Tinubu Urges Media Scrutiny On States, LGs

President Bola Tinubu urged the Nigerian media to broaden its focus beyond the federal government and intensify scrutiny of state and local governments, stressing that strengthening Nigeria’s federal system requires accountability at all tiers of governance.

The president made the call while hosting leaders of the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN), the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON) at an interfaith breaking of the Ramadan and Lenten fast at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Friday evening.

Tinubu said recent reforms that guarantee direct funding of local governments had opened a new chapter for grassroots development, adding that the media must play a central role in ensuring transparency in how those resources are used.

“We’ve opened up the principle of federalism to the extent that local governments are now getting their money. But how they use it is in your hands. Don’t bombard me alone; look out to the local government too,” the president said.

He noted that state governments were also benefiting from improved fiscal space and therefore must be subjected to greater public scrutiny.

“Equally the sub-nationals are enjoying the freedom. Today, there is no state that is borrowing to pay salaries of employees,” he added.

The president stressed that national development cannot be driven solely from the centre, insisting that governance and progress require the collective responsibility of institutions and citizens across the federation.

According to him, the media remains a crucial partner in nation-building and democratic accountability.

“We can complain it is not enough. We can complain we are not where we should be, but we have to manage what we have to sustain today, survive tomorrow and make progress. It is a collective responsibility — you, myself and those people that we assign,” he said.

Tinubu also acknowledged the difficult operating environment facing media organisations but commended journalists and publishers for their commitment to informing and educating the public.

“There is no morning that I leave my house without going through the papers,” he said, describing newspaper reading as an “addiction” that helps him stay informed about developments across the country.

Earlier, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said the federal government had already begun engagement with major technology companies such as Meta and Google over their impact on Nigeria’s media industry.

“All the regulatory agencies are already engaging the big tech, Meta and Google. The President will not allow anybody to come here, reap from our economy and go away,” Idris said.

He also assured media leaders of the administration’s commitment to press freedom, noting that the President has never directed him to take actions against the media.

Speaking on behalf of the media industry, co-founder and publisher of BusinessDay, Frank Aigbogun, thanked the President for hosting the gathering and reiterated the media’s commitment to national development.

He, however, raised concerns about the rising operational costs confronting media organisations and the growing threat posed by global technology platforms and artificial intelligence to traditional media business models.