NIGERIA: GOV THREATENS JOURNALISTS ON NEGATIVE REPORTS

MEDIA IN NIGERIA #01 - 37(18 NOVEMBER 2002)

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MEDIA IN NIGERIA is a weekly publication on developments within and
affecting the media/communication/freedom of expression sector in Nigeria.

It is an initiative of the Institute for Media and Society (IMS), a
non-profit,
non-governmental organization based in Lagos, Nigeria.
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NEWS

MEDIA-GENERAL
-GOV THREATENS JOURNALISTS ON NEGATIVE REPORTS

PRINT MEDIA
-PUNCH CHAIRMAN BAGS NATIONAL HONOUR

BROADCAST MEDIA
-HOUSE STEPS DOWN NBC AMENDMENT BILL

INFOTECH
-GOVT WON'T FIX TARIFF FOR TELECOM OPERATORS - ATIKU
-NITEL WORKERS GIVE MINISTER ULTIMATUM
-FRSC BEGINS ARREST OF MOTORISTS USING CELL PHONES FROM JANUARY

THE ARTS
-JEGEDE SOKOYA IS DEAD
-OGONIS REMEMBER SARO-WIWA

MEDIA-GENERAL

GOV THREATENS JOURNALISTS ON NEGATIVE REPORTS

Angered by perceived biased reporting of the ethno-religious crises
buffeting Plateau State, North-Central Nigeria, the governor, Joshua Dariye,
has threatened to declare "persona non grata," journalists who write
"negative reports" on the State.

Dariye who was speaking while receiving members of the Presidential
Committee on Peace and Reconciliation in the crisis-ridden councils of the
state at government house, Jos, accused journalists of aggravating the
crisis in the state through biased reporting.

He reminded journalists that the ethics of their profession demand that they
should report the truth at all times, adding that his administration would
no longer fold its arms and allow anybody to fuel the crisis through biased
reporting.

PRINT MEDIA

PUNCH CHAIRMAN BAGS NATIONAL HONOUR

The chairman of Punch Nigeria Limited, publishers of The Punch newspaper,
Ajibola Ogunshola is among the list of 215 persons who are to be decorated
with various national honours by the Nigerian government.

Ogunshola is to be conferred with the national title of Officer of the Order
of the Niger (OON).

Of the 215 persons to be honoured, 14 would be conferred with the national
title of Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR); 30 as Commander of the
Order of the Niger (CON); 50 as Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR); 60 as
Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON); 32 as Member of the Federal
Republic (MFR); and 7 as Member of the Order of the Niger (MON).

BROADCAST MEDIA

HOUSE STEPS DOWN NBC AMENDMENT BILL

The lower arm of the Nigerian Parliament, the House of Representatives, has
stepped down consideration on the proposed bill seeking an amendment to the
National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Decree.

The House's action was sequel to an application by the bill's sponsor, Nduka
Irabor, that it be dropped as it has already been taken care of in an
Executive bill seeking the establishment of a National Frequency Management
Council.

The bill would have saddled the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)
with the sole responsibility of allocating telecom and broadcast frequencies
in the country.

INFOTECH

GOVT WON'T FIX TARIFF FOR TELCOM OPERATORS - ATIKU

The Nigerian government has assured that it would not intervene in the
current tariff regime in the telecommunications sector.

Vice President Atiku Abubakar who gave this assurance at the 8th Nigerian
Telecommunications Conference and Exhibition, hosted by the Association of
Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), said market forces would
determine the appropriate rate.

Atiku said direct government intervention in regulating the tariffs,
especially that of the Global System of Mobile Communications (GSM), which
is believed to be among the highest in the world, would send wrong signals
to potential investors.

The Vice President's position was amplified by the Executive Vice Chairman
of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Ernest Ndukwe, who said
that it would be tantamount to wielding the big stick if " NCC dabbles into
the issue of tariff for telcom services"

"We will leave it to market forces and competition and all we can do is to
ensure that there is enough competition," Ndukwe said.

