Saturday, 07 December 2019 05:17

Democratic space closing up rapidly in Nigeria - Global report

Rate this item
(0 votes)

Democratic freedom is shrinking in Nigeria, a global index report has stated.

The report was published by CIVICUS, a coalition of civil society groups.

According to the report, Nigeria has slipped from being an “obstructed” nation in 2018 to a “repressed” nation — the second worst rating a country can have — this year.

It is now ranked among 38 other countries in the same category, like Madagascar, India, Pakistan, Brunei, Iraq and Turkey.

The term “repressed” means that democratic freedoms such as the freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association are significantly constrained in Nigeria, Matthew Reading-Smith, Communications Coordinator of CIVICUS, said in a statement.

The research sourced its data from 536 civic space updates from October 1, 2018 to November 11, 2019, across 196 countries.

Each country’s civic space is rated in one of five categories – open, narrowed, obstructed, repressed, or closed – based on a methodology that combines several sources of data on the freedom of association, peaceful assembly and expression, the report reads.

The report, titled People Power Under Attack 2019, attributed Nigeria’s latest ranking to government’s continuous clampdown on journalists, activists, its intolerance to dissent and opposition, and renewed drive to regulate the social media by the National Assembly.

Armed with the Cybercrime Act and Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act 2013, both federal and state authorities have incarcerated Nigerian citizens for series of ridiculous reason as “insulting the president”.

Mr Jones Abiri, a journalist who has been in and out of prison, was first held without trial for 2 years until finally granted bail in October this year on the charges of terrorism, sabotage and cybercrime.

Mr Omoyele Sowore, organiser of the #RevolutionNow protests and publisher of the online media outlet, Sahara Reporters, alongside Mr Olawale Bakare, was also arrested for planning protests to call for good governance in the country. Court orders to release him were ignored by the authorities.

Citizens who in defiance carried on with the protests were met with force by State Security Service, a security outfit directly under the presidency.

Reading-Smith said the CIVICUS Monitor is concerned about the disruption of protests and the detention of protest leaders, attacks on journalists, and the use of restrictive laws to stifle dissent and opposition.

“The Monitor is also concerned by the Nigerian government’s proposed use of restrictive legislation to muzzle opposition,” he said, adding, “The Senate is currently considering ‘The Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulation Bill’, which would make statements on social media which may ‘diminish public confidence’ in the government punishable by a fine and/or three year prison sentence. If passed, this law would allow the authorities to order a shutdown of internet access and social media.”

Alluding to this fear, censorship was found to be the second most common violation found in Africa, after protest disruption.

“This is reflected in places like Sudan, Guinea and Zimbabwe, where mass protests in 2019 were met with excessive use of force,” the report notes.

The report found censorship, protester’s detainment, harassment, restrictive law, intimidation to be the top five civic violations across the world. Others are attack on journalists, protest disruption, detention of journalists, use of excessive force and criminal defamation.

 

PT

April 26, 2024

Super tanker carrying 2m barrels of crude stranded on Nigerian waters due to payment issues…

Chinese state energy major PetroChina has been waiting to unload a cargo of U.S. crude…
April 25, 2024

Probe of El-Rufai begins as Kaduna Assembly orders for financial documents from Finance Ministry

The Kaduna State House of Assembly has requested the Ministry of Finance, Kaduna State to…
April 27, 2024

Adults are sharing the things they are no longer interested in now that they're older

It's natural for our preferences to change as we get older. So when asked, "What…
April 13, 2024

A new camera can undress people almost in real time—to send a message about AI

Nuca, a new deepfake camera, is an art project that shows how artificial intelligence can…
April 26, 2024

Residents flee as terrorists invade Niger communities in reprisal attacks

Gunmen attacked a military base in Allawa town, Niger State, causing residents to flee for…
April 27, 2024

What to know after Day 793 of Russia-Ukraine war

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE Russia attacks Ukraine's rail lines to disrupt supply of U.S. arms, source says…
April 15, 2024

Winning funding proposals written by generative AI: Should that matter to you?

Generative AI is getting better every day. We now have ChatGPT4, Claude 3, Gemini, Perplexity,…
April 10, 2024

Nigeria’s Super Falcons qualify for 2024 Olympics at South Africa’s expense

Super Falcons of Nigeria have qualified for the women’s football event of the 2024 Olympics…

NEWSSCROLL TEAM: 'Sina Kawonise: Publisher/Editor-in-Chief; Prof Wale Are Olaitan: Editorial Consultant; Femi Kawonise: Head, Production & Administration; Afolabi Ajibola: IT Manager;
Contact Us: [email protected] Tel/WhatsApp: +234 811 395 4049

Copyright © 2015 - 2024 NewsScroll. All rights reserved.