Nigeria: JOURNALISTS BARRED FROM COMMITTEE PROCEEDINGS

MEDIA IN NIGERIA: #01-10 (13 MAY 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
-JOURNALISTS BARRED FROM PANEL
-NUJALLEGES HARRASSMENT OF MEMBERS

PRINT MEDIA
-CONCORD MAY BE BACK JULY
-VENDORS SEEK BETTER DEAL

BROADCAST MEDIA
-30 NIGERIAN TV STATIONS TO BEAM WORLD CUP SIGNALS
-KWARA GOVT MERGES RADIO, TV STATIONS

INFOTECH
-GSM: SUBSCRIBER BASE NEARS A MILLION MARK
-IILL: FIRST BANK REASSURES SHAREHOLDERS
-INTERNET FRAUD: ISPs FORGE ALLIANCE WITH SECURITY AGENCIES
-SECOND TELECOMS CARRIER COMING

ADVERTISING
-OYO STATE INTRODUCES RENT ON BILL BOARDS

ANALYSIS
-NIGERIA: A CONTEMPORARY PROFILE OF THE MEDIA

MEDIA-GENERAL

JOURNALISTS BARRED FROM PANEL

Journalists have been disallowed from covering proceedings
of a 15-member Christian Peace Committee probing the death
of 14 worshippers in Enugu, South-East Nigeria. At the
resumed sitting of the committee led by Justice Anthony
Aniagolu last week, evidence from two witnesses who
appeared before it including the former Governor of Old
Anambra State, Chief C.C. Onoh, were taken in camera.

Rev. Anene Nselu, secretary of the committee said
journalists would not be allowed to cover proceedings of
the committee, stressing that clearance must be sought from
him before anything could be published on their
activities.

NUJ ALLEGES HARASSMENT OF MEMBERS

The Enugu State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists
(NUJ), South-East Nigeria, has protested against what it
called harassment and intimidation of its members by
suspected agents of the state government.

Mr. Chukwudi Alife, the chairman of the chapter, in a
statement condemned at the manner in which journalists were
being harassed and threatened while performing their lawful
duties.

According to him those who have reported such threats to
the council include Mr. Emeka Mammah of Vanguard, Mr.
Emmanuel Obe of The Punch, Mr. Abuchi Aneyia of National
Interest and Ahamefula Ogbu of This Day.

“They all complained of being physically threatened
in addition to moves to remove them from their
employment”, Alife said.

He advised any government official who feels offended by
any report published by a journalist to seek legal redress.

Meanwhile, Enugu State government has denied the
allegation. Mr. Igbonekwu Ogazimorah, the Special Assistant
on Media Matters to the state Governor, described the
NUJ’s allegation as “unbelievable and a source
of great shock to the Enugu State Government”.

He expressed outrage that the NUJ made the allegation
without cross-checking from the state government. He said
the government had no intention of harassing journalists
whose normal lives are protected under the constitution.

PRINT MEDIA

CONCORD MAY BE BACK JULY

The National Concord, one of the titles of the Concord
Press of Nigeria (CPN) which disappeared from the
newsstands some 17 months ago, may stage a dramatic return
in July this year.

Mr. Kola Abiola, the eldest son of late Basorun M.K.O.
Abiola whose election as President of Nigeria was annulled
by General Ibrahim Babangida in 1993, dropped this hint
recently in Minna, Niger State, North- central Nigeria.

According to him, the new-look Concord, which will soon be
presented to Nigerian readers, will give print journalism a
new outlook. Said he, “we want to do away with the
old customs and style of Concord. We are starting all over
again and I think we have to be away from the past.”

Until 1994 when Concord Press was shut for 18 months by the
military regime of late General Sani Abacha, the Concord
titles were brand leaders in the Nigerian newspaper market.
But the fortune of the media empire nosedived after the
forced closure and by early 2001, it was evident that it
was destined for oblivion. Staff were owed arrears of
salaries of more than one year while cash flow became a
nightmare with no fresh injection of funds by the Abiola
family.

The new move to rescusitate the Concord titles is said to
have been facilitated with the injection of funds by some
South African investors.

VENDORS SEEK BETTER DEAL

For the risk they take in the marketing of newspapers,
vendors under the aegis of the Newspapers Vendors
Association of Nigeria (NVAN) have called on publishers to
take steps to improve their lot.

