Author: Vanessa Moore

Nigeria: Final Information Network

 

 

Traditional Sources

 

Vanguard: This is a daily newspaper in English straight out of Lagos, Nigeria that has been published by Vanguard Media since 1983. This source includes access to the latest news on politics, business, technology, style, and entertainment from Nigeria. According to the source: “Media: Is Bola Tinubu The Biggest Media Entrepreneur in Nigeria?”. M2 Marketing Management, 2008, this is one of the few publications in Nigeria thought to be free from political control and influence. As this corruption is a big problem in Nigeria, Vanguard will be an invaluable source of objective information. I selected this source because of its reputation and popularity in Nigeria.

 

The online version of the newspaper, https://www.vanguardngr.com, provides easy access to the news stories, as well as the publication’s account on Twitter, @vanguardngrnews. This source is updated hourly.

 

The Punch:  Much like Vanguard, this is a daily newspaper published in English with an online version, http://punchng.com, and an official Twitter, @MobilePunch. This newspaper was founded in 1971 in Nigeria and is published by Ajibola Ogunsola. According to the website, The Punch is the “most widely read newspaper in Nigeria.” A 2014 article from the “About Us” page on the website alleges that the Research and Marketing Services (RMS) Lagos conducted a “current” survey in which The Punch, Saturday Punch, and Sunday Punch constituted the most widely read publications in Nigeria. (https://web.archive.org/web/20031015215403/http://www.punchng.com/aboutus#mission).

I also selected this source because of its reputation and popularity in Nigeria.

The Independent UK:  The Independent is a UK-based news publication that has a complete collection of articles and commentary on Nigeria. Although this is not a newspaper that originates from Nigeria, The Independent is a reputable British online newspaper (which won the British Press Awards in 2004) and which has been in publication since 1986. Articles are added daily. I chose this source because of the newspaper’s vast collection of articles on Nigeria and its reliance on freelance journalists to report internationally, allowing for the inclusion of more global perspectives. Additionally, the UK and Nigeria share a deep historical and cultural connection, due to Britain’s history of colonization in this country and the large number of Nigerian-Brits that live in England today.

The Independent has a Twitter account (@Independent), useful for keeping up to date with their stories/reporting on Nigeria. (https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/Nigeria)

The Nation Nigeria: The Nation is an English-language, daily newspaper that is published in Lagos, Nigeria. According to 2009 and 2011 reports by the Advertiser’s Association of Nigeria, The Nation was the 2nd most-read newspaper in Nigeria. According to the website, the paper stands for “freedom, justice, and the market economy.” In the “About Us” section of the newspaper’s website, it states that the target audience is the business and political elite, the affluent, and the upwardly mobile. The newspaper is owned by publishing company, Vintage Press Limited, whose “Who We Are” section describes The Nation as “a quality, national, newspaper with credible and dependable information. Not beholden to any interest group. Loyalty is to the nation.” The website is updated daily.

I chose this source because it adds a conservative perspective to my Information Network. Unlike more general news sources like The Punch and Vanguard, The Nation seems to target a more specific audience, the elite class. Additionally, The Nation focuses more on Nigerian business and economy than my other sources, and these aspects are important in the understanding of the economic makeup of a country. (http://thenationonlineng.net)

The Daily Trust: The Daily Trust is a daily Nigerian news website that is owned by a private publishing company called Media Trust, which also owns a weekly edition called The Weekly Trust. The company is based in Abuja, Nigeria and is produced in English. According to The Guardian, a British-based publication with ties to Nigeria, both newspapers rank among the top seven for advertising revenue in Nigeria. According to the website, this publication specializes in Nigerian breaking news and daily life.

