Stay Connected
Atlanta Black Star/Africa
AfricaNewsWorld

U.S. Foreign Policy Experts Encourage Nigeria to Reconsider its Move to Prohibit Free Speech

Posted byBy Shamone Nelson | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

860x572xBuhari-at-Villa-2-jpg-pagespeed-ic-AaGL3VUF5B-601x400At the official launch of PREMIUM TIMES in the United States, Saturday, media and foreign policy experts in the Washington DC corridor urged the Nigerian Senate to reconsider its move to muzzle free speech through passage of the bill to “Prohibit Frivolous Petitions and Other Matters Connected Therewith” which seeks to restrict use of social and electronic media.

Jennifer Cooke, director of Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Baba Adam, a leading Nigerian academic and policy advocate in the United States, Reed Kramer, chief executive and co-founder of AllAfrica.com and other speakers at the event variously described the anti-social media bill as a distraction from urgent issues affecting governance.

In her keynote address, Ms. Cooke called for a policy shift that strengthen media for the purpose of democratic growth, adding that what Nigeria really needs is “media independence because media freedom is evidently pervasive in the country.”

The Bill, which passed a second reading in Nigeria’s Senate on Tuesday, takes pointed aim at freedom of expression and a free press which are protected by Section 39 of Nigeria’s constitution. If passed, it will restrain an estimated 15 million Nigerians who use social media, and 43 million of the 145 million active phone users who use text, instant or twitter direct messaging services according to data from Facebook, the Nigeria Communication Commission, and the 2015 mid-year Mobile Africa survey conducted by Geopoll.

Last September, Facebook announced that Nigeria had 15 million monthly active users as of June 30 this year, and that all of them use mobiles devices to “like, share and upload content on the social network.”

Ms. Cooke found support from other speakers at the event including Air Vice Marshal Muhammed Yakubu, the Defence attaché at the Nigerian Embassy and Gbara Awanen, who heads the political section of the Nigerian embassy and was represented by Wale Oloko of the economic section of the embassy.

Read the full story at premiumtimesng.com

Still independent.

We hope this story was worth your time. For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed Black-owned and independently run. We didn't get here by waiting on ad budgets that were never built to prioritize us. Our readers did that.

Corporate support for Black media has always been thin. Outlets like ours get roughly 1% of the $170 billion spent on U.S. advertising each year, and that margin is shrinking further as advertisers walk back the DEI-linked commitments they made in 2020. That's the backdrop. It's not why we're asking.

The wider picture isn't any steadier. Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under, it's rarely the ones built to center a Black perspective from the ground up that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Related Stories

Back to top