly.
Nigeria is among the few countries in the world that has not endorsed the FOI bill. Only 13 countries endorsed the bill when it was first initiated in 1990, but currently, over 70 countries have the law in operation.