NPO to Tinubu, NASS: Shield Nigerian press from global digital giants

By Henry Ojelu

LAGOS — The Nigerian Press Organisation, NPO, yesterday urged President Bola Tinubu and the National Assembly to enact urgent measures to safeguard Nigeria’s journalism ecosystem from the dominance of unregulated global digital platforms.

In a strategic position paper titled “Preserving Nigeria’s Information Sovereignty: Why the Federal Government Must Act to Secure the Nigerian Press in the Digital Age,” the umbrella body—comprising the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN), Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON), Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP), and Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ)—warned that inaction risks surrendering Nigeria’s information space to foreign gatekeepers.

The document, signed by NPAN President, Lady Maiden Alex-Ibru, NGE President Mr. Eze Anaba, BON Chairman Mr. Salihu Abdulhamid Dembos, and GOCOP President Danlami Nmodudu, describes Nigeria at a “critical inflexion point” in its democratic and digital evolution.

“Decisions taken now will shape not only the future of journalism but also the strength of Nigeria’s social cohesion, national security, and democratic governance,” it stated.

Highlighting the threat, NPO noted how platforms like Google and Meta dominate digital advertising, control algorithms dictating content visibility, monetise Nigerian news without reinvestment, and siphon revenues offshore.

“This is not a conventional market disruption. It is the emergence of private, transnational gatekeepers over public discourse, operating beyond national democratic accountability,” the body asserted.

The stakes, it argued, transcend media economics, touching national security. In Nigeria’s multi-ethnic federation, weakened journalism fuels misinformation, polarisation, and insecurity.

“No counterterrorism, policing, or intelligence framework can fully compensate for a collapsed information order,” NPO warned.

It also flaged risks to electoral integrity, press freedom via economic viability, and job losses eroding national capacity.

Positioning journalism as “strategic national infrastructure” akin to education or the judiciary, the group decried how global firms extract value from verified facts while starving local newsrooms amid rising costs.

The post NPO to Tinubu, NASS: Shield Nigerian press from global digital giants appeared first on Vanguard News.