Featured
Sanctions On Broadcast Stations Not Media Gag – NBC Clarifies
… as journalists urge incoming govt to partner media on anti-corruption
Against the growing concern by stakeholders that press freedom in Nigeria is threatened by broadcast regulations, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) says its disciplinary measures and sanctions on erring broadcasting stations are not aimed at gagging the media.
NBC’s Director-General, Balarabe Shehu Ilelah, clarified during PUBLIC CONSCIENCE, an anti-corruption radio programme produced by the Progressive Impact Organization for Community Development, PRIMORG, Wednesday in Abuja.
Represented by the agency’s Director, Public Affairs, Susan Obi, revealed that imposition of sanctions on broadcast stations is not done hastily but requires a rigorous procedure and steps, insisting that the main aim has never been to gag the Nigerian media space but to get all stakeholders to play by the rules.
Obi said the functions of the Commission were not just set up by NBC but were agreed on by broadcast stakeholders while urging the media to take responsibility for ensuring credibility and balancing their duties.
She said NBC could contribute to Nigeria’s fight against corruption by ensuring that broadcast stations have programs or content that are authentic, that have been thoroughly investigated, and balanced contents.
Dismissing insinuations that NBC is contracting press freedom in the country with sanctions, Obi said: “NBC does not just sanction. There are procedures for sanctioning. They are even formal procedures because we are concise with decisions. There are letters given, letters of caution, and letters of warning before the sanction we all talk about, which is the fine.
“Broadcasting is supposed to help the people make informed decisions, make informed choices. Because of the function of the Commission, stations, on their own set agenda, have their content, but the Commission does not determine the station’s content.
“In the fight against corruption, how NBC can help is to ensure that the stations have programs or content that are authentic, that have been thoroughly investigated, that is why the Commission asks that there should be different sides and opinions being expressed,” She stressed.
On his part, Editor-in-Chief of Forefront Magazine and Online, Amos Dunia, questioned the legality of NBC sanctions, saying that it was founded on faulty grounds and had made NBC act as both complainant/prosecutor and the judge in sanctioning media houses.
Dunia called on the Nigerian government to be less combative against the media but work with them, particularly in the fight against corruption. He, however, stressed that journalists and the entirety of the media industry are doing their best in their role as enshrined in the constitution.
He lamented the dwindling fortunes of investigative journalism as journalists face attacks, adding that the government’s reluctance to react and act appropriately on corruption cases was worsening the issues.
“Government must understand that the media is the oxygen needed for democracy to thrive. And as long as the media must exist and work, the government should be less combative against the press. They should be able to listen more to the media and ensure that they carry the media along in the fight against corruption. You see, once corruption can be minimized. I’m not saying you can eliminate corruption totally. It’s pretty difficult to do because you are dealing with human minds. As long as corruption can be minimized, you have more development.
“The bottom line is that the government should see the media as partners in progress in governance,” Dunia said.
Advising the incoming administration on strengthening the fight against corruption, Kabir Yusuf, a Premium Times reporter, urged the government first to see the media not as a competitor but as a partner.
Yusuf stressed that anti-corruption agencies that are charged with the responsibility of fighting corruption must collaborate with the media while lamenting that journalists are facing a new form of attack by state actors.
“Government and the media can work together. There is no way a democracy like ours can develop and grow without the media playing its crucial role. I believe the government can work together with the media,” He stressed.
An investigative report by Premium Times exposed that media houses are tightening their digital security measures out of concerns that new spy technologies have exposed journalists to even more significant threats of surveillance and harassment.
Public Conscience is a syndicated weekly anti-corruption radio program PRIMORG uses to draw government and citizens’ attention to corruption and integrity issues in Nigeria.
The program has the support of the MacArthur Foundation.
Featured
NAPTIP Restates Commitment To Fighting Human Trafficking
Joel Ajayi
… decries corruption in law enforcement, weak legislation
The Director-General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Prof. Fatima Waziri-Azi, has pledged the agency’s commitment to fight human trafficking.
Waziri-Azi gave the assurance during an anti-corruption radio program, PUBLIC CONSCIENCE, produced by the Progressive Impact Organization for Community Development, PRIMORG, in Abuja.
The commitment by NAPTIP follows an investigative report by Human Angle Media exposing how many Nigerians trafficked to Egypt are inhumanely treated and exploited by their sponsors.
Represented by the agency’s Director of Public Enlightenment, Mrs. Kehinde Akomolafe, decried the rising number of Nigerians who are victims of trafficking, pledging that “NAPTIP is fighting on all sides to curb human trafficking.”
Akomolafe disclosed that the agency is aware of the report of Nigerians trafficked to Egypt and has already commenced interventions to rescue them while warning citizens to be wary of “offers that are too good to be true.”
She identified weak legislation, lengthy judicial processes, and corrupt law enforcement officials as factors aiding and abetting trafficking in Nigeria and elsewhere in the world.
“Corruption is endemic and cuts across other countries of the world, and that’s why trafficking is easily perpetrated in Nigeria and around the globe. You find law enforcement officials aiding and abetting traffickers. Some of them know these traffickers from their operations either at the entry or exit point. They give them something or become too familiar with them.
“Apart from the bribery aspect, we also have officials turning a blind eye to trafficking activities, and that’s why for us at the agency (NAPTIP), we are not resting.”
According to her, the agency, from inception, secured 672 convictions, 67 in 2023, and 35 persons so far this year (2024). She added that “NAPTIP is winning the war against trafficking but still wants stiffer punishment for traffickers and the support of the judiciary in hastening cases.
“weak legislation is aiding trafficking. That’s why the agency continues pushing for amendments. Currently, NAPTIP is pushing for stiffer punishment against traffickers that will lead to confiscation of their monies and property.
“NAPTIP Director-General (Prof. Fatima Waziri-Azi) is fighting on all sides against human trafficking.
“Where law enforcement officials are found complicit, NAPTIP Director-General does not take it lightly; she doesn’t compromise her anti-corruption stance even when a staff is involved,” Akomolafe stated.
According to the Editor of Southern Operations, Human Angle Media, Kabir Adejumo, many Nigerians trafficked to Egypt engage in forced labour. They are also living in fear as authorities go after illegal immigrants.
Adejumo said victims interviewed during the investigation are willing and interested in returning home, but their sponsors refuse to release their travel passports and threaten to implicate them.
He also revealed that the NAPTIP and Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) are aware of the plight of Nigerians trafficked in Egypt and have currently rescued one person.
On her part, the Programme Manager of the Human Angle Foundation, Angela Umoro-David, expressed satisfaction at NAPTIP’s response to trafficking cases while urging the agency to stay on course with their mandate.
Umoro-David called on Nigerians to use a Freedom of Information platform (foi.humananglemedia.com) to help citizens navigate requests for public records from different government parastatals and agencies.
She stressed that the platform “is a website where people can submit their FOI requests to us (Human Angle), and we’ll submit it on their behalf to the particular agency. So we act as middlemen, connecting these government parastatals to the citizens”.
Public Conscience is a syndicated weekly anti-corruption radio program PRIMORG uses to draw government and citizens’ attention to corruption and integrity issues in Nigeria.
The program has the support of the MacArthur Foundation
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