The Senate's plans to criminalise certain aspects of media practice have come under criticisms from the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), media partners and others.
They were reacting to a bill entitled:
“An Act to prohibit frivolous petitions and other matters connected therewith,” sponsored by Deputy Senate Leader Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah (Kebbi South), which scaled second reading on Wednesday.
The NUJ said the bill was an attempt to clamp down on journalists, social media and petition writers. The union called on reporters in the Senate and House of Representatives to reject
“this anti-media bill”.
In a letter to The Nation yesterday, NUJ National Secretary Shuaibu Usman Leman said:
“We consider this bill as abominable and capable of causing irreparable damage to the nation’s quest for credible democracy.”
Usman added that it was untenable for Na’Allah to equate the bill to the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.
He said:
“The FOI Act is not meant as a means for journalists to pry into areas wrongly perceived as government secrets or expose the privacy of citizens; rather it should be seen as a means for the masses of this country to demand for how they are governed and to hold such leaders accountable.
“The NUJ believes that information participation by all is necessary for effective democracy and the failure of the state to provide unhindered access to information can lead to monumental corruption and abuse of rights of citizens.”
The union warned lawmakers and government functionaries against playing
“dirty politics” with important national issues. In the same vain, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has also
reported the senate to the United Nations.