By Nneka Nwogwugwu
The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) has urged the federal government to establish a national media subsidy regime.
This it stated would mitigate the media’s operational costs and economic challenges of the media industry.
The Guild, stated this in a communique issued and signed by Mr. Mustapha Isah and Iyobosa Uwugiaren, the President and the General Secretary respectively, at the end of its 2021 Biennial Convention on Wednesday in Kano.
According to the communique, ‘’Considering that the role of information dissemination by the mass media is an essential public and social service, the Guild calls on government to consider mitigating the media’s operational costs and economic challenges by floating a national media subsidy regime, including tax holidays and waivers, lifting of license fees for the broadcast media and offsetting debts of government media agencies in the country.”
Also on the communique, the Guild urged for an enabling political and economic environment for the media to discharge their constitutional and social responsibilities.
The editors called on the federal government to amend as may be appropriate all existing obnoxious media laws in the country that are inimical to press freedom.
‘’The Guild observes the need for the Nigerian mass media to exercise their freedom to operate freely with a sense of responsibility. And considering the spikes in the levels of insecurity across the length and breadth of the country, it is high time for the media to set the agenda and lead the country’s drive to sustaining national cohesion.
‘’While observing Nigeria’s consistent deterioration in the Global Press Freedom Index since 2005, the Guild notes that it is worrisome that the slide is happening in a democracy, whereby the Guild has had cause in recent times to issue three press statements on the threats of closure and imposition of fines on some broadcast stations by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC)’’, the communique added.
The NGE also condemned the harassment and arrest of vendors in the South East for selling newspapers that carry story on agitators, describing the action as a subtle way of emasculating newspaper and put newspaper companies out of business as vendors may stop accepting and selling their publications.
The Guild noted the huge disruption the COVID-19 pandemic has created globally, saying that the disruption has also had negative effects on the Nigerian media industry, leading to significant drop in the media businesses’ revenues.
The Guild’s national convention also expressed concern over the prevalence and massive elevation of fake news, disinformation and propaganda due to the mishandlings of the social media platforms by negative persons.
It stressed on the need for Nigeria’s media publics, particularly the youth whom the media must carry along, to rely on the conventional media for reliable and credible information in taking their decisions.
While commending Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State for keeping the state safe even in the midst of the prevailing insecurity in some parts of the country, the editors also appreciated the state government’s phenomenal drive of infrastructure development; as well as the state government’s determination to change Kano’s face to a modern city.