TINUBU PROMISES TARIFF RELIEF, SUPPORT FOR NIGERIAN MEDIA COMPANIES

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By ‘Sefiu Ajape

President Bola Tinubu has pledged to review tariffs on newsprint, broadcast equipment, and other materials used by media organizations as part of efforts to ease financial pressures on Nigeria’s media industry.

The President also assured media stakeholders of government support in addressing what they described as the dominance of big tech companies and anti-competitive practices in the media space.

Tinubu made the commitment at the weekend while receiving a delegation of the Nigerian Press Organisation (NPO), led by its President and publisher of The Guardian Nigeria, Maiden Alex-Ibru, according to a statement signed by the Chief Executive Officer of the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria, Segun Adediran.

The meeting followed an interfaith dinner held on Friday at the State House, attended by prominent media executives, including Olusegun Osoba, Sam Amuka, Nduka Obaigbena, John Momoh and the Director-General of the Nigerian Television Authority, Saliu Abdulhamid Dembos.

Other attendees included Ray Ekpu, President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, Eze Anaba, Chairman of Punch Nigeria Limited, Angela Emuwa, and several media executives and industry leaders.

Also present were the President of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers, Danlami Nmodu, and the President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Alhassan Yahya Abdullahi.

Tinubu was accompanied by Vice President Kashim Shettima and the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, among other senior officials.

Addressing the delegation, the President said his administration would tackle fiscal challenges and “digital cannibalisation” threatening revenue generation and the sustainability of the media.

He described the press as an essential partner in the “nation’s journey towards economic stability, press freedom and social cohesion.”

Tinubu said, “You have the government’s full support, because we know how important your work is to the sustenance of democracy.”

He added that the government was reviewing the tariff exemption list to include items such as “newsprint, plates, chemicals, and radio and television broadcast equipment, which currently attract tariffs of 5 to 10 percent.”

Earlier, speaking on behalf of the NPO, Deputy President of NPAN and Publisher of BusinessDay, Frank Aigbogun, accused some tech companies of “increasingly scraping proprietary creative content to train AI models, often by breaching digital paywalls.”

He said the concerns followed a letter sent to the government in January highlighting the threat posed by big tech operations to local media.

The NPO urged the President to direct the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission to collaborate with media stakeholders in investigating claims that big tech dominance and anti-competitive practices were costing local media up to 70 percent of its legitimate income.

The organisation also welcomed the proposed tariff review, noting that “these items would enjoy a status similar to that of educational and research materials.”

Meanwhile, the Minister of Information, Idris, said the government had already begun engagements with major tech companies, including Meta and Google.

“The government will not allow anybody to come here, reap from our economy, and go away without giving back,” he said.