Kabiru A Yusuf, chairman of the Media Trust Board, was the Southern African Correspondent of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) prior to venturing into local Nigerian publications. This provides a unique, dual perspective to my Information Network, because the chairman has had experience working with both an international publication and a national publication. Additionally, the website includes pages for Agriculture, IT, and Women in Business, which none of my other traditional news sources included. I think the IT page is especially relevant to this course, because it is an entire homepage dedicated to information technology, including stories on Facebook, Microsoft developments, and other prominent tech news. (https://dailytrust.com.ng/news/it-world/)

 

 

 

 

 

 News Media Sources

Naij.com: According to Alexa, an Amazon Company tool, Naij.com is the 7thmost visited website in Nigeria (https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/naij.com), and according to another news website, YNaija, naij.com is a “Nigerian news and entertainment portal that features aggregated news content,” (https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/naij.com). The official website is https://www.naija.ng, and the accompanying Twitter is @naijcom.

 

Unlike my other two sources, naij.com is not a newspaper, rather a news website created in 2012 in Lagos and is part of the global consumer internet company, Genesis Media. Another unique feature to this source is the available content based on user-submitted stories. I think that this source will provide a different, and more personalized, approach to the news in Nigeria because of this user involvement, but might fail to provide more comprehensive breaking news stories, due to its reliance on reader’s stories, rather than typical journalists.

Nigerian Entertainment Today (NET): NET is a Nigerian newspaper with a popular website of the same name, which specializes in entertainment and breaking celebrity news and interviews; it is updated hourly. According to Amazon’s Alexa software, NET.com is Nigeria’s 33rdmost visited website, meaning that much of the country’s population visits or has visited this site before, its target audience is under age 35. This publication has its headquarters in the capital, Lagos. I selected this source, because it is more like a tabloid or blog than to a traditional news source. Although this source would not report on politics, popular culture is also important to the identity of a country (Nollywood, for example, is extremely important to Nigerian culture and is extensively covered by the NET) and this is currently the only source in my Information Network that deals specifically with this type of news coverage.

The NET has a Twitter account, @theNETng.

(http://thenet.ng)

Social Media Source

 

President Buhari: I will be following Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) on Twitter. My first 3 sources are following this account, and I believe that it is important to stay up-to-date with what the leader of a country is telling his own country and the world about news, politics, and policy, whether this information is propaganda or unreliable, or accurate and reliable. This will serve as a point of contrast between what the press is saying and what the head of state is saying. This account does not provide information on who is running the account, but several tweets are in first person, maybe to convince people that the President is doing the tweeting. This account was created in December 2014.

 

Richard Mofe-Damijo : Nigerian actor, Richard Mofe-Damijo (aka RMD) is one of the most popular actors in Nollywood and has over 1 million followers on Instagram alone, showing his massive influence on Nigerian pop culture. In 2005 RMD won the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. According to his website, rmdtheactor.com, he has starred in over 60 movies and TV series, both locally and internationally. I am choosing to follow him because celebrities have a tremendous influence on a country’s culture, and are also often vocal in their own political opinions on what is going on in their country and around the world. Just as I stated that is important to follow a publication that focuses on Nigerian popular culture, I think it is equally important to follow one of the popular culture icons that are so often reported on, to gain a better understanding of Nigeria.

 

Data Sources:

The World Bank Nigeria: I will be using the official Nigeria page of the World Bank database website (http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/nigeria) to keep informed about Nigeria’s population, GDP, economic growth, and development statistics. This website is published by the World Bank, and Nigeria’s page specifically is directed by Country Director, Rachid Benmessaoud, who is based out of Abuja, Nigeria. The World Bank does not have a Nigeria-specific Twitter account, but rather a “World Bank Africa” account (@WorldBankAfrica). I find this to be odd, seeing as Africa has over 50 independent countries, each with their own regional, cultural, political, and economics needs and differences, but the World Bank is a valuable and reputable source of data.