In Nigeria, GSM subscribers have been groaning under the yoke of high tariff
which is about N50 per minute.

NITEL WORKERS GIVE MINISTER ULTIMATUM

Employees of the Nigerian Telecommunication Limited (NITEL) have revived
their plan to embark on a nation wide strike in protest over the Nigerian
Government's decision to hand the parastatal to a foreign management
contractor.

In the renewed agitation, the workers under the aegis of the National Union
of Postal and Telecommunications Employees (NUPTE) and Senior Staff
Association of Utilities, Statutory Corporations and Government Companies
(SSAUSCGOC), have given the minister of Communications, Bello Mohammed,
one-week ultimatum to reverse the decision to contract out the management of
NITEL to foreigners or face a strike action.

Last October 15,2002, the workers had served a strike notice over the same
issue but suspended the action following a dialogue with the minister on
October 18, where he promised to address the fears of the workers.

The workers regretted that rather than act on the agreement reached with
them, the minister has gone ahead to inaugurate the board of NITEL with a
mandate to facilitate the contracting out of NITEL's management and its
final privatization without carrying them along.

FRSC BEGINS ARREST OF MOTORISTS USING CELL PHONES FROM JANUARY

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has said that it would start arresting
drivers using cell phones from January 2003.

George Aham Chukwu, commander of the Abia State sector, South-Eastern
Nigeria, who dropped this hint, said the Corps is currently sensitizing the
public on the need to avoid using the cell phones while driving.

He said the Traffic Act of (1997) empowers the organisation to arrest
motorists who fault the order against the use of GSM phones on the roads.

Chukwu said the sum of N500 is prescribed in the act for first offenders.

THE ARTS

RENOWNED ACTOR, JEGEDE SOKOYA, IS DEAD

Renowned television actor, Claude Eke, popularly known as Prince Jegede
Sokoya in the popular Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) play, New
Masquerade, is dead.

The late Eke was part of the cast of the New Masquerade, the only sit-com
that ruled the airwaves in the late 70s and the early 80s.

Eke, an Ibo by ethnic nationality, played the role of a Yorubaman, fully
exhibiting the defining nuances of Yoruba culture.

Eke who will be deeply missed by the Nigerian theatre fraternity died at the
University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu, South-East Nigeria
following complications resulting from heart disease.

OGONIS REMEMBER SARO-WIWA

On the seventh anniversary of the execution of playwright and environmental
activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight of his Ogoni kinsmen, the people of Ogoni
land have been charged not to allow the dream of the late Ken to die.

Reverend James Sipoto of the Methodist Church, Bori, Rivers State, Nigeria's
Niger Delta, gave the charge at an anniversary service for the Ogoni
martyrs.

Said he "As you all know, the dreamer will die but may the dream never die.
It is not their struggle, it is a universal struggle, and that is why I have
been behind them."

The president of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP),
Ledun Mitee, in his speech, paid tribute to the Ogoni nine.

" This is a sad day for all of us. We cannot escape the sense of loss from
friends and from our circle of friends and from our society, he said.

He however, said the anniversary offers them the opportunity to reflect and
draw strength for each new step that is required to honour the memory of the
martyrs.

Ken's father, 98-year old Pa Wiwa, laments the tragic loss of his son, whom
he said ought to be taking care of him in the absence of any government
policy on care for the aged

While looking up to God for ultimate judgment on the circumstances that led
to Ken's execution, Pa Wiwa takes solace in the realization that his son
died fighting a just cause.

"Ken did not die because of hunger. He did not die because be committed any
crime. He died fighting for human rights," he said.

Ken's eldest son, Ken Wiwa Jnr, a Saul Rae fellow in the Munk Centre for
International Studies at the University of Toronto, Canada, said his father
has not died in vain as the issues he fought and died for are now in the
mainstream of national debate.

Said he, "My father knew what was at stake all those years he championed the
cause of resource control. He was happy to give his life to the cause and
when historians look back many years from now I expect they will recognize
the role my father's life and death contributed to the issue."

-----ENDS----

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