MEDIA IN NIGERIA #01 - 39(02 DECEMBER 2002)

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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
-SENATE ASSURES ON SPEEDY TREATMENT OF JOURNALISTS'
BILL
-DEATH SENTENCE ON JOURNALIST ATTRACTS OPPOSITION

PRINT MEDIA
-VENDORS ARRESTED OVER SALE OF MAGAZINES
-PROBE OF NATIONAL PILOT BOMB BLAST BEGINS
-SKETCH BOUNCES BACK SOON

BROADCAST MEDIA
-OSUN NTA TO COMMENCE TRANSMISSION

INFOTECH
-ISPS LOBBY NCC OVER ISM BAND
-FIRST BANK ACCUSES LONGE OF GAMBLING WITH BRIDGE LOAN
TO IILL

MEDIA- GENERAL

SENATE ASSURES ON SPEEDY TREATMENT OF JORUNALISTS'
BILL

The upper house of the Nigerian parliament, the
senate, has promised speedy treatment of the bill
seeking improved conditions of service and enhancement
of media practice in Nigeria.

Speaking at the presentation of the bill tagged
"Journalism Practice Enhancement Bill 2002", by the
Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Jonathan
Zwingina, Chairman, Senate Committee on Information,
commended the NUJ for producing the bill and assured
that his committee would do all within its power to
ensure that it enjoys speedy treatment.

This position was re-emphasized by Deputy Senate
President, Ibrahim Nasir Mantu, who promised that the
senate would facilitate a joint session between it and
the House of Representatives to look into the bill.

The senators bemoaned the poor conditions of service
of journalists in the country which they claimed had
called the credibility of the media to question.
Zwingina lamented that though the press is the most
honourable and dignified profession in the world, "in
Nigeria, it has become the most debased, one of the
most abused professions around".

Apart from seeking improved conditions of service for
journalists, the new bill addresses the issues of
freedom of journalists to practice without inhibition,
criteria for appointment as editors, responsibilities
of the journalists and the media as well as the
establishment of Media Practitioners Complaints
Commission to deal with disciplinary process and
unethical behavours.

DEATH SENTENCE ON JOURNALIST ATTRACTS OPPOSITION

Strong opposition has trailed the FATWA (death
sentence) passed on THISDAY newspaper reporter, Isioma
Daniel, by the Deputy Governor of Zamfara State,
North-western Nigeria, over an allegedly blasphemous
article which allegedly triggered riots in Kaduna and
Abuja two weeks ago.

Among the prominent voices opposed to the sentence is
Nobel Laureate, Professor, Wole Soyinka, who called
for the immediate prosecution of Zamfara Deputy
Governor Aliyu Shinkafi.

In a statement, Soyinka said Shinkafi's call for the
death of a Nigerian citizen under "fatwa" qualifies
him (Shinkafi) to "be hauled before the courts and
charged with incitement to murder".

The winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize for Literature
urged President Olusegun Obasanjo to call Shinkafi to
order and ensure that the constitution of the country
reigns supreme. "If he (Obasanjo) cannot defend the
constitution he swore to uphold, he must make a public
declaration to that effect, so that we understand once
and for all that we are living in a country without
law, where every group and every individual must make
their own," he said.

On its part, the Federal Government described the
Fatwa as "null and void". Information and National
Orientation Minister, Prof. Jerry Gana, said "the
constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is
supreme law of the land and the laws do not provide
for anyone who has done something like what THISDAY
has done to be killed. That directive of Zamfara state
government is null and void".

The United States government denounced the Fatwa as
"absolutely irresponsible". Deputy State Department
spokesman, Phillip Reeker, was quoted as saying "any
sort of advocating of an extra-judicial killing in the
name of religion is an absolutely irresponsible
position for an elected official to take".

Another critical voice came from Saudi Arabia. A
report quoted Sheikh Saadal-Saleh, who spoke on behalf
of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as saying that "they
(Zamfara State government) have no right to kill if
the person expresses regret and apologizes as it is
considered repentance".

The Secretary General of the Supreme Council for
Islamic Affairs in Nigeria (SCIA), Dr Lateef Adegbite,
said he disagreed with the Fatwa, because the
journalist was not a Muslim and the newspaper had
retracted the article and published apologies.

Meanwhile, the management of THISDAY continues to
publish a daily apology to the Muslim community on the
front page of the newspaper.

PRINT MEDIA

VENDORS ARRESTED OVER SALE OF MAGAZINES

Barely a week after death sentence was passed on This
Day newspaper reporter by the government of Zamfara
State, north-west Nigeria, over an allegedly
blasphemous article, six newspaper vendors have been
arrested in Maiduguri, Borno State, North-Eastern
Nigeria, for marketing soft-sell magazines considered
offensive to Islamic tenets.

Sunday Uchegue, spokesman of the Vendors Association
of Nigeria (VAN),said the six vendors were picked at
different locations in Maiduguri in a morning raid by
operatives of the State Security Service(SSS).

The vendors were picked up because of the display and
sale of allegedly obscene magazines, considered
offensive to be sold openly in a state like Borno
where sharia law is in operation.

PROBE OF NATIONAL PILOT BOMB BLAST BEGINS

A probe of the recent bomb blast which destroyed the
head office of the National Pilot newspaper in Ilorin
,Kwara State, North-Central Nigeria, has commenced
with the Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up to
unravel the circumstances surrounding the blast
calling for memoranda from members of the public.