 

International Monetary Fund Nigeria: I will be monitoring the IMF reports on Nigeria by checking its webpage on Nigeria (http://www.imf.org/en/Countries/NGA#featured)once a week, for any new information on Nigeria’s economic development. The IMF is a useful database because it shares the 2018 Projected Real GDP, as well as annual reports on Real GDP growth and the inflation rate, starting from 1980. This source will give me a detailed picture of the Nigerian economy and how it improves or worsens with time. The IMF’s Nigeria page is run by Resident Representative, Amine Mati, who is based in Abuja. This source includes daily news reports and articles, but the economic data is updated annually. The target audience for this source appears to be less towards Nigerians themselves and more for scholars and economists who are interested in the economic development and progress of countries on the macro level.

 

Visual/Audio Sources:

 Channels Television is an independent 24-hour news and media channel based in Lagos, Nigeria that is run by owner John Mamoh. This source classifies itself as a “watchdog” of the government, which I believe is invaluable to the press in every country. According to the African Press Organization (APO), Channels TV won the best Nigerian TV award for the 8th time in 2014. The Youtube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/channelsweb) is useful for keeping up to date with Nigerian news via visual information, including interviews with politicians and locals, and events in real time. This source provides live streams daily.

 

Guardian TV: Guardian TV is the media outlet of The Guardian Nigeria newspaper. This source specializes in science and technology, business, and sports reports, as well as political and breaking news and is updated daily. This source is different than the newspaper edition, because it adds the visual elements of interviews and demonstrations of new technology that is being reported on, for example there is a video titled “What you should know about cerebral palsy” on the homepage which shows a child with cerebral palsy along with text providing information about the condition. This is an effective way to communicate information, because many people would prefer to watch a short video clip, rather than reading an article on the same matter. The targeted audience is adult, educated Nigerians who are interested in keeping up to date with this subject matter. The inclusion of the video of the child allows the viewer to see what cerebral palsy looks like. This source is useful for keeping up to date on any new health, science, and technology reports specifically.

(https://tv.guardian.ng/guardiantv-exclusive/what-you-should-know-about-cerebral-palsy/)

 

Reflection 

 

To find the sources, I first Googled “top Nigerian Newspapers” and then verified each source with its respective Wikipedia page, then its website, another website that mentions it, and finally, its Twitter account, as Twitter seems to be the easiest and most effective way to stay up to date. Googling terms like “Nigerian Twitter” was not as successful because dozens of unverified accounts were the first to pop up. I learned that searching for international information requires a lot more digging and verifying than American and British publications which I am more familiar with and which I know for a fact are reputable. To add additional sources, I plan on repeating my searching strategy, as well as digging deeper using the LibGuide and other library databases for lesser known sources. Although more difficult than finding news sources from America, finding Nigerian sources was not very difficult. I think this could be because of Nigeria’s close ties to Britain, its status as the most populated African country, and the official language being English; these factors could contribute to the output of readily available information.

To locate new sources for my Information Network, I googled key terms, such as “Top Nigerian news authorities”; “Nigerian Newspapers by popularity”; “Nigerian economic report” etc. I used Wikipedia to get summaries of sources, and then verified them using the citations at the bottoms of the pages. Additionally, I used the LexisNexis database to locate more traditional news sources for my final draft, as the traditional sources were the hardest to find and verify.  Since Nigeria is an English-speaking country, I faced little difficulty utilizing local sources, however, I found that this second time around I had to include some British-based publications (The Independent, the Guardian) which could be because of the Nigerian government’s contentious relationship with local press or less availability of local journalism due to a lack of resources (compared to resource-rich countries like Britain). I have gained a greater appreciation for researching information sources outside of the United States because the lack of familiarity I have with publications outside of my home country (although I am familiar with The Independent and the Guardian because of the US’s close ties with British journalism). I found myself taking more steps to verify new sources than I would with domestic publications because of this unfamiliarity. I think that if Nigeria did not have such close ties to Britain, or was majority English-speaking, many of the stories wouldn’t reach the headlines of international publications, which is a barrier to the global information society.

