The Media Rights Agenda (MRA) report has indicted government officials for 74 per cent of attacks on journalists, even as it indicated that 45 per cent of the attacks are from the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
The 129-page report, titled “When Protectors Become Predators: The State Against Freedom of Expression in Nigeria”, was released yesterday in commemoration of this year’s International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists.
The survey, conducted by MRA between January 1 and October 31, 2025, revealed that government officials were responsible for nearly 74 per cent of all attacks on journalists and freedom of information, with the NPF emerging as the worst offender, accounting for 45 per cent of all incidents of media rights violation.
Other perpetrators, according to the MRA survey, are operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) and various branches of the military and paramilitary agencies, as well as elected and appointed political office holders at the federal and state levels, among others.
According to the MRA, at least 69 incidents were documented during the period under review, including arbitrary arrests and detentions, physical attacks, threats to life, invasions of media offices, abductions, and other forms of harassment or intimidation of journalists performing their legitimate constitutional duties.
MRA’s Deputy Executive Director, Mr Ayode Longe, said: “The report showed that journalists in Nigeria are increasingly under siege, not just from criminals and insurgents, but principally from the very state institutions charged with protecting them.”
He submitted that the trend is a direct contradiction of the government’s constitutional and international legal duty to guarantee the safety of media practitioners and uphold the public’s right to be informed, saying it represents a fundamental breakdown of law enforcement accountability and a direct assault on democracy and the rule of law.
The report observed that the climate of pervasive impunity for attacks against journalists has not only eroded public trust in government institutions but has also continued to fuel further violations as perpetrators are rarely identified, investigated or prosecuted, creating an environment of fear and self-censorship that is weakening democratic governance.
The group insisted that ensuring the safety of journalists is a legal and moral obligation of the government, enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution, Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as other regional and international human rights instruments.
It, therefore, called on the Federal Government to establish and enforce accountability mechanisms for government officials involved in attacks on journalists, as well as reform and re-train security, law enforcement, and intelligence agencies to enable them to respect and uphold human rights and media freedom.
The organisation also proposed the establishment of a national multi-stakeholder protection mechanism for journalists and the adoption of urgent measures to put an end to the misuse of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015, as amended, and other repressive laws against the media.
MRA called on the National Assembly to enact legislation that specifically criminalises attacks on journalists and urged the National Judicial Council (NJC) to develop and adopt a system for monitoring the misuse of judicial processes to harass journalists while also taking measures to prevent further abuses.
