National Assembly and attempts to gag the media

A new guideline for media accreditation to cover activities of the National Assembly might have suffered a stillbirth.   Last Monday, Nigerians woke up to the shocking news that the management of the National Assembly has come up with stringent conditions for accrediting journalists that would cover the federal legislature from June 11. The 9th […]

A new guideline for media accreditation to cover activities of the National Assembly might have suffered a stillbirth.

 

Last Monday, Nigerians woke up to the shocking news that the management of the National Assembly has come up with stringent conditions for accrediting journalists that would cover the federal legislature from June 11.

The 9th National Assembly is expected to be inaugurated between June 10 and June 11, so the new guidelines were believed to bar journalists from covering the event and limit their entire proceedings.

The new stringent conditions were conveyed in two separate letters to the chairmen of both the Senate and the House of Representatives press corps by the director of information at the National Assembly, Mr Emmanuel Rawlings Agada.

The management categorised accreditation into permanent and temporary.

For permanent accreditation, the new guidelines provide that there must be “evidence of certificate of incorporation of the media organisation; evidence of membership of professional bodies for media organization.

“Proof of membership of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) with registration number; number of journalists/correspondents to be accredited for prints, electronic and online media for Senate and House of Representatives respectively.

“Code of certification from the National Library for the media organization; functional Bureau in Abuja (Staff Strength not less than 5 Editorial staff and daily circulation of 40,000 copies for the print media with evidence to support the claimed circulation figure.

“Media Houses must be publishing daily and on weekend (Applicable to Online Media); re-certification form must be signed and endorsed by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Media organization Bureau Chief, City Editor as the case may be.

“The Media organization concerned must have experience of covering proceedings of the National Assembly for at least two (2) years before applying for permanent accreditation; all media organization will submit a copy of its income tax return for the last two years.”

The new guidelines also provided that there shall be only one reporter and one cameraman for a television station; one reporter each for a print outfit, a radio station, independent producers as well as one reporter and a photographer for online media.

Other provisions of the new guidelines were that “All online media must have at least 5000 viewership per day, the site must have been in operation for 5 years and provides satisfactory evidence to this effect with clippings of the news utilized (especially parliamentary news).

“Only television stations with national coverage and specific independent producers with current running programme on the National Assembly will be allowed access into the Chambers on a permanent basis (All the production crew will be accredited as entity),” guideline noted.

Besides, it pointed out that “All correspondents must attach photocopy of letter of appointment of the media organization on whose behalf request has been received for grant of accreditation.

“All freelance journalists seeking permanent accreditation must show evidence of not less than 5 years coverage of the National Assembly proceedings/full editorial focus and publication on parliamentary reportage.

“It is only Journalists and correspondents whose media organisations meet the above requirements for Permanent accreditation that will be entitled to carry National Assembly Identity Card/Membership of the respective Press Corps.

“All other media organization who does not meet the above requirement will be captured under the Temporary accreditation status and they will not be entitled to carry National Assembly Identity Card/Membership of the Press Corps of the Senate and House of Representatives.

“All temporary accredited media houses, journalists/correspondents shall be allowed permit into the National Assembly for specific coverage not exceeding one (1) week in the first instance and not more than twice in a month.

“All foreign/international media houses seeking accreditation shall abide by all the Diplomatic Protocols established by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for foreign media organizations, the Code of Ethics for Nigerian Journalists and security clearance before accreditation will be considered upon the recommendation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“All permanently accredited journalists/correspondents shall submit recertification letter from the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of their media organization on a seasonal basis failure to which accreditation shall be withdrawn forthwith.

“All accredited media organization will be considered as a single entity in the issuance of passes irrespective of their membership of Senate and House of Representatives Press Corps.

But the new guidelines were rejected by Nigerians and different groups including the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), which described the new rules as primitive, undemocratic and blatantly anti-press and anti-people.

In a statement by its General Secretary, Mary Atolagbe, NGE said: “These guidelines run contrary to the grains of reason, democratic ideals and they are a clear affront on the letter and spirit of the Nigerian constitution which empowers journalists to freely practice their profession without any gag, muzzling and restriction.”

The Guild expressed disappointment that the same 8th National Assembly which benefited immensely from free press in its moments of trial has turned around to put the same press in shackles and chains.

Also, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) in a statement by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, said: “Nigerians expect the leadership of the National Assembly to show a greater level of transparency and accountability and to explain and take responsibility for what they are doing rather than implicitly banning journalists from covering their public functions. Implementing the ‘accreditation guidelines’ would allow the lawmakers to escape accountability for their constitutional functions.”

However, disturbed by the development, Senate President Bukola Saraki, said the leadership of the National Assembly was not aware of the new guidelines.

Consequently, Saraki ordered an investigation into the circumstances that led to the issuance of such guidelines without the consent of the leadership.

The National Assembly leadership also directed the management to withdraw the new guidelines immediately for all issues to be resolved.

Saraki said in a statement by his assistant on social media, Olu Onemola, that: “The attention of the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has just been drawn to a story that is circulating on social media about the National Assembly issuing new guidelines to journalists.

“These alleged guidelines have not emanated from either the Senate President or the Speaker, and will be promptly investigated. “The public should note that the 8th National Assembly has been committed to the freedom of the press as exemplified by its work to bringing governance closer to the people through live streams and live tweets.

“The leadership of the 8th National Assembly believes strongly in the freedom of the press and in carrying the Nigerian public along. Hence, the Senate President and all his colleagues will continue to work to ensure that these freedoms remain unhindered.”

On his part, the Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, said the new guidelines, if allowed to stand, would create restriction on the kind of information the public would get about the National Assembly.

He said it is counterproductive as the National Assembly already suffers from credibility perception among Nigerians, saying the federal legislature should not make any attempt to gag the media.