(IPI/IFEX) – The following is a 2 November 1999 IPI press release: Abuja, 2 November 1999 During its three-day meeting in Abuja, Nigeria (31 October – 2 November 1999), the Executive Board of the International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors and media executives, met with President Olusegun Obasanjo, as well as Vice […]
(IPI/IFEX) – The following is a 2 November 1999 IPI press release:
Abuja, 2 November 1999
During its three-day meeting in Abuja, Nigeria (31 October – 2 November
1999), the Executive Board of the International Press Institute (IPI), the
global network of editors and media executives, met with President Olusegun
Obasanjo, as well as Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Minister of Information
Dapo Sarumi, Senator Ibrahim Mantu, Chairman of the Senate Committee on
Information, and Doyin Okupe, Special Assistant to President Obasanjo on
Media Matters. The Board welcomed the efforts made by Nigeria’s new leader
during his first five months in office to move the country toward democracy,
in particular the abolishment of various government laws restricting the
media, and was encouraged by promises that the government was committed to
abolishing all “obnoxious and draconian measures.”
In particular, the Board urged the repeal of the Treason and Treasonable
Offences Decree No. 29 and of 1993, as well as Decree No. 60 of 1999, under
which the Nigeria Press Council is given the power to register publications
and journalists, impose fines for violations, and force journalists to
disclose sources of information. It also expressed its concern over
excessive taxation – in the form of import taxes and VAT on newsprint – of
the print media, which places a heavy financial burden on a sector already
troubled by low readership and circulation.
President Obasanjo responded to the IPI Board’s fears over the health of
detained journalist Jerry Needam, editor of the ‘Ogoni Star,’ by promising
an investigation into the case – of which he was not aware – and the
editor’s immediate release. Needham, who has been held by the State
Intelligence and Investigation Bureau (SIIB) without charges since 11
October, was arrested after his paper, the bi-monthly of the Movement for
the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), published a leaked police report
on the oil-producing Niger Delta.
