Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent an
\nopen letter to President Muhammadu Buhari urging him to “urgently
\ninstruct Mr. Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, and the
\nNational Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to withdraw the apparently
\nillegal Broadcasting Code and Memo threatening to sanction any broadcast
\nthat denigrates, disrespects, insults, and abuses president, governors,
\nlawmakers, and other elders and leaders in authority.”<\/p>\n
SERAP also asked President Buhari to “instruct Mr. Mohammed and the NBC
\nto immediately rescind the fine of N5m imposed on Nigeria Info 99.3 FM
\nradio station, following reported comments by a former Deputy Governor
\nof the Central Bank of Nigeria, Obadiah Malafia, during an interview
\nwith the station.”<\/p>\n
The NBC last week reportedly issued a stern warning to journalists and
\nbroadcast stations, stating: “To denigrate our governors, lawmakers,
\nelders and leaders in abusive terms is not our culture. We respect our
\nleaders as a positive cultural value. The Commission may be compelled to
\nimpose sanctions where stations fail to curb this practice.”<\/p>\n
In the letter dated 15 August 2020 and signed by SERAP deputy director
\nKolawole Oluwadare, the organization said: “Rather than pushing to
\nenforce a culture to respect president, governors, lawmakers, elders,
\nand other leaders, Mr Muhammed and the NBC should use their entrusted
\npublic office and mandates to promote a culture of public debate, access
\nto information, transparency and accountability in government.”<\/p>\n
According to SERAP: “nothing can be more destructive to people’s
\nexercise of basic human rights, and to democratic politics than the
\nsuppression of the media, and media freedom. The alleged ‘cultural
\ncodes’, which Mr Muhammed and the NBC are now using to punish
\njournalists, broadcast stations and other Nigerians are patently
\ncontrary to the public interests.”<\/p>\n
SERAP said: “the implementation of the code and the memo would further
\ndeter meaningful citizens’ engagement, and have a chilling effect on
\nNigerians’ human rights, particularly the rights to freedom of
\nexpression and access to information, undermine the idea of
\nrepresentative democracy, as well as make public officials less
\nresponsive to the people.”<\/p>\n
The letter, a copy of which was sent to Mr Lai Muhammed, read in part:
\n“We would be grateful if the requested action and measures are taken
\nwithin 7 days of the receipt and\/or publication of this letter. If we
\nhave not heard from you by then that the measures have been taken, the
\nRegistered Trustees of SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions to
\ncompel you to do so in the public interest.”<\/p>\n
“Our requests are entirely consistent and compatible with the Nigerian
\nConstitution of 1999 (as amended), and the country’s international legal
\nobligations, including under the UN Convention against Corruption, the
\nInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the African
\nCharter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, to which the country is a state
\nparty.”<\/p>\n
“SERAP is seriously concerned that the implementation of the code and
\nthe memo would lead to unjust punishment and self-censorship among
\njournalists and the media, and exacerbate the growing level of impunity
\nfor attacks on media freedom.”<\/p>\n
“Self-censorship would undermine media freedom and the right to receive
\nand impart information, public debate and further impair the ability of
\nNigerians to hold to account public officials and politicians accused of
\ngrand corruption.”<\/p>\n
“SERAP is concerned that the action by Mr Muhammed and NBC has further
\nundermined public trust in government and politicians, as it shows that
\npublic officials are taking for granted their entrusted public
\nfunctions, and accountability to Nigerians.”<\/p>\n
“The speed at which the code and the memo have been issued and applied
\nmay lead to public suspicion that the authorities are deliberately
\npushing to undermine the ability of journalists and the media to report
\non public interest issues, such as the growing poverty, widespread
\nviolence and killings, poor quality education, poor infrastructure and
\nlack of access of millions of Nigerians to basic public goods and
\nservices.”<\/p>\n
“SERAP is concerned that rather than addressing these matters of public
\ninterest and revelations of massive allegations of corruption and
\nmismanagement in ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), your
\ngovernment is devoting time and energy to stop the media and journalists
\nfrom reporting on the issues.”<\/p>\n
“Transparency would build trust and confidence in the government. The