 

 

President Buhari to depart Nigeria for London on April 9 by Akinyemi Akinrujomu

This article from Naij.com breaks the news that President Muhammadu Buhari will be departing Nigeria this Monday, April 9th for the United Kingdom. Buhari is scheduled to meet with British Prime Minister Theresa May and other prominent leaders. This official visit comes ahead of the Commonwealth Head of Governments Meeting (CHOGOM), which is scheduled for the 18th-20th of April. In the official statement from the office of the president, Buhari is there to discuss Nigerian-British relations with Prime Minister May, as well as with the Chief Executive Officer of Royal Dutch Plc, Ben van Beurden in a plan to invest $15 billion into Nigeria’s oil industry.

According to the statement, “These investment ventures will lay the foundation for the next 20 years production and domestic gas supply, bringing with it all the attendant benefits both to the economy and the wider society.” This trip will also include conversations on religion: “President Buhari is due to renew discussions with the Archbishop of Canterbury…on inter-religious harmony in Nigeria and World-wide.”

Nigeria is a country under the British Commonwealth, an intergovernmental system of member states formerly part of the British Empire. According to the Secretariat of the Commonwealth, this system dates back to the end of colonization of the British Empire through the increased self-governenance of its territories. Member states have no obligation to one another, however share a common history and elements of democracy, rule of law, and human rights.

This article is important because it showcases the deep connection between Nigeria and the United Kingdom, even though Nigeria is no longer under British rule as a colony. The leaders of Nigeria and Britain still meet annually to discuss shared interests, investments, and trade policies. It is interesting to note, however, that many Nigerians have opposing views on the authenticity of Buhari’s democracy, as his administration has had several corruption scandals. So despite these close ties to Britain, the Commonwealth value of “freedom of speech” might be prioritized differently outside of Britain in places such as Nigeria (as discussed in previous global news posts).

Related image

President Buhari (Source: http://theinfonerds.com/benue-killings-i-wasnt-aware-igp-disobeyed-my-directive-buhari/)

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Army reacts over Sergeant David Bako’s involvement in Dapchi Girls abduction by Nwafor Sunday

This article from Vanguardngr.com shares another story about the abduction of the Dapchi girls and the government’s reaction towards the media coverage. The news report that was making rounds in the media (this article does not specify the source of the original report) implicated Sergeant David Boko of the Nigerian Army in the abduction plot.

The Nigerian Army issued a statement via its Army Public Relations spokesperson, Brigadier General Texas Chukwu, who denied knowing Sergeant David Bako and according to this article, noted that “such publication was targeted to hear and drag the Nigerian Army into politics of calumny by mischief makers,” implying that these so-called mischief makers are in the media. The Army claims that is has crossed checked its own personnel records and cannot find a Sergeant David Bako who has ever served in the Army.

In the statement, the Army seems to suggest that fake news had a factor in the spread of this story: “It is imperative to know that these baseless and inane allegations are not new in the cyber space, knowing the fact that we are in the age of information warfare. Open Source Intelligence reveals that the website Dailyglobewatch.eu with country code top-level domain (ccTLD) .eu used in publishing stories is obviously fake and therefore not correct…However, it is really worrisome to the level at which some people could condescend so low to fabricate facetious allegation against the Nigerian Army and the military at large for cheap political gains or simply an act of pure wickedness, thus the public should disregard such facetious allegation.”

This article showcases yet again the contentious relationship between the Nigerian government and Army with the media, as well as their handling of an embarrassing accusation. Although the Army strongly denies any claims of Sergeant David Bako serving in any capacity, the Nigerian people are left to decide who to trust (the government or the media) for their information, because the government has such a strong history of corruption. This article also shows the global impact of the fascination and misappropriation of the term “fake news,” which has quickly become a global obsession following the election of Donald Trump in the U.S. This article also discusses the Nigerian Army’s focus on the idea of living in an age of “information warfare,” which we know from our Active Reading is a term that is sometimes used to further political agendas.

