Mariam Sanni
The Centre For Journalism Innovation and Development, CJID has launched 2024 openness index report to assess the conditions that enable expression and media freedom across all 36 states and Federal Capital Territory.
The index report is to call to actions policy makers, journalists, civil society actors , and citizens a clear, comparative view of how their states are doing , and where work is needed.
The Executive Director of CJID, Akintunde Babatunde in a chat with the pressmen explained that the of the meeting is to examine freedom of expression at the state level, rather than the national level.
He added that local media in individual states report on community issues, healthcare, and schools, and their ability to do so freely is crucial.
Babatunde emphasized the need for state governments to promote democracy and press freedom, highlighting the silent suffering of local journalists.
He highlighted the silent suffering of local journalists who are arrested, kidnapped, or abducted without national attention.
“First, I have to say that what we have done today is to take the way that we look at the freedom of expression away from what is happening at the national level. We have taken a step to look at what exactly is happening at a state level. Because individual state is where local media, tribe, individual states, government, individual state level is where journalists you know, in all the states you know, they they report on what happened in communities, they report on what happens to healthcare centers, they report on what happens to schools. And if journalists from those states are not able to effectively and freely do their work, then people don’t get to know what is happening.
“ So what we have done is a review of what is the level of openness, what is the level of freedom of expressionWas the level of of safety of journalists in in this state and the Federal Capital Territory and and what we are hoping to do is to start a conversation about freedom of the press and freedom of expression, not just in in Nigeria as a country, but what is happening in each of the state of the Federation,” he said.
He said the review assesses the level of openness, freedom of expression, and journalist safety in each state and the Federal Capital Territory.
Babatunde stressed the need for state governments to discuss democracy only if they rank high on the openness index.
According to him, the index aims to determine whether state governments are promoters or inhibitors of democracy.
He noted that the index will serve as a benchmark for evaluating state governments’ commitment to democracy and media freedom.
Further speaking, he stated that the organization plans to engage with local policymakers, the diplomatic community, and media colleagues to make media freedom a major issue.
The Executive Director said that first edition of the index in Nigeria is just the beginning; noting that there are plans to scale it to Africa for the next year.
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