nigeria: NUJ CONDEMNS EXPULSION OF REPORTER FROM STATE HOUSE

MEDIA IN NIGERIA #02 - 38 (06 OCTOBER 2003)

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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
-OMOLEWA, NIGERIAN, HEADS UNESCO
-WEB SITE: GOVERNOR COMES TO NUJ'S RESCUE

PRINT MEDIA
-NUJ CONDEMNS EXPULSION OF REPORTER FROM STATE HOUSE

BROADCAST MEDIA
-NTA, OTHERS FOR PARTIAL COMMERCIALISATION

INFOTECH
-LONGE VS FIRST BANK: SHAREHOLDER RESTRAINS BANK
DIRECTORS
-ECONET, FIRST BANK SETTLE OUT OF COURT
-GLOBACOM ROLLS OUT IN MAJOR CITIES
-HYPERIA MOVES TO AVOID SANCTIONS OVER USE OF
FREQUENCY

ADVERTISING
-LAGOS GOVT SETS NEW RULES FOR OUTDOOR ADVERTISEMENT
-NBC BANS ADVERT OF UNVERIFIED DRUGS

MEDIA-GENERAL

OMOLEWA, NIGERIAN, HEADS UNESCO

A Nigerian, Professor Michael Omolewa, has been
elected President of the General Conference of the
United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural
Organisation, UNESCO. He was unanimously picked by
the 190 members of the organisation during the 32nd
Conference at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris, France.
He succeeds Iranian, Ambassador Ahmad Jalali.

Before the new appointment, Omolewa was Nigeria's
ambassador to UNESCO.

An elated Omolewa described his election as an
acknowledgment of Nigeria's loyalty and faithfulness
to UNESCO. He outlined the goals of eradicating
illiteracy and ignorance as the major challenge before
his presidency. Omolewa's first assignment in his
new office, was to usher the wife of American
President, Mrs. Laura Bush, to announce the return of
her country to UNESCO, after a 19 - year absence.

WEB SITE: GOVERNOR COMES TO NUJ'S RESCUE

The governor of the Niger delta state of Bayelsa,
Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, has donated N2 million to the
Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) for the
establishment of its web site.

Zee Debekeme, Chief Press Secretary to the governor
who presented the cheque to NUJ President, Smart
Adeyemi, in Abuja, expressed the governor's commitment
to modernization of the media in Nigeria and the
sustenance of press freedom.

The governor descried the media as an ally in the
struggle to improve the lives of the people.

The NUJ President, in his response, commended the
governor for his kind gesture, while also pledging to
ensure that the money was utilized for the purpose for
which it was given.

In a related development, the wife of the governor,
Margaret Alamieyeseigha, has condoled families of the
three journalists who perished recently in a boat
mishap in Ekeremor, Bayelsa / state. Mrs.
Alamieyeseigha who described the incident as painful,
observed that the development should be seen as a
challenge to stamp out the negative vices of sea
piracy and reprisal attacks from the state.

The journalists got drowned when the boat in which
they were sailing to Ekeremor to witness the
presentation of relief materials to victims of
inter-communal crises, capsized following an accident.

PRINT MEDIA

NUJ CONDEMNS EXPULSION OF REPORTER FROM STATE HOUSE

The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has condemned
the recent expulsion of the correspondent of The
Monitor newspaper from the Presidential Villa.

The Abuja council of the union in a statement by its
secretary, Iyobosa Uwugiaren, described the action as
"cruel and unpresidential".

The union equally frowned at the failure of the
presidential spokes-person, Remi Oyo, who, until her
appointment, was President of the Guild of Editors, to
protect the journalist.

Cyril Mbah was banished from Aso Rock over a
commentary which was critical of President Olusegun
Obasanjo's style of administration.

In another development, the zone 'B' of the NUJ has
called on the Nigerian government to arrest the
prohibitive cost of newsprint in order to avert the
looming crisis. Cost of newsprint, a major raw
material for newspaper production, has increased
forcing some media establishment to resort to the use
of equally expensive bond paper.

Nigeria depends largely on importation for her
newsprint requirements.

BROADCAST MEDIA

NTA, OTHERS FOR PARTIAL COMMERCIALISATION

Leading state - owned electronic media organisations
in Nigeria, the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA,
the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, FRCN, and
the wire service, News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, are to
be partially commercialized.

The three media establishments are among 24
organisations earmarked for partial commercialization
by a new bill seeking to repeal the Public Enterprises
Decree No. 28 of 1999.

The bill which is already before the House of
Representatives, the lower arm of the national
parliament, the National Assembly, seeks to replace
the National Council on Privatisation with the
Privatisation Advisory Council (PAC) and to
restructure the Bureau for Public Enterprises.

The bill equally seeks to enhance popular
participation in privatization process.

INFOTECH

LONGE VS FIRST BANK: SHAREHOLDER RESTRAINS BANK
DIRECTORS

As parties in the suit involving First Bank of Nigeria
Plc and its former Managing Director, Bernand Longe,
await judgment, a shareholder of the bank, Babatunde
Kehsinro, has asked a Federal High Court in Lagos to
restrain directors of the financial institution from
further acting in their various capacities.

Kensinro wants the directors restrained because he
believes that their third parties status in the suit
by the bank, which is before Justice Aliyu Gumel,
makes its impossible for them to realistically protect
the interest of the bank and the plantiff.

Kensinro is asking the court to determine whether it
would not amount to a conflict of interest for the
directors to retain their offices "being potentially
liable to First Bank on account of the suit".

"As a Shareholder and member of the bank, my interest
and that of the bank cannot be properly and adequately
protected by a group of directors whose duty is to
protect the bank, but who are potentially liable to
the bank", he declared.