\npublic interest in transparency and public monitoring of the use and
\nmanagement of the country’s natural wealth and resources by politicians
\noutweighs any perceived cultural injunctions of ‘respect for president,
\ngovernors, lawmakers and other leaders.'”<\/p>\n
“Transparency will mean little without media freedom, which is important
\nto shine a light into government activities and bring matters to the
\nattention of the public. Public debate and access to information would
\npromote a culture of transparency, and accountability, which in turn
\nwould facilitate Nigerians’ right to participate in their own
\ngovernment.”<\/p>\n
“In a truly representative democracy that Nigeria is striving to become,
\nthose who venture into public life, whether in the capacity of
\npresident, governor, or lawmakers, must expect to have their
\nconstitutional and public functions subjected to scrutiny and public
\ndiscussion.”<\/p>\n
“By allowing journalists and the media to freely and independently
\nperform their roles of informing the public, Nigerians will be able to
\nmonitor and keep politicians on a tighter leash, which will contribute
\nto good government.”<\/p>\n
“The code and the memo are illegal, unconstitutional and amount to a
\nmisuse of public office insofar as they blatantly fail to follow due
\nprocess of law, meet basic constitutional and international fair trial
\nstandards, and a strict three-part test of legality, necessity and
\nproportionality.”<\/p>\n
“According to the UN Human Rights Committee, the free communication of
\ninformation and ideas about public and political issues between
\ncitizens, candidates and elected representatives is essential. This
\nimplies a free press and other media able to comment on public issues
\nwithout censorship or restraint and to inform public opinion.”<\/p>\n
“Similarly, the European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly held that
\nfreedom of expression constitutes one of the essential foundations of a
\ndemocratic society. It is applicable not only to information or ideas
\nthat are favourably received or regarded as inoffensive or as a matter
\nof indifference, but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the
\nState or any sector of the population.”<\/p>\n
“According to our information, the NBC on Thursday 13 August, 2020
\nreportedly sent a ‘memo’ to journalists and broadcasters threatening to
\n‘sanction and punish them if they violate a culture stopping them from
\ndenigrating, disrespecting, insulting, and abusing president, governors,
\nlawmakers, and other elders and leaders in authority.'”<\/p>\n
“In the memo reportedly signed by Mr Chibuike Ogwumike, Zonal Director
\nof the NBC Lagos office, the NBC cited the provisions of the
\nBroadcasting Code: Section 3.1, Professional Rules: 3.1.1, and
\nBroadcasting Code: 3.1.19 to justify the existence of such culture to
\nrespect public officials and other elders and leaders in authority in
\nthe country.”<\/p>\n
SERAP therefore urged Mr Buhari to urgently:<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Instruct the Mr Lai Muhammed and the NBC to immediately withdraw
\nthe code and memo to journalists and broadcasters threatening to
\nsanction and punish them on the basis of cultural codes prohibiting them
\nfrom denigrating, disrespecting, insulting and abusing president,
\ngovernors, lawmakers, and other elders and leaders in authority;
\n2.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Instruct Mr Lai Muhammed and the NBC to immediately rescind the
\napparently illegal fine of N5m imposed on Nigeria Info 99.3 FM radio
\nstation;
\n3.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Propose and promote rules and codes that would ensure a culture
\nof public accountability, prevent grand corruption, curtail abuse of
\npower by public officials and politicians, as well as improve a
\ndemocratic relationship and engagement between citizens and the
\ngovernment;
\n4.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Publicly commit to enforce constitutional and international
\nhuman rights of journalists and the media and all Nigerians, and to
\nfaithfully fulfil your constitutional oath of office;
\n5.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Publicly commit to restore public trust in government, and to
\nrespect and protect the constitutional rights of journalists and the
\nmedia to report on allegations of corruption and other socio-economic
\nchallenges confronting the country<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari urging him to “urgently instruct Mr. Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, and the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49993,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n