David Bako Source: Gist36.com

Lai Mohammad insists FG acted promptly over abduction of Dapchi girls by Kess Ewubare

This article from Naij.com, the 7th most visited website in Nigeria and a prominent online news source, discusses the state response to last week’s abduction of 110 girls from the Government Girls’ Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Nigeria. The minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammad, stated that the current Bukari Administration has done more to locate these girls that the Jonathan Administration did back in 2014 when 100 girls were also abducted by Boko Haram. While speaking at the foundation laying ceremony of the editor’s plaza of the Nigerian Guild of Editors in Abuja, Mohammad stated that the government had so far spent over 200 hours of air search for the missing schoolgirls.

Mohammad went on to say that the current administration’s counter-terrorism operations have limited terrorist groups, such as Boko Haram, to “cowardly acts” of bombing soft spots and kidnapping, suggesting that this administration has made it a priority to fight terrorism. Mohammad also made a plea for help to the media in his closing statements: “As of yesterday (Wednesday) we deployed over 200 hours of air search for the girls. Our appeal to the media today is to solicit for their support. We are now in trying times, it does not matter who is involved, we seek your support. We are not saying don’t criticize us but be very fair and do it in context.”

This is an important article because it highlights some parallels between the Buhari Administration and the current Trump Administration in the US in terms of maintaining a powerfully vocal stance against terrorism. Both countries have made counter-terrorism operations a top priority; it is important to understand that terrorism is a worldwide phenomenon and does not just affect US relations (despite what American media chooses to showcase). Additionally, this article highlights the often awkward relationship that the Nigerian government has with the media. In this instance, a state official is requesting assistance from the media, however, as seen in my first Global News Post, the state is often attempting to limit the influence of the media and suppress journalists, using force if necessary. Mohammad’s statement clearly indicates that the government is aware of this precarious relationship, as he acknowledged the criticism the government often finds itself fighting back against.

Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammad. (Source: OrderPaper.ng)

 

Buhari assures Nigerians on poverty reduction, unemployment

This article written by Nigerian journalist, Gabriel Ewepu from Vanguard Nigeria, reports on President Buhari’s new mission towards reducing poverty and unemployment through the implementation of new economic policies. On Saturday, February 24th, President Buhari sent a representative, Deputy Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC) Prof. Chinedu Mafiano, to the 22nd convocation ceremony of the University of Abuja to deliver assurances of these new policies.

In the statement, Prof. Chinedu Mafia read President Buhari’s statement: “My government is working hard to reduce the unemployment rates through several programmes and initiatives including the N-power, agriculture, small and medium scale businesses, all of which are supported by government guaranteed loan scheme. I encourage you all to key into any of them for national growth and development.” While at the University, President Buhari made sure to also share his commitment towards improving Nigerian education: ““If we must keep up with this global trend, education must be given its right place. My government is determined to continue to improve access to quality in our educational system.”

This article also included comments from Pastor William Kumuyi, founder and General Superintendent of Deeper Life Bible Church; he stated on behalf of the awardees a commitment to a contribution to help develop the university. Vice Chancellor of the University of Abuja, Prof. Michael Adikwu, appealed to President Buhari for additional “e funding” to help grapple some of the funding challenges and complete vital academic projects.

This article gives insight into the relationship between the President of Nigeria and the Nigerian higher education system. This article portrays President Buhari as receptive to the requests of some of the leaders of Nigeria’s universities and suggests a commitment from the executive level of government towards improving the economy through a renewed focus on education. Vanguard Nigeria is considered one of Nigeria’s premier newspapers and is praised for journalistic integrity. The author of the article, Gabriel Ewepu, wrote in an objective manner and included several primary source quotes from the speakers at the event.

Ewepu , Gabriel. “Buhari Assures Nigerians on Poverty Reduction, Unemployment.” Vanguard News, 24 Feb. 2018, www.vanguardngr.com/2018/02/buhari-assures-nigerians-poverty-reduction-unemployment/.