The action is a new twist to the legal battle. Longe
had won a personal victory by getting Justice Gumel to
include FBN's 13 directors as third parties in the
bank's action against him.

Longe has been contesting his removal as managing
director over the $131.7 million loan facility granted
Investor International (London) Limited in the botched
attempt at acquiring a 51 percent equity stake in the
Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL).

The judgment of the Federal High Court, Lagos on the
suit by Longe earlier fixed for September 30 did not
hold following the transfer of the presiding judge,
Justice Reginald Nwodo, to PortHarcourt.

ECONET, FIRST BANK SETTLE OUT OF COURT

Global System of Mobile Communication (GSM) operator,
Econet Wireless Limited has reached an agreement with
one of its financiers, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, FBN,
with a view to settling the dispute between them over
loan-repayment and shareholding, out of court.

The agreement signals the withdrawal of the case
instituted against the GSM company by FBN demanding
among others, that the company's extra-ordinary
general meeting and moves to alter its shareholding
structure by considering bids from South Africa based
telecoms company, Vodacom, be put on hold.

However, the new agreement which would see Econet
Wireless Nigeria allot N2.5 billion equity to First
Bank in the company at the rate of N2 per share, while
paying off the balance of N1.9 billion out of a total
of N4.4 billion indebtedness to the bank, clears the
way for the company's extra-ordinary general meeting
scheduled for October 6, 2003.

The new understanding was said to have been made
possible by opposition to litigation by majority of
First Bank directors.

The extra-ordinary general meeting is expected to sort
issues surrounding the recent board and management
crisis in the company.

GLOBACOM ROLLS OUT IN MAJOR CITIES

After the official inauguration of its Global System
of Mobile Communication (GSM) Services in Abuja, the
nation's Second National Operator, Globacom has kept
faith with its promise to extend its services to
leading Nigerian cities with the roll out of its
services, in quick succession, in Ibadan, Lagos and
PortHarcourt.

The launch has increased the GSM options available to
Nigerians and increased competition within the
industry. So far, Globacom's selling point, is its
per-second billing system.

At the ceremony to herald the company's operation in
Lagos, communications minister, Cornelius Adebayo,
applauded the quality of service provided by the
network and advised them not to take subscribers for
granted.

In Ibadan, Oyo State, Southwestern Nigeria, the state
governor, Rasheed Ladoja praised the company for
introducing the per-second billing system into
Nigeria. "People believe business means exploitation;
it should not be so. If there is no competition, we
will think that the best is what we have but now we
have seen the dividend of privatization by Glomobile
per second billing", he offered.

In PortHarcourt, the company's promoter, Mike Adenuga,
declared that Globacom was poised to make the
difference in GSM service delivery. "We are here to
prove that a Nigerian company can provide the same GSM
service available in other parts of the world", he
declared.

HYPERIA MOVES TO AVOID SANCTIONS OVER USE OF FREQUENCY

One of the leading internet service providers (ISPs)
in the country, Hyperia, is taking steps to avert
sanctions from the industry regulator, the Nigerian
Communications Commission (NCC).

NCC recently indicted Hyperia of illegal use of radio
frequency spectrum (3.5 GHZ band) for which they are
not licenced, thereby committing an offence punishable
under section 31 of the Nigerian Communications Act.

The Commission which said its enhanced monitoring
effort unmasked Hyperia's illegal operation which
caused interference to all Licenced fixed wireless
operators, had threatened legal action against the
ISP.

By virtue of the Act, an illegal operator risk a jail
term or fine, ten times the value of the initial fee
in addition to confiscation of the equipment used for
the illegal operation. But media reports indicate
that Hyperia's management have reached out to the NCC
with a view to resolving the matter amicably.

ADVERTISING

LAGOS GOVT SETS NEW RULES FOR OUTDOOR ADVERTISEMENT

The quarell between the Lagos State government and
Outdoor Advertising Practitioners may not be over
afterall. In a renewed move to regulate and control
the use of outdoor structures for advertisement,
display of signage and hoarding, the state government
has churned out fresh regulations which require
outdoor practitioners to register with the government
and obtain relevant permits before they can practice
their profession.

According to a release by the state Ministry of
Environment, the new order "will remove visual blight
and enhance the physical environment". It also said
that the measure will eliminate quackery and allow
only accredited professionals to practice in the
state. "No company or person, whether for commercial,
professional or personal purposes, is allowed to erect
any kind of advertising structure or to display any
kind of advertising message(s), without first
complying with the requisite procedure and payment of
the prescribed fees, and possession of the applicable
permit(s)", the ministry stated.

Practitioners who have already erected any kind of
advertising structures, have until March 31, 2004 to
regularize their statuses.

NBC BANS ADVERT OF UNVERIFIED DRUGS

The National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, has given
broadcast stations in Nigeria a September 30, 2003
deadline to stop airing advertisements of traditional
medicine whose efficacy has not been scientifically
proven.

The commission observed that there has been an
avalanche of such advertisements on radio and
television stations nationwide making spurious claims,
"the most notorious being claims that they can cure
cancer, fibroid, epilepsy, hepatitis, syphilis and
HIV/Aids".

It regretted that the trend which violates section
8.4.16 of the Nigeria Braodcasting code, has enabled
charlatans, advertisers, and the stations to exploit
alternative medicine for commercial gains.

Broadcast stations who violate the code, will as from
October 1, 2003, face sanction ranging from fines to
outright loss of broadcast licence.

In a similar move, the National Agency for Food Drug
Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has directed the
Nigerian Television Authority, NTA, the leading TV
network in Nigeria to desist from airing adverts of
alternative medicine whose potency is not
scientificable verifiable. The agency frowned at the
activities of charlatans who parade themselves as
having the cure for all ailments.

-----ENDS----

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