Nigeria Media Sustainability Index (MSI)
March 8, 2012
About the MSI
IREX designed the MSI to measure the strength and viability of any country's media sector. The MSI considers all the factors that contribute to a media system—the quality of journalism, effectiveness of management, the legal environment supporting freedom of the press, and more—to arrive at scores on a scale ranging between 0 and 4. These scores represent the strength of the media sector components and can be analyzed over time to chart progress (or regression) within a country. Additionally, countries or regions may be compared to one another. IREX currently conducts the MSI in 80 countries, and began studying Africa in 2006.
MSI Overview | Africa | Asia | Europe & Eurasia | Middle East & North Africa
Download Complete Nigeria Chapter (PDF): 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2006/7 | 2006/7 (français)
MSI Nigeria – 2010 Introduction
Overall Country Score: 2.18
After a significant improvement in the media environment in Nigeria in 2009 over the previous two years, the situation deteriorated just slightly in 2010 with the overall country average dropping from 2.23 in 2009 to 2.18 in 2010.
It is unclear how much of the media's decline resulted from the political crisis that dogged Nigeria for many months, beginning in 2009, related to the poor health of then-president Umaru Yar'Adua, which spilled over to the early part of 2010 until he died on May 5, 2010. Speculation in the media about the president's illness and the nature of his ailment frequently resulted in various attacks on the media. At least three journalists were killed in 2010, and others were arrested and faced civil litigation on defamation charges. Media organizations also endured raids and charges that they violated national security, and the government shut down some broadcast stations. There was clearly a heightened sense of general insecurity within the general population during this period, including for a substatial part of 2010, which progessively worsened with bomb attacks in public places.
Indications of Yar'Adua's poor health first became public knowledge in 2007, during the presidential election campaign, in which he was the clear front-runner. Amid the campaign in early 2007, Yar'Adua collapsed and was flown to Germany for treatment, igniting speculation across the country, including rumors that he had died. Although senior government officials and members of his ruling People's Democratic Party initially dismissed speculation about the president's health, it became obvious only a few months into his presidency that he suffered from a serious ailment, which affected the performance of his political functions. Rarely seen in public, he also frequently made foreign trips, particularly to Germany and Saudi Arabia, where he reportedly underwent medical treatment for an ailment that remained undisclosed for the better part of his presidency.
As the president's health apparently worsened, the media grew bolder in reporting it, with fewer and fewer repercussions for journalists. In the latter part of the year, controversy and confusion trailed the ill-health of the president as he left the country to undergo treatment in Saudi Arabia without formally handing over to the vice president or anyone else to serve as acting president, as required by the 1999 Nigerian Constitution. Amid intermittent reports that the president was brain-damaged and had even died, Yar'Adua's ill-health triggered a major political crisis in the country, with in-fighting within the ruling party over succession, which resulted in political, economic, and social crises in Nigeria.
As in previous years, Objective 1 (legal and social protection of free speech) recorded the lowest score, with a 1.79, while Objective 5 (supporting institutions) scored the highest, at 2.70, consistent with the pattern established annually since 2007. Movements in all objectives were small: Objective 1 and Objective 2 (professional journalism) each recorded a minor drop in score. Only Objective 4 (business management) improved over previous MSI studies, rising from 2.02 in 2009 to 2.14 in 2010.
