A civil society organisation, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), has called on the government to protect journalists and civilians faced with crisis and conflicts.

CISLAC Executive Director, Auwal Ibrahim Musa, stated this at an event held on Thursday in Lagos, in partnership with Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).

Mr Auwal, at the one-day media interaction on protection of civilians during armed conflicts expressed concern for journalists who risk their lives to expose corruption for the protection of Nigerians. He said though the Nigerian Constitution legally empowers the media to expose impunity at all levels of the society, it, however, provides them no legal protection. 

“It is very clear that without effective media contribution towards deepening democracy by exposing corruption, human rights abuses, injustice, impunity and bad governance, there is no way we can actually succeed in really democratising Nigeria,” Mr Auwal said.

“The job of journalists is clearly stated even in our Constitution. It is not like any other non-state actors. The media is specifically empowered to expose wrongdoing in the Nigerian Constitution. So you have a legal foundation to do that but you do not also have legal protection because you put your life at risk without any life insurance. 

Some Nigerian journalists have suffered varying degrees of state repression in recent years.

In 2019, Agba Jalingo, an investigative journalist, was arrested and detained in prison for reporting that Cross River governor Ben Ayade diverted N500 million from state coffees. He was accused of committing treason.

Mr Jalingo was later released by the Calabar Division of the Federal High Court after five months in detention on a bail bond of N10 million.

Another journalist, Pelumi Onifade, was shot dead by the police in Lagos during the heat of #EndSARS protest. Six months after, the perpetrators have neither been apprehended nor prosecuted.

Mr Auwual emphasised that without investigative reporting, oppression will become rife in the country because of the high level of bad governance. He added that the Nigerian media is currently oppressed and efforts must be made to protect journalists.  

“If you look at the rating of freedom of media you would have seen that Nigeria have actually declined. So the freedom of expression is gradually going down right now there are many journalists who are not able to carry out their constitutional, professional duty. Many journalists are being attacked, hunted, intimidated just because they are exposing wrong doings in the society,” he said. 

Speaking further, Mr Auwal projected that there is a need for a legal framework to protect Nigerians and interventions are required to stand against all kinds of human right abuses, violation and killings that are happening in every part of the country. 

He said: “It is a shame that there is no legal framework in Nigeria despite the Boko Haram and Niger Delta crisis, yet the country did not think of having a policy or a legal framework that will guarantee and protect the safety of Nigerians including the journalist.

“That is why we think we must do everything possible to promote governance conversations and debates around civilian protection in Nigeria so we can have a legal framework. We do not have a legal framework now and if you look at the number of civilians who have been killed even in North-East, it is unacceptable in any responsible society.”