UMUAHIA, NIGERIA — In a scathing assessment of the state of free speech and press freedom in Nigeria, a former Abia State Commissioner for Information, Eziuche Ubani, has declared that journalists in the country enjoyed far more operational space under military dictatorship than they do under the current democratic dispensation.
Ubani, a veteran media practitioner and former member of the House of Representatives, expressed profound disillusionment with the country’s democratic trajectory. He lamented that the very democratic system the media fought and sacrificed for has degenerated into an oppressive landscape where practitioners are systematically hunted.
“The Democracy We Fought For is Not Being Practiced”
Reflecting on his years in the trenches during Nigeria’s transition struggles, Ubani painted a bleak picture of the modern media landscape, describing a deep sense of historical betrayal.
“For me, we had more space to operate as journalists during the military era than we do in this democratic era,” Ubani stated frankly. “Looking back, it feels like we laboured in vain. The democracy we fought for is not being practiced. Journalists are being hounded, and media houses are being targeted.”
According to him, the state has weaponized the judicial and security apparatus against the press. Specifically, he raised the alarm over how defamation laws have been aggressively expanded and converted into political tools to silence investigative reporting and intimidate media practitioners.
A Twin Crisis: Political Repression and Economic Suffocation
Beyond direct state hostility, Ubani pointed out that the Nigerian media sector is facing an unprecedented, multi-layered existential crisis. He identified key economic and technological shifts that are quietly choking the life out of traditional journalism:
- The Withdrawal of Corporate Funding: The media has suffered massive financial blows as major multinational companies withdraw their patronage and advertising spend from local media houses.
- The Burden of Debt: Media houses are being crippled by mounting, unpaid advertising debts, which are stifling operational capacities and compromising professional standards.
- The Rise of the “Citizen Journalist”: The explosion of digital communication has democratized information dissemination but also diluted professional standards. With everyone now armed with a smartphone, public reliance on traditional media outlets has plummeted. “People no longer see the need to take their matters to media houses, and this has weakened traditional outlets,” Ubani observed.
A Grim Warning for the Fourth Estate
Ubani’s warnings serve as a wake-up call to the Nigerian union of journalists and the wider public. When a veteran who operated under military decrees warns that today’s “democratic” civilian authorities are more restrictive, it underscores a dangerous decline in constitutional protections.
As media houses navigate both economic starvation and aggressive legal targeting, the survival of independent journalism—and by extension, the accountability of public officers—hangs in a precarious balance.
