Nigerian Media Should Avoid Government Funding, Aid

 By Chekwube Nzomiwu

During the 21st All Nigeria Editors Conference (ANEC), held at the Presidential Villa Abuja Banquet Hall recently, the President of Nigerian Guild of Editors, Eze Anaba, raised the alarm that the present economic realities in the country had put the media in distress. Consequently, Anaba who is the Editor of Vanguard Newspapers, asked the government to grant the media corporate tax relief for about ten years, Value Added Tax (VAT) exemption, tax deductions, and access to affordable financing from the Bank of Industry, among other requests.

President Bola Tinubu, the host of the editors endorsed the plethora of requests made by the NGE in a bid to rescue the distressed media sector in the country. The keynote speaker, Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, told the editors that their pen will shape the 2027 election. Uzodimma spoke on the theme “Democratic Governance and National Cohesion: The Role of the Editors and sub-editors,” and “Electoral Integrity and Trust Deficit: What Nigerians should expect in 2027.

It is not in doubt that the economic realities in the country have thrown the media industry in Nigeria into distress. The economic reforms of the Tinubu government in particular, have been a bitter pill to swallow for the advertising industry, which is the mainstay of the revenue of the media industry. Many of the media organisations in the country today are finding it very difficult to cope with the high cost of production, including exorbitant energy cost and payment of their workers.

However, I will quickly point out that Nigeria is not the only country in the world where the media industry is in distress. Besides economic hardship, other factors such as digital disruption and government policies are stifling the media industry all over the world.

Secondly, the media industry is not the only industry in Nigeria, bearing the brunt of the economic downturn in the country, occasioned by the painful economic reforms, particularly the removal of petrol subsidy and floating of the Naira. Other industries are affected.

However, the other affected industries put their hope in the media as the social institution constitutionally empowered to crusade for a better society. It is this crusading role of the media that often causes the adversarial relationship between the government and the press worldwide.
In Nigeria, Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) empowers the media with freedom to uphold the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy, as well as uphold the responsibility and accountability of the government to the people. The fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy comprise economic, social, cultural, educational and environmental objectives, among others.

Press freedom, just like the freedom of expression in Section 39 of the Constitution, is a fundamental requirement for social development. However, press freedom cannot be guaranteed when the media get entangled with government funding and aid, especially with the growing speculations about “state capture” in the country.

If the media go cap in hand begging for assistance from the government to survive, can they be bold enough to look at President Tinubu in the eyes and tell him the truth? Government funding or aid to the privately owned media will encourage censorship and control of the media. This will not augur well for our evolving democracy.

We have not gotten to the stage where even the government owned media can criticise the government, rather than solely engaging in public service broadcasting, only to provide the people with information, education and entertainment beneficial to the community. In the UK, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) criticises the Prime Minister, regardless of the fact that it is funded with British tax payer’s money.

In Nigeria, government owned electronic media like the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) merely engage in public service broadcasting. It is only the privately owned broadcasting outfits that criticise the government where and when necessary. They do so because they operate independent of government. Same goes for the print media.  Therefore, the media must not be compromise this independence under the guise of seeking government support and aid.

The media must find ways of surviving like its counterparts in other parts of the world are battling for survival in this digital age when there is convergence of the technology and techniques of communication and even the audience. What our media need to achieve this is a change of mindset. The time is rife for the media in Nigeria to realise that the government needs them even more than they need the government.

Former President of the United States of America, Thomas Jefferson underscored the importance of the media in the society when he said: “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate to prefer the latter.” Besides, the freedom of speech or of the press is protected by the first amendment of the American Constitution.

Nigeria operates a democratic system of government similar to that of the United States of America. The most acceptable definition of democracy is government of the people by the people and for the people. Therefore, the media in Nigeria should never go into any relationship with the government, capable of hamstringing them from performing their constitutional responsibility as the ‘watchdog’. They should fight for their survival independent of the government.

There are many ways the Nigerian media can survive and even become profitable in this digital age. Let us take the newspaper for instance. The newspaper is an elite medium. Regardless of the digital encroachment on newspaper audience, it is still a status symbol for someone’s news to appear in the newspaper.

Flip through the pages of Nigerian newspapers today, they are filled with press releases and stories from the state houses, National Assembly, government houses and other government establishments. Yet, you can count the number of government adverts that you see in the newspapers.

Also, it beats my imagination that newspapers that are digitally printed today are cheaply priced in Nigeria like in the age of the penny press of the 18th Century when newspapers were mass produced, following the shift from hand-crafted to steam-powered printing. Under the prevailing high cost of production, newspapers in Nigeria are sold at ridiculous amounts.

The Guardian in Nigeria costs N250 a copy. The UK Guardian costs 1.30 pounds, which is almost N2, 500. In the United States, a copy of the New York Times costs $7, which is approximately N10, 000. Newspapers in UK and USA earn millions of pounds and dollars respectively, from the subscription of their digital editions.

I do not know anywhere in Africa where newspaper is as cheap as in Nigeria today. In Ghana, to get a copy of the print edition of a newspaper costs about 4 cedi, the equivalent of N600 or more. An edition of the digital version of a newspaper in Ghana costs 1.5 cedi, the equivalent of almost N200.

In May Last year, the Nation Media Group in Kenya, the largest media house in East and Central Africa, adjusted the price of both its print and e-paper. The price of Business Daily newspaper rose from Ksh 60, the equivalent of N668 to and Ksh 100, the equivalent of N1, 113. The e-paper increased from Ksh 40, approximately N446 to Ksh 80, the equivalent of N892.

Information obtained by this writer from democracyinafrica.org shows that in spite of the dwindling circulation of print newspapers globally, Business Daily circulates about 180,000 copies daily. This shows that the Nation Media Group makes more than N200 million daily from newspaper sales alone. I do not know the newspaper that makes such amount daily in Nigeria.

Is it not preposterous that whilst newspaper is very cheap in Nigeria today, the circulation is very low? The reason is not farfetched. It is becoming increasingly difficult for newspaper readers in Nigeria to connect with stories (government releases) published daily in our newspapers, which more often than not, do not mirror the realities of the country, unlike their counterparts in the UK and the United States.

Look at the irony. Newspaper allowances are included in the outrageous allowances earned by Nigerian government officials who pay N250 for a copy of newspaper. Yet, very few of them buy hard copies of newspapers or subscribe to the digital editions. So, our problem in Nigeria is how we order our priorities. The media are not exempted.

If we want the readership of the newspapers to increase, we must report stories that connect with the people. This can be done by properly compensating thousands of Nigerian journalists who work tirelessly daily, at times putting their life on the line, to inform, educate, enlighten and entertain their compatriots.

When journalists are properly compensated, they can do more investigative reports, rather than waiting from press releases from government offices. If we report stories that connect with the people, the demand of the newspapers will increase. An increase in demand causes the price to rise. My suggestions here are applicable to the other media.

Also, media organisations in Nigeria can survive through more prudent management. At a time we claim that the media industry is in distress, some managing directors, managing editors, editors-in-chief and editors live large. This is difficult to reconcile. I therefore recommend advanced management training for the management staff in the media industry, to enable them “to cut their coat according to their cloth,” in order to make the media industry profitable once again.

Finally, the times call for a serious handshake between the media and marketing industry, vis-à-vis developing new marketing models, capable of consolidating the fragmentation caused by digital disruptions to the media industry.
*Dr Nzomiwu is the director of Media and Publicity, Development Communication Research Association of Nigeria (DECRAN). He can be reached via: via chekmma@yahoo.com and 08037752672. (WhatsApp only).