World ranking shows press freedom in Nigeria worsened under Buhari

World ranking has shown that press freedom in Nigeria has continued to worsen since the coming of President Muhammadu Buhari as president of the country.

The country in the 2017 international press freedom index, moved from 116 to 122 out of 180 countries examined.

The latest report showed a progressive decline in press freedom in Nigeria since President Buhari mounted power in 2015.

Nigeria was rated in Buhari’s first year as falling from 111 to 116, before failing further low from 116 to 122 in 2017.

The index was released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Wednesday.

It said, “In Nigeria, it is nearly impossible to cover stories involving politics, terrorism, or financial embezzlement. Journalists are often threatened, subjected to physical violence, or denied access to information by government officials, police, and sometimes the public itself,” RSF said.

“The all-powerful regional governors are often their most determined persecutors. As Africa’s most populous nation, Nigeria nonetheless has more than 100 independent media outlets.

“Online freedom was recently curbed by a cyber-crime law that punishes bloggers in an arbitrary manner.”

Read also: Buhari’s CSO’s expulsion of reporter, a move towards fascism –PDP

The index places Norway, Sweden and Finland respectively as the countries with the best press freedom in the world. It ranked Syria, Turkmenistan, Eritrea and North Korea as the worst countries.

According to RSF, in 2017 alone, eight journalists have been killed across the world, while 193 are imprisoned at the moment.

The report is coming as Buhari’s Chief Security Officer (CSO), Abubakar Bashir, is being lambasted for expelling a reporter from the Presidential Villa over a report on the President.

Meanwhile, two of Buhari’s media aides, Garba Shehu and Femi Adesina have always insisted that the current government is committed to press freedom in Nigeria and will never approve the humiliation of any journalist.

 

 

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