Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE) have called on the Federal Government and state governors to ensure press freedom and protection of journalists.

This is contained in a statement jointly signed and issued by Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP Deputy Director and Onuoha Ukeh, General Secretary, NGE, in Abuja.

They also called on the need to urgently bring to an end the escalating insecurity in the country.

The groups said, “As the international community marks World Press Freedom Day tomorrow, (SERAP) and Nigeria Guild of Editors are calling on the government of President Bola Tinubu, Nigeria’s state governors and the minister of the Federal Capital Territory to ensure press freedom, protection of journalists and urgently bring an end to the escalating insecurity and widespread human rights violations across several parts of northern Nigeria, including in Benue State, Plateau State, Borno State, Sokoto State, and Kwara State.

“We note that protecting journalists and safeguarding information integrity are central drivers of peace, security, and democratic stability.”

According to them, any credible peace, recovery, or security strategy must integrate information integrity and support for free, independent, and pluralistic media alongside humanitarian, institutional, and economic responses.

“The erosion of independent journalism and civic information ecosystems directly contributes to governance breakdown. When journalism is weakened through intimidation, repression, or impunity for attacks against media professionals, corruption thrives, accountability declines, and misinformation expands,” they said.

They said that in such environments, information violence often preceded physical violence, further deepening insecurity and undermining public trust in state institutions.

The group added that strengthening media freedom, protecting journalists and ensuring access to reliable information were essential components of any sustainable response to insecurity in Nigeria.

According to the groups, the measures are critical not only for documenting violations but also for preventing them, ensuring accountability, and supporting early warning mechanisms in conflict-affected communities.

They stated, “We reiterate that efforts to address insecurity and human rights violations in Nigeria must include concrete commitments to protect journalists.

“We also strengthen media institutions, and safeguard the free flow of credible information as an indispensable foundation for accountability, peace, and democratic resilience.”

The group noted that that the UNESCO theme for the 2026 World Press Freedom Day Conference was entitled “Shaping a Future of Peace.”

They said this underscored the centrality of a free, independent, and viable media ecosystem to peace, security, and sustainable development.

They stated, “The conference highlights that protecting journalists and safeguarding information integrity are not peripheral concerns, but core drivers of peace and security.

“We are seriously concerned about the scale and persistence of killings, abductions, sexual violence, forced displacement, and destruction of property and the deepening governance and accountability crisis.

“We are concerned that thousands of people have been unlawfully killed and millions displaced in several parts of northern Nigeria, alongside ongoing patterns of attacks on rural communities, abductions, and grave abuses against women and children.

“These trends reflect systemic failures to prevent foreseeable harm, protect communities, identify and prosecute the perpetrators and their sponsors, and ensure access to justice and effective remedies to victims.

“These grave human rights violations and failures constitute serious breaches of Nigeria’s obligations under the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended], the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Nigeria is a state party.”

The groups said the humanitarian consequences remained severe as communities were destroyed, livelihoods lost, and victims left without effective remedies.

They added, “The persistence of impunity continues to erode public trust and weaken democratic governance.”

 (NAN)