Mr. Richard Ochiem, chairman of the association who made
the appeal at the general meeting of the association in
Lagos said the risk vendors take in running after moving
vehicles on the expressways to sell newspapers, their
having to spend their time and energies to market the
newspapers without any incentive packages from the
publishers was no longer acceptable.

He advocated the acquisition of insurance cover for
vendors, in addition to taking steps to end their
“exploitation and oppression”.

He also wants a speedy resolution of the issue of unsold
copies of newspapers which had pitched the association
against some media houses that have adopted the “no
unsold” policy.

BROADCAST MEDIA

30 NIGERIAN TV STATIONS TO BEAM WORLD CUP SIGNALS

Following an understanding brokered by the National
Broadcasting Commission (NBC), thirty television stations
across Nigeria have signed a broadcast agreement with TV
Africa to transmit live signals of the 2002 FIFA World Cup
scheduled to hold in Korea/Japan.

The agreement was signed during the just concluded General
Assembly of the Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria (BON)
held in Warri, Delta State.

Bayo Adebiyi, TV Africa’s Regional Sales and
Marketing Manager disclosed that the broadcasting stations
which were not present in Warri had formally requested that
the agreement be forwarded to them for signing.

Said he, “The Nigeria Television Authority (NTA),
Kwara State Television and Adamawa State Television had
requested that the agreement be forwarded to them while the
Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) signed the
broadcast agreement for radio transmission of the event.

The agreement guarantees Nigerian audience to the 64
matches of the world Cup. TV Africa, a South Africa based
outfit, is the right owner for the transmission of signals
of the World Cup in Africa.

Nigerian TV stations have been given conditions, which
include the non-broadcast of alcohol and cigarette
advertisement as condition for the broadcast of TV
Africa’s signals. They are only entitled to 10
minutes advert slot during the duration of a match.

KWARA GOVT MERGES RADIO, TV STATIONS

The government of Kwara State, North-Central Nigeria, has
announced the merger of the state broadcasting corporation,
Radio Kwara , with the state television service (KWTV).

A statement by the Special Assistant to the Governor on
Media, Alhaji Razaq Gidado gave the new name of the
stations as Kwara Radio/Television Corporation (KRTC).

Also a new Director-General has been appointed for the new
Corporation. She is Hajia Mairo Eyitayo Mustapha. Her
appointment takes immediate effect.

The re-organization followed the resignation of the
erstwhile General Manager of KWTV, Mallam Ishaq Modibbo
Kawu.

INFOTECH

GSM: SUBSCRIBER BASE NEARS A MILLION MARK

With barely eight months after the introduction of the
Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) services in
the country, Nigeria is already proving that it is the hub
of future African telecoms market.

The combined subscribers profile of the two pioneer GSM
operators in the country, MTN communication and Econet
Wireless which have less than 400,000 a few months ago are
now almost a million. Econet now has over 450,000
subscribers while MTN hit the 400,000 mark.

The subscribers’ profile of the two companies have
been boosted by recent promotion drives, which reduced
price beyond existing price levels in all the GSM networks.

In all, the country now has close to 900,000 GSM lines in
operation. There are strong indications that the
subscribers profile would overshoot the one million mark
before the one year anniversary of the digital mobile
communication system in August.

IILL: FIRST BANK REASSURES SHAREHOLDERS

The new management of First Bank Nigeria Plc has commenced
the process of damage control arising from its misadventure
in the Investment International (London) Limited in the
Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) buy-over deal
with an assurance of safety of shareholders investment.

The six-man management team of the bank gave the assurance
last week when it met top officials of the Nigerian Stock
Exchange.

Jacobs Ajekigbe, the bank’s new managing director who
led the team, said the bank’s decision to loan
$96.2million to IILL to enable it buy a 51 percent stake in
NITEL won’t affect the bank’s future.

He assured that despite the loan, First Bank would still
declare profit, dividend and bonus shares to investors.

IILL’s bid for NITEL collapsed after it failed to
raise the sum it had offered, but not before it had spent
the money borrowed from First Bank on a non-refundable
deposit to secure core bidder status.

This had created anxiety about the safety of
shareholders’ investments.

INTERNET FRAUD: ISPs FORGE ALLIANCE WITH SECURITY AGENCIES

The battle against internet fraud in Nigeria has received a
boost with some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) forging
an alliance with security agencies in the Country and the
United States of America.

The move is a desperate step by the Access providers to
safeguard their businesses from being blacklisted by
offshore satellite companies or bandwith vendors.