The commission is expected to take oral evidence from
witnesses between Monday, December 2, and Friday,
December 13, 2002.

Meanwhile, the publisher of the National Pilot, Bukola
Saraki, has said that the bomb blast which injured six
persons might have been provoked by a front-page story
in the November 18-24 edition of the newspaper.

Addressing journalists in Lagos, Saraki alleged that
those behind the dastardly act "might have acted in a
bid to stop the story titled:'Plot to Kill Prominent
Kwarans Uncovered' in the vol.1 No. 14 of the
newspaper".

Saraki questioned the composition of the Commission of
Inquiry set up by the state government on the
incident. "How can an inquiry be set up to investigate
a bomb blast without the presence of a bomb specialist
as a member of the commission?" he asked.
He described the panel as a "Kangaroo attempt to cover
up the true facts of the bomb blast".

SKETCH BOUNCES BACK SOON

After being off the news stands for some years, The
Sketch newspaper is expected to re-commence operation
in two months.

The governor of Oyo State,South-West Nigeria, Lam
Adesina, who dropped the hint in Ibadan, disclosed
that Segun Osoba, governor of Ogun State, who was
commissioned to produce a paper on how to resuscitate
the moribund newspaper company, has already submitted
the paper.

Adesina said the return of the newspaper, jointly
owned by Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, and Ekiti States
governments, would be a big event.

Before now, efforts to revive the newspaper have been
frustrated by disagreement over the choice of its
Chief Excecutive by the owner state governments.

BROADCAST MEDIA

OSUN NTA TO COMMENCE TRANSMISSION

The newly built Nigerian Television Authority(NTA)
station in Osogbo, Osun State, South-West Nigeria,
would commence transmission this month.

Ayo Fasan, the station's General Manager, said the
last stage to the station's coming on air, the
mounting of antenna, has commenced.

"Already, everything is set. We have modern studio and
transmitter building, 5KW transmitter installed, 100
KVA generator, modern studio equipment, 450ft mast
erect TVRO for network reception and 20 competent
staff deployed from other NTA stations for the
take-off", he said.

He said the station, which shall be transmitting on
Channel 49 UHF, would provide top quality programmes
tailored to the needs of the people, irrespective of
their political and ethnic leanings.

In another development, the Kwara State government
says it has spent N129 Million in upgrading its radio
station. The amount includes the cost of the FM
station located at Akpata Yakuba, Ilorin, and the
installation of 840 AM radio mast antenna and 50 Kilo
watts Medium Wave transmitter for the Budo Efo station
of Radio Kwara.

INFOTECH

ISPs LOBBY NCC OVER ISM BAND

As the February, 2003 deadline given by the Nigerian
Communication Commission (NCC) for commercial
occupants of the Industrial Scientific and Medical
Research (ISM) band approaches, Internet Service
Providers (ISPs) in the country have appealed to the
NCC to allow current occupants of the band to remain
for the sake of internet penetration in the country.

The operators acting under the aegis of Internet
Service Providers Association of Nigeria (ISPAN), said
their members were encouraged to embrace the ISM band
because it was thought to be an unlicenced frequency
band which afforded easy access to interested
investors into internet business but had difficulties
in obtaining licenced frequency.

When NCC issued the quit order last February, the
regulatory agency cited abuse of the frequency and
difficulty in monitoring the activities of
commercialization of the frequency for its action.

Moreover, it argued that the ISM band cannot be used
to provide commercial services. While operators await
NCC reaction to its plea, the preponderance of view
amongst the operators was that the quit order was
essentially a strategic ploy by the NCC to make the
auction of 3.5 GHz frequency spectrums successful.

Meanwhile, the Association of Telecommunications
Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) has unveiled plans to
build a modern office for the association in Abuja.
Charles Joseph, ATCON president, who disclosed this at
the recently concluded 8th International
Telecommunications Exhibition and Conference in Abuja,
said the building has been estimated to cost
N1Billion.

FIRST BANK ACCUSES LONGE OF GAMBLING
WITH BRIDGE LOAN TO IILL

As hearing in the suit instituted by former Managing
Director of First Bank Plc, Bernard Ojeifo Longe
against the bank for alleged unlawful dismissal
continues at the Federal High Court in Lagos, the
bank, through its counsel, Richard Akinjide (SAN), has
accused the former MD of gambling with its bridge loan
of $111.7Million it offered to Investment
International (London) Limited in the botched sale of
Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL).

The amount represents 10 percent of the 51 percent
equity share the Nigerian government made available to
IILL, the preferred bidder in the botched NITEL sale.

When hearing resumed in the suit two weeks ago, Longe
denied personal involvement in the grant of the
facility. He claimed that the decision to pay the
money to the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) was
made by the board and approved by the chairman, Umaru
Muktab.

But at the last session of the court, counsel to First
Bank, Richard Akinjide, while cross-examining Longe,
said that Longe" deliberately plunged the bank in a
risky project he knew was going to be a failure".

He said the former MD's competence as a banker was
called to serious question by the fact that he failed
to advise the bank to withdraw from the project when
other " committed and serious" banks and investors
were withdrawing from the arrangement.

Longe was in court to prove that he was unfairly
removed as Managing Director. He also urged the court
to order his reinstatement and the payment of all
outstanding entitlements that accrue to him as MD/CEO.

-----ENDS----

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