Journalists detained by police in Nigeria amid nationwide protests

Protesters display a placard as they gather behind barbed wire during the End Bad Governance protest in Abuja on 1 August 1, 2024. (Photo: Kola Sulaimon / AFP)

By Kristin Engel

1 Aug 2024

Journalists from multiple media outlets were on Thursday detained during protests in Nigeria against the cost-of-living crisis. They were later released.

‘Whenever there is a riot or violence of any sort, journalists are like collateral damage. They are just arrested and sometimes killed. I can’t remember a protest where Nigerian journalists were not harassed and arrested,” Zainab Adetola, the founder of News Verifier Africa and head of the investigative desk at Agidigbo FM, told Daily Maverick.

Adetola was speaking about the intimidation journalists face from the Nigerian government during the current nationwide protests in response to food shortages and the cost-of-living crisis in Africa’s most populous nation.

police detain journalists nigeria Protesters display a placard as they gather behind barbed wire during the End Bad Governance protest in Abuja on 1 August 2024. (Photo: Kola Sulaimon / AFP)

On Thursday, thousands took to the streets nationwide and at least three protesters were killed in Kaduna state.

Journalists from Daily Independent, Premium Times and Radio Ndarason Internationale (RNI) were arrested, detained and intimidated by Nigerian police forces while covering the protests.

David Smith, the project director of RNI and executive director of Okapi Consulting, said nine RNI staff members, including the editor-in-chief, the head of programmes and the office director in Nigeria, were arrested at their offices in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, on Thursday morning and were detained at police headquarters in Maiduguri.

“RNI staff were arrested as they were doing their jobs as journalists: reporting on the current protests throughout the country,” Smith said.

By nightfall, the journalists were released. The video below is of the journalists just after they were released.

Smith said, “Journalists and office workers have been released without charge and without condition after having been arrested this morning while reporting on protests in Nigeria’s Borno state.

“This is a victory for media freedom and freedom of expression. We thank Nigerian authorities for recognising the vital role played by professional journalists and, in particular, the vital role played by Ndarason journalists who report to the more than 7.5 million Kanuri, Kanembu and Buduma listeners throughout the Lake Chad Basin.”

Why the protests?

Nigeria is going through a severe economic crisis, with food inflation reaching 36%. Amnesty International said that in addition, many people had fallen into poverty as a result of fuel subsidies being removed in May 2023.

“Since 20 July, many people have used social media platforms to organise nationwide peaceful protests proposed for 1-10 August. The Nigerian authorities have, at times, labelled the protests as deliberate attempts to unleash violence,” said Amnesty International.

Ahead of the protests, Amnesty International’s Nigeria director, Isa Sanusi, said: “Authorities must not use the proposed nationwide protests as a ploy to crack down on human rights including the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

“People must be allowed to freely exercise their right to peaceful protest. The arrests of at least three people last week for allegedly supporting the protests on social media show the authorities’ intolerance of peaceful dissent.”

Sanusi added that the escalating price of food was driving millions of people in Nigeria deeper into poverty, while countless families were increasingly unable to afford healthcare and education.

“The Nigerian authorities must begin to seriously address the underlying issues driving the protests instead of ramping up repression and stifling peaceful dissent,” Sanusi said. DM

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Why the protests?