L-R: Pro Chancellor, University of Abuja, Alhaji Kabiru Maikudi, Awardee, General Superintendent, Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi and his wife, Sister Esther Kumuyi, during the conferment of Doctorate award on the Pastor at the University of Abuja 22nd Convocation Ceremony in Abuja Saturday. (Vanguard)

 

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Navy impounds boat, arrests nine fuel smugglers by Etim Ekpimah, Uyo

This article, published on February 4th, 2018 on The Punch, shares the story of a foiled attempt to smuggle contraband goods into Nigeria. The Nigerian Navy, specifically the Forward Operating Base, Ibaka, Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, seized boats and outboard engines attempting to bring in illegal goods. The FOB was able to seize 62 drums of automotive gas oil moving from Rivers State into the Akwa Ibom waterway around 5:30 am on Saturday. Four suspects were arrested and detained for the crime. FOB captain Yusuf Idris issued a statement saying that “And during that handing over, I made a promise that the Nigerian Navy under the present leadership will not relent till our waterways are rid of all illegality.”

 

This article illustrates the Nigerian Navy’s lack of tolerance toward illegal smuggling via the country’s waterways, and a state trend towards cracking down on the crime. Captain Idris made a promise that “…we would continue to make more arrests and seizure as long as the illegality and criminals are not willing to stop.” This article exposes both a specific problem facing the country and the state’s response to it.

 

This article was on the front page of the weekend edition of thepunchng.com. It was written by Nigerian journalist, Etim Ekimpah Uyo, who does not have a author’s page on the source site. The article did not include any external links or citations, but did incorporate quotes from the Navy’s Captain.The article was presented in an objective style without personal commentary from the author.

Smuggler Boat (Image Credit: Wall Street Journal)

 

 

Nigeria: Information Network Version 1

Vanguard: This is a daily newspaper in English straight out of Lagos, Nigeria that has been published by Vanguard Media since 1983. I will be able to access the latest news on politics, business, technology, style, and entertainment from Nigeria. According to the source: “Media: Is Bola Tinubu The Biggest Media Entrepreneur in Nigeria?”. M2 Marketing Management, 2008, this is one of the few publications in Nigeria thought to be free from political control and influence. As this corruption is a big problem in Nigeria, Vanguard will be an invaluable source of objective information. I selected this source because of its reputation and popularity in Nigeria.

I will be utilizing the online version of the newspaper, https://www.vanguardngr.com, as well as following the publication on Twitter, @vanguardngrnews. This source I updated hourly and accessible through. Although this publication is not available through the app store, I am able to stay up to date via tweet notifications.

 

The Punch:  Much like Vanguard, this is a daily newspaper in English with an online version, http://punchng.com, and an official Twitter, @MobilePunch, which I will be following to keep up to date with news from Nigeria. This newspaper was founded in 1971 in Nigeria and is published by Ajibola Ogunsola.

According to the website, The Punch is the “most widely read newspaper in Nigera.” I could not find any independent sources to verify this claim, but a 2014 article from the “About Us” page on the website alleges that the Research and Marketing Services (RMS) Lagos conducted a “current” survey in which The Punch, Saturday Punch, and Sunday Punch constituted the most widely read publications in Nigeria. (https://web.archive.org/web/20031015215403/http://www.punchng.com/aboutus#mission).

I also selected this source because of its reputation and popularity in Nigeria.

 

 

Naij.com: According to Alexa, an Amazon Company tool, Naij.com is the 7th most visited website in Nigeria (https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/naij.com), and according to another news website, YNaija, naij.com is a “Nigerian news and entertainment portal that features aggregated news content,” (https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/naij.com). The official website is https://www.naija.ng, and the accompanying Twitter is @naijcom, which I will be following to keep up-to-date on the hourly news flow.