The new deal provides for the Security Agencies in both
countries, the ISPs and their partner companies in the USA
exchanging information on cyber criminals, tracking down
fraudulent internet users, and turning over scam mails to
the investigating arm of Security teams of each of the
countries.

SECOND TELECOMS CARRIER COMING

There has been a major shift in the position of the
Nigerian Government as it affects the Licencing of Second
National Telecommunications Carrier. Contrary to its
earlier stand suspending the licencing of any new telecoms
carrier pending the completion of NITEL’s
privatization, the Nigerian government is now favourably
disposed to the immediate licencing of a second National
operator.

Consequently, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)
is expected to announce shortly, a new time table for the
process of licencing of a second National Operator.

This was disclosed by Vice President Atiku Abubakar in
Abuja, the capital, last week. He explained that the
government decided to review its position on the licencing
of a second National Operator because it would not want the
privatization process of NITEL, which is under review, to
delay the licencing of a second National Operator.

One of the factors cited for the collapse of the NITEL
privatization programme was the premature announcement by
the NCC iniating bid for the Second National Carrier to
compete with NITEL. The announcement which came at a time
when the preferred bidder in the NITEL privatization,
Investors International (London) Limited (IILL) was still
sourcing for fund is believed to have scared away would-be
investors who understandly argued that the introduction of
the SNO had altered the business horizon which hitherto
existed with NITEL as the sole telecom carrier.

However, in a swift reaction to the government’s
policy direction for the prolonged privatization programme
in the nation’s telecoms sector, the licenced Private
Telecommunications Operators (PTOs) in the country have
called on the NCC to hasten the process of providing the
guidelines for the planned sale of the SNO Mr. Charles
Joseph, PTOs President told Journalists that such
guidelines are vital for any investors who might have
interest in the SNO.

ADVERTISING

OYO GOVT INTRODUCES RENT ON BILL BOARDS

As part of efforts to improve its revenue earnings, the Oyo
State Government South-west Nigeria has served notice of
its plan to collect ground rent from owners of advertising
bill boards in the state.

The government expects to rake in about N3 billion annually
from the exercise. And for members of the Outdoor
Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN), the penalty for
failure to pay for the billboards in all parts of the state
is to have them pulled down.

The new move of the Oyo State Government, which is widely
expressed to elicit strong opposition from the OAAN, is
said to be backed by provision of the Land Use Decree of
1978.

ANALYSIS

NIGERIA: A CONTEMPORARY PROFILE OF THE MEDIA
By Ayo Olukotun

(Being excerpts from a paper presented at a recent
conference on “Urban Violence, Ethnic Militias and
the Challenge of Democratic Consolidation in
Nigeria”, organised by the Institute for Media and
Society in Lagos, Nigeria)

Nigeria has the biggest and most virile press community in
Africa followed by South Africa and Kenya. Ogudu
conservatively puts the number of publications (weeklies,
dailies and magazines) at 116, although a number of these
are fickle and are at the margins of survival. The period
since 1999 has witnessed a mushrooming of sorts in the
newspaper industry with new titles like “The
Anchor”, “National Interest” and
“Daily Independent” springing up as well as the
relaunch of moribund or prostrate titles such as The Daily
Times. As political competition heats up, more new titles
are expected to be born, most of them with a predictably
short life-span.

One consequence of the economic downturn of the 1980s and
1990s and specifically a result of hostile authoritarian
economic policies towards the media is that at as at now
the combined circulation of all newspapers barely reach
half a million, in a country of close to 120 million
people. If we add the circulation figures of magazines and
other publications, to those of newspapers, they barely hit
the 1 million mark.

“The Punch”, a privately owned newspaper is
perhaps the most widely read newspaper and its print run is
between 60,000 and 80,000 copies per day. The Guardian, a
favourite of the intellectuals and respected for its
independent, sober views, had a print run in 1999 of
between 50 and 70,000 copies per day.

Other newspapers such as the privately owned Nigerian
Tribune, This Day, Post Express, The Vanguard, The Comet,
as well as the state-owned Daily Times and The New Nigerian
do less well in circulation terms than The Punch and The
Guardian. The magazine market is dominated by three giants
namely, TELL, The News and Newswatch, and have circulation
figures of about 100,000, 80,000 and 50,000 respectively.

One underreported, but increasingly assertive newspaper
genre are the vernacular newspapers, which in the
Yoruba-speaking region made a rebound in the closing years
of military rule. A rash of vernacular newspapers have
sprung up in recent years, trying to build on the success
of “Alaroye” whose circulation competes
favourably with the most successful national dailies.

