The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) Wednesday expressed concern over the growing insecurity in the country and advised government at all levels to activate their structures in tackling the challenges.
The umbrella of all editors in Nigeria also said “an enabling political and economic environment for the media to discharge their constitutional and social responsibilities is essential in guaranteeing and sustaining democratic space, sustainable development, providing incentives for social/democratic change, advocating respect for human rights, shaping development policies and overseeing their implementation.”
The NGE stated this in a communique signed by Mr. Mustapha Isah and Iyobosa Uwugiaren, the president and the general secretary respectively at the end of its 2021 Biennial Convention in Kano.
They called on the federal government “to, as a matter of urgency, expunge, repeal or amend as may be appropriate, all existing obnoxious media laws in the country that are inimical to press freedom.”
It however urged editors and journalists to continue to subscribe to and uphold the journalism code of ethics – as developed by the Nigerian Press Organisation (NPO).
“The Guild observes the need for the Nigerian mass media to exercise their freedom to operate freely with a sense of responsibility. And considering the spikes in the levels of insecurity across the length and breadth of the country, it is high time for the media to set the agenda and lead the country’s drive to sustaining national cohesion.
“While observing Nigeria’s consistent deterioration in the Global Press Freedom Index since 2005, the Guild notes that it is worrisome that the slide is happening in a democracy, whereby the Guild has had cause in recent times to issue three press statements on the threats of closure and imposition of fines on some broadcast stations by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC)’’, the communique added.
The NGE strongly condemned the harassment and arrest of vendors in the South East for selling newspapers carrying story on agitators, describing the action as a subtle way of emasculating newspaper and put newspaper companies out of business as vendors may stop accepting and selling their publications.
The Guild noted the huge disruption the COVID-19 pandemic has created globally, saying the disruption also had negative effects on the Nigerian media industry, leading to significant drop in the media businesses’ revenues.
“For the media to respond to these challenges creatively, there is urgent need for the media managers to evolve diversification, designing of a dynamic management system, producing innovative contents, restructuring their production technologies and adapting new funding and business models.
“Considering that the role of information dissemination by the mass media is an essential public and social service, the Guild calls on government to consider mitigating the media’s operational costs and economic challenges by floating a national media subsidy regime, including tax holidays and waivers, lifting of license fees for the broadcast media and offsetting debts of government media agencies in the country,” the Guild stated.
