A civil society group, Citizens Advocacy for Social and Economic Rights, CASER, has expressed great concern over the accumulated salary arrears being owed workers by proprietors of private media organisations including radio, tv, newspapers and online across the country.
In a letter addressed to the National Human Rights Commission following complaints lodged by the workers, CASER, stated that the failure to pay media workers is a derogation from the fundamental right to a free press.
It argued that a situation where workers in Nigerian media industry are being owed salary arrears from ten to thirty-six months is unacceptable by any standard.
Such action, the CSO said, amounts to an unfair labour practice as workers were made to continue to offer their services without pay.
CASER says it wonders how these workers have managed to pay their bills of accommodation, transport and maintenance among others without salaries, yet they continued to go to work and offer their services.
It observed that the absence of job security with decent and certain wages, media workers would be driven more by the exigencies of survival in the reportage and production of news for public consumption.
The situation, CASER added, would amount to a big risk to the Nigerian hard earned democracy and an implicit derogation from citizen’s fundamental right to a free press.
It noted that Nigeria media space is currently dominated by private ownership, placing commercially driven and survival to taint news reportage for public consumption thereby out weighing the Constitutional responsibility of holding Government accountable to the people.
CASER therefore asks National Broadcasting Commission, Nigerian Press Council, Federal Ministry of Information and other relevant stakeholders in the media to declare an emergency in funding the private media to ensure that salary arrears are cleared.
The National Broadcasting Commission, it emphasised, has neither moral nor legal justification to amass a lot of financial resources from licensing fees, sale of broadcasting Spectra among other sources, whereas it fails to carry out a financial Intervention to bail out media houses who owe salary arrears.
This, it said , would amount to a constitutional hypocrisy of the highest order to saddle the Nigeria media with the requirements of holding government accountable when there are no special provision or Intervention to sustain the media.
HERE UNDER IS THE FULL TEXT OF CASER’s LETTER WHICH WAS ALSO COPIED TO RELEVANT MEDIA
STAKEHOLDERS
3rd April, 2018
The Executive Secretary
National Human Rights Commission, Aguiyi Ironsi Way,
Maitama Abuja
Dear Sir,
THE FAILURE TO PAY MEDIA WORKERS’ SALARY ARREARS IS A DEROGATION FROM THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO A FREE PRESS:
CASER CALLS FOR A DECLARATION OF STATE OF EMERGENCY IN FUNDING THE NIGERIAN PRIVATE MEDIA
The attention of the Citizens Advocacy for Social & Economic Rights (CASER) has been drawn to the many current situations of accumulated salary arrears being owed to media workers by proprietors of private media houses which operate radio, television and newspapers services with online and print outfits.
A situation where workers in the Nigerian media industry are being owed salary arrears for periods ranging from 10 months to 36 months is unacceptable by any standards. It amounts to an unfair labour practice to make workers continue to offer their services without pay and made afraid to complain out of fear of losing their employment. But what’s the use of being in an employment where there is work without pay?
CASER therefore wonders how these workers have managed to pay their bills of transport, accommodation and maintenance of a decent lifestyle without salaries yet, they continue to go to work and offer their services.
Meanwhile, it is also mysterious that some of these said workers who are being owed many months’ salary arrears have exhibited, in recent times, visible improvements in their standards of living. Perhaps, this accounts for the general lack of complaint by many of the affected workers who have learnt and are learning how to survive in such a hostile work environment through untoward means. The trend is however changing as there are many media workers who are being owed many months’ salary arrears yet are without extraneous means of survival. Thus, they have approached CASER to intervene in their behalf.
The human rights dimension of this media workers’ predicament is that, in the absence of job security with decent and certain wages, media workers would be driven more by the exigencies of survival in the reportage and production of news with other media works meant for public consumption. That would amount to a big risk to the Nigerian hard earned democracy and an implicit derogation from the citizens’ fundamental right to a free press where news reportage is mainly tainted by vestiges of commercial and personal survival of media correspondents and news producers. The citizens’ right to a free press is guaranteed by Sections 22 and 39 of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as altered). It must not be derogated from implicitly.
The role of an independent, impartial and financially empowered media is one of the most important elements of a democracy. It is one of the reasons which account for the historic development of responsible governance in the Western world and the USA in particular. We cannot afford to undermine the power and relevance of a free press.
The Nigerian media space is currently dominated by private ownership. Therefore, where the commercially driven and survival tainted news reportage and production of media works for public consumption outweigh the constitutional responsibility of holding government accountable to the people, exposing corruption and improving the general living standards of the people through infotainment, the people would be an arrested socioeconomic and political development and the people would continue to suffer.
The Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC), The Nigerian Press Council (NPC), the Federal Ministry of Information & Culture and other relevant stakeholders in the media landscape must immediately declare a state of emergency in funding the Nigerian private media in order to ensure that salary arrears are cleared.
The government, particularly, the NBC for example, neither has a moral nor legal justification to amass a lot of financial resources from licensing fees, sale of broadcasting spectra, including the financial explosion in digital broadcasting and other means whereas, it would fail to carry out a financial intervention to bail out media houses who owe salary arrears. The NPC must also be that responsive to the plight of journalists.
Other arms of government are so well funded to carry out their responsibilities of governance to the people, yet through the enthronement of corruption, the standards of living of many Nigerians have been on an abysmal decline.
It would amount to a constitutional hypocrisy of the highest order to saddle the Nigerian media with the responsibility of holding government accountable yet, there are no special financial provisions or interventions to sustain the media. We therefore, by this writing make a query regarding the existence of statutory provisions for such sustenance for the media. Private media houses cannot discharge the constitutional duty of holding government accountable to the people, under Section 22 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, ( as altered ) if they have to rely only on adverts or purchase of airtime.
The issue of media workers salary must be addressed now. Where there has become a clearance of the backlog of salary arrears, such affected media houses should immediately commence right sizing measures or be sold to more competent managers. Private media owners must realise that in the internet age, surviving the competition for adverts demands extraordinary application of management know-how
Meanwhile, CASER would however, not hesitate to sue owners an management of private media houses in class actions on behalf of the media workers being owed, in order to compel the payment of the salary arrears or move to have the property of such media houses legally confiscated and sold for the purpose of the defrayal of media workers’ salary arrears.
This above move has become necessary given the rising cries of many media workers which have become very troubling to CASER. Their suffering under the excruciating pains of unpaid salary arrears for many months and in some cases, many years can no longer be tolerated. Therefore, action must be taken now!
*FOR: CITIZENS’ ADVOCACY FOR SOCIAL & ECONOMIC RIGHTS (CASER)*
*Frank Tietie*
Executive Director
CC:
The Honourable Minister of Information & Culture
The Director General, Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC)
The Director General, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN);
The Chairman, Broadcasting Organizations of Nigeria (BON)
The Chairman, Nigerian Press Council
The President, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ);
The President, Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE);
The President, Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN)
The Country Director, Amnesty International
The Country Director, Centre for Democracy & Development (CDD)
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
