CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background
to the Study
Government’s
attempt not only to control but subjugate the Nigerian press through obnoxious
laws has been an enduring problem in the history of the country. The press has
been striving to wriggle itself out of these unfavourable laws but the
government believes that giving the press the freedom to operate as an
independent entity might be suicidal.
The
government feels that it is legal to restrain the power of the press and if
possible have total control of the press. To government, press is an instrument
of people in power and should yield itself to their dictates. But the press
fight fiercely to resist the obsequious stance government wants to subject it
to because of the belief that they are to serve as watchdog on government and
not to be used as an extension of ministry of information or as a tool for
propaganda. This gave rise to clashes between the press and the government.
While the government uses its authority to subdue the press, the press resist
by remaining tenacious in its fight for freedom.
When
in 1994 the agitation for freedom of information bill commenced, the aim was to
allow the Nigerian press have access to documents and information in the
custody of the government or its officials and agencies as a necessary proof to
the guarantee of freedom of information but since the passage of the bill into
law in 2011, the government’s stance have been rigid.
However,
the government’s truculent reaction to the freedom of the press to report the
affairs of government to the public shows that the government has skeletons in
its cupboard and therefore, would never entertain the prolonged scrutiny of the
press thus their un-willingness to allow the law to take full effect in the
country. The aim of the government to Lord over the press is not peculiar to
Nigeria alone or to the third world countries but to the entire world except
the United State of America that said it clearly in its constitution that
“congress shall make no law that will abridge the freedom of press and
expression”.
According
to Ekwele (1986), “throughout the centuries, and in every country the media
have been subjected to both harassment and manipulation”. From the colonial era
to Nigeria’s independence and to military and civilian regimes, the press has
struggled to exist amidst diverse suppressive laws, ordinaries, acts and
decrees enacted and promulgated at one time or another by different governments.
Today, the Nigerian press exists in a very tenuous position. In the words of
Eze (1993), “the jeremiad of complaints by the press have fallen on deaf ears
of government whose alert and watchful eyes are permanently directed on what
the press published with eager hands to censor and equal hostility to attack
and arrest the reporters”.
The
present democratic environment has not fully guaranteed a conducive operational
atmosphere for journalists in the country. Even the democratic government of
Olusegun Obasanjo since inception has been characterized by pockets of attack
on the press similar to what was obtained during the military era.
Moreover,
since the colonial masters, journalists and freedom fighters have been
clamouring for freedom which were not fully given like they are in the U.S.A.
In fact, the nation’s 1999 constitution that was expected to provide this
freedom was just a replica of the 1999 constitution where the freedom was just
a give and take, going by the section 22 of chapter 2 of the 1999 constitution
which states that:
“The
press, radio, television and other agencies of mass media shall at all time be
free to uphold the fundamental objective contain in this chapter and uphold the
responsibility and accountability of the government to the public”.
The
constitution gave the press a constitutional duty but failed to empower them by
until recently, precisely May 27, 2011 when President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
finally assented to a new freedom of information bill that had been unanimously
scrutinized by the two chambers, that is the House of Representatives and the
Senate with a title : An act to make to make public reactions records and
information, protect public interest and information to the extent consistent
with the public interest and the protection of personal privacy, protect
serving public officers from adverse consequences for disclosing certain kinds
of official information without authorization and establish procedures for the
advancement of those purposes and related purposes thereof.
Consequently,
analysis of various challenges and problems facing journalists on the freedom
of information law which allow access to public documents by journalists
underscores the purpose of this study.
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