Govt not a threat to media, says Lai Mohammed

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said journalists in Nigeria have nothing to fear from the Nigerian government in the performance of their duties.

Mohammed, who stated this in Doha yesterday when he featured as a panellist at the ongoing 2016 yearly congress of the International Press Institute (IPI) in the Qatari capital, said: ‘’Under this dispensation, we have never even contemplated stifling the freedom of the media not to talk of hounding them to death.

‘’Not a single journalist is in detention in Nigeria today. The government of the day is not a threat to the media, and it is not about to stifle press freedom or deny anyone his or her constitutionally guaranteed rights.”

The minister also said while the government has ensured the protection of the premises of vulnerable media establishments when required to do so, that does not affect the independence of such organisations.