Unlike my other two sources, naij.com is not a newspaper, rather a news website created in 2012 in Lagos and is part of the global consumer internet company, Genesis Media. Another unique feature to this source is the available content based on user-submitted stories. I think that this source will provide a different, and more personalized, approach to the news in Nigeria because of this user involvement

 

Social Media Source-President Buhari: I will be following Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) on Twitter. My first 3 sources are following this account, and I believe that it is important to stay up-to-date with what the leader of a country is telling his own country and the world about news, politics, and policy, whether this information is propaganda or unreliable, or accurate and reliable. This will serve as a point of contrast between what the press is saying and what the head of state is saying. This account does not provide information on who is running the account, but several tweets are in first person, maybe to convince people that the President is doing the tweeting. This account was created in December 2014.

 

Data Source: The World Bank Nigeria: I will be using the official Nigeria page of the World Bank database website (http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/nigeria) to keep informed about Nigeria’s population, GDP, economic growth, and development statistics. This website is published by the World Bank, and Nigeria’s page specifically is directed by Country Director, Rachid Benmessaoud, who is based out of Abuja, Nigeria. The World Bank does not have a Nigeria-specific Twitter account, but rather a “World Bank Africa” account (@WorldBankAfrica). I find this to be odd, seeing as Africa has over 50 independent countries, each with their own regional, cultural, political, and economics needs and differences, but the World Bank is a valuable and reputable source of data.

 

Visual/Audio Source: Channels Television is an independent 24-hour news and media channel based in Lagos, Nigeria that is run by owner John Mamoh. This source classifies itself as a “watchdog” of the government, which I believe is invaluable to the press in every country. According to the African Press Organization (APO), Channels TV won the best Nigerian TV award for the 8th time in 2014. I subscribed to the Youtube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/channelsweb) to keep up to date with Nigerian news via visual information, including interviews with politicians and locals, and events in real time. This source provides live streams daily.

 

 

Reflection 

To find the sources, I first Googled “top Nigerian Newspapers” and then verified each source with its respective Wikipedia page, then its website, another website that mentions it, and finally, its Twitter account, as Twitter seems to be the easiest and most effective way to stay up to date. Googling terms like “Nigerian Twitter” was not as successful because dozens of unverified accounts were the first to pop up. I learned that searching for international information requires a lot more digging and verifying than American and British publications which I am more familiar with and which I know for a fact are reputable. To add additional sources, I plan on repeating my searching strategy, as well as digging deeper using the LibGuide and other library databases for lesser known sources. Although more difficult than finding news sources from America, finding Nigerian sources was not very difficult. I think this could be because of Nigeria’s close ties to Britain, its status as the most populated African country, and the official language being English; these factors could contribute to the output of readily available information.

Nigerian Police Arrest a Journalist and His Brother Over a News Article They Didn’t Write by Nwachukwu Egbunike

This article shares the story of a Nigerian journalist, David Elombah, and his brother who were arrested on suspicion of writing an unflattering article criticizing  the Inspector-General of Police Ibrahim Idris. The two were arrested by Nigerian Police in their home in Anambra on New Years Day, and then quickly moved to Abuja in the early hours of the morning. The article that caused these arrests, published in Opinion Nigeria, suggested that the Inspector-General had been involved in an “unending baggage of controversy.”  Even though it came to light that David had not written the article, his brother Timothy remains in detention under an extension order given by the Magistrate Court in Abuja. There is evidence that the two brothers had been badly beaten by the police in transit from Anambra to Abuja.

The Nigerian military and police forces have a history of corruption and violence, as evidenced by their treatment of the Elombah brothers. This article demonstrates the problematic treatment of journalists in Nigeria, as well as the government’s crackdown on freedom of speech.

This article was written by Nigerian writer  Nwachukwu Egbunike, who specializes in social media, youth political cooperation, politics, and identity. Egbunike included links to his primary source, Premium Times, the local newspaper in Abuja which originally reported on this story. Egbunike also cited several quotes, including one from the Inspector-General’s interview with the Daily Post: “whenever you commit an offence it is our duty to ensure that we respond.”

Nigerian police officers complete their training in 2015. Photo by AMISOM, released to public domain.