In broadcasting, there are close to 45 television stations,
with about 10 of these in private hands, while of the 44 or
so radio stations, a handful are privately owned following
the deregulation of broadcasting by the state in 1994. The
most successful private electronic media are AIT and Minaj
televisions as well as Raypower Radio, all of which offer
refreshing contrasts to the heavily state-controlled
contents of state electronic media.

As in Kenya, publications rise, fall and are sometimes
reborn with dizzying regularity. This is particularly true
of the genres of afternoon newspapers, soft-sell magazines
as well as newspapers owned by subnational authorities.
Take “The Diet” newspaper, for example. It was
founded in 1997 by Mr. James Ibori, a close ally of the
late dictator, General Sani Abacha. In 1999, most of its
staff had walked out as a result of the non-payment of
salaries for several months – a typical syndrome in
Nigerian press culture. The paper virtually grinded to a
halt in late 1999. In 2000AD, its publisher, now governor
of Delta State, relaunched The Diet as an attractive,
technicolour publication. The paper however remained
distressed and as at July 2001 it was relaunched under a
new title and auspices.

The imposition of value-added tax on input into newspaper
production by both the Abacha and Abubakar administrations,
and the consequent skyrocketing cost of production, forced
many newspapers to downsize, cut back on circulation,
increase cover price or simply capsize. The years between
1994 and 1999 were harsh ones for the press, not just
because of censorship decrees and frequent detention, but
because of hostile economic policies. The imposition of 5%
Value Added Tax on newspapers in the 1999 budget by General
Abubakar, stiffened further the climate in which many
newspapers found themselves. Increase in cover price and
advert rates by The Guardian and other publications, in
recent years make the press even more of an elitist product
than it ought to have been, in the period of civilian rule.

As at April 2002, various newspapers, state-owned and
private, are owing their staff several months of salary,
ranging from 3 months to 8 months, as a result of the
distress in that sector of the economy. One senior
journalist observed correctly that the Nigerian journalist
“goes out to work armed minimally despite
today’s electronic age. Side by side with his foreign
counterpart he is equipped like a stone age communicator
amidst the clusters of sophisticated gadgetry presided over
by his Japanese equivalent. Under these conditions, the
Nigeria journalist is an unsung hero – deplorable low
wages and delayed salary payments are common”.

Many journalists are not computer literate, much less own
personal computers, in spite of the arrival on the Internet
of The Post Express, The Guardian, The Vanguard and The
Comet. In an age in which “electronic networks
connect data bases and video cameras around the
world”. One survey informs pertinently that: “A
visit to The Guardian newsroom does little credit to its
place and influence in journalism. Besides being a long
clutter of tables and chairs, reporters still go through
longhand production. Very little information technology
presence is felt here”.

The situation with regards to computer literacy and
adoptation appears to be improving slowly, however, despite
infrastructural hitches such as fitful electricity and
frequent computer breakdown.

Interestingly, all the anti-media decrees promulgated by
General Babangida and Abacha are still on the statute books
as at April 2002 inspite of several promises to expunge
them, although they are not being enforced. These include,
for example, Offensive Publications (proscription) Decree
No. 35 of 1993; State Security (Detention of Persons)
Decree No. 2 of 1984 under which for instance journalists
can be detained and held incommunicado for security
reasons; The Treason and Other Offences (Special Military
Tribunal) Decree No. 1 of 1997; as well as The Constitution
(suspension and modification) Decree No. 107 of 1993 which
annuls a citizen’s right to public apology or
compensation, if he was unjustly or unlawfully detained.

Another feature of the media worth noting is their
overwhelming concentration in the South-west area due to
historical and economic reasons. This itself has spawned a
debate on media and federalism amidst allegations of a
“media monopoly” by a section of the country.

Two influential media genres active in Nigeria are the
international press and the emergent telematics sector; as
well as the alternative press consisting of indigenous
artists, orature and social criticism. BBC, VOA and CNN are
quite popular, in view of an esteemed higher credibility
rating. They infact increasingly shape the content of
Nigeria media. There is also a tiny but growing telematics
sector featuring E-mails, Internet messages and the whole
province of new information technology in which the country
remains peripheral.

Only an estimated 100,000 surf the Internet while the
problems of epileptic power supply and infrastructure
constrain wider diffusion of these services.

(*Olukotun teaches Political Science at Lagos State
University (LASU), Lagos, Nigeria.)

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