Professional journalists who have taken to online publishing in Nigeria
have resolved to boycott the activities of political parties in Nigeria
with immediate effect.
The online publishers who met in Lagos State on Saturday to review the
activities of political parties in relation to advert patronage rose to a
conclusion that campaign organizations of the political parties have
deliberately diverted advertising funds meant for online news platforms in
the country.
A situation, they roundly condemned and called on all news publishing online
Platforms in the country to shun all party related activities until the
abnormally is addressed.
The publishers expressed disgust at the gimmick of the campaign
organizations to use the advertisement streaming platforms of Google and
Prest Ads among others to place the advertisements, paying little or
nothing for it instead of dealing directly with Nigerian publishers who
are creating jobs for millions of Nigerians in the online industry.
In that regard, the publishers ordered the immediate stoppage of online
political advertisements with foreign inputs with immediate effect. The
publishers gathered that one of the two major political parties in the
country had budgeted not less than N150 million for online advertisement.
However, till date, no credible online news website has indicated it had
benefitted from the N150 million. The Deputy Director General of one of
the campaign organizations told an online publisher at the Presidential
Villa in Abuja that approval had been given and money released for the
party’s advertisements on credible news websites but expressed surprise
that the money has been diverted. He wondered what could have happened to
the money.
Information available in that regard was that before the commencement of
the campaigns, 12 online news mediums were penciled down for patronage by
the said political party at a rate of N5 million per medium. The number of
online news platforms to be patronized was later increased to 17 and then
30, making the budget N150 million. This is apart from the millions of
naira budgeted for media relations.
Aside from streaming political advertisements through third parties on the
news websites, thus creating the impression that advertisements had been
given, what some of those involved in the campaigns themselves had done
was to quickly open phony news websites and diverted the funds for the
media into private pockets.
It was in the light of these revelations that the online publishers
decided to, with immediate effect, boycott the activities of the political
parties, some of which send as many as 10 “dump” press statements to the
online news websites as early as 6am everyday.