Security Agencies Responsible for Most Attacks on Journalists in Nigeria in 2024 – Report

The Media Rights Agenda (MRA) has revealed that the Nigerian security agencies are responsible for highest number of attacks against journalists in 2024 in Nigeria.

In a report titled “Media Freedom Under Threat: The State of Media Freedom and Journalists’ Safety in Nigeria 2024,” the MRA described security agencies as the worst enemies of the media in Nigeria.

According to the report, out of 64 attacks against journalists recorded in 2022, 29 were perpetrated by security agencies, representing approximately 45% of the attacks. This number increased to 34 out of 77 attacks in 2023, representing approximately 44%. However, the situation took a turn for the worse in 2024, with security agencies responsible for 45 out of 69 attacks against journalists, representing approximately 65%.

The report also documented in detail 21 cases of assault and battery against journalists during the first 10 months of the year; 17 cases of arbitrary arrests and detention; three cases of raids on homes/offices of journalists; eight cases of threat to life; two cases of harassment, six cases of abductions/kidnapping; five instances when journalists were obstructed from performing their duties; one journalist killed and six cases of other forms of attacks.

MRA’s Programme Officer, Mr. John Gbadamosi, in a statement announcing the launch of the report, expressed concern over the growing trend of attacks against journalists, stating that “the institutions tasked with upholding the rule of law as well as ensuring the safety and security of citizens, including journalists, have instead become the instruments of oppression against the media.”

Mr. Gbadamosi added that “It is worse still that the pervasive culture of impunity which has ensured a lack of accountability for past attacks has now emboldened these perpetrators to the extent that we are now seeing them at their most horrendous.”

Mr Gbadamosi further noted the opening of a court-mandated inquiry into the death of Mr. Pelumi Onifade, a 20-year-old reporter with Gboah TV who was reportedly arrested by policemen attached to a Lagos State task force while he was covering the #EndSARS protested in 2020 and was later found dead at a mortuary in Ikorodu in Lagos, where his body was deposited as a good development toward accountability and justice.

The MRA said it is very proud to have instituted the wrongful death suit against the Police and the Lagos State Government which resulted in the judgment of a Federal High Court in Lagos directing an investigation into the late journalist’s death. 

Despite the challenges, the report notes some positive developments, including a significant decrease in fines imposed by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) on broadcast stations. The report also commends the NBC for complying with court judgments secured by MRA.

“But, 2024 recorded zero fines imposed on broadcast stations by the NBC, apparently as a result of court judgments secured by MRA in May 2023 and January 2024 forbidding the NBC from further imposing such fines on broadcasters. We commend the NBC for complying with the courts’ orders, the statement said”

The MRA has called for urgent measures to protect journalists and hold perpetrators of attacks against them accountable. This includes strengthening Nigeria’s legal framework to better protect journalists and ensuring that all attacks against journalists are speedily investigated and perpetrators prosecuted and punished