A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN NIGERIA A STUDY PUNCH AND THE NATION NEWSPAPERS

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1.    Introduction
Human rights are moral principles or norms which describe certain standards of human behaviour, and are regularly protected as legal rights in municipal and international law. Human rights is one of the basic rights that says that every person should be treated in a fair equal right without cruelty or distinction of any kind such as race, colour, sex, language, and religion, political, national or social origin. They are those rights which are essential for us to live as human beings, without human rights, we cannot fully develop and use our human qualities, our intelligence, our talent and our spirituality. Disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts and has outraged the conscience of mankind.
Human right is a necessary consequence of one’s citizenship which is based on the reciprocity between rights and duties. Rights are not rights that have been donated to the Nigerian people through an act of benevolence by its leaders. They are not ideological fancies of a particular group of persons, but they are rights that encapsulate the collective vision, dreams, aspirations and fundamental beliefs of the people.
One of the greatest objectives of the post-independence Nigerian Constitutions is the protection and promoting of human rights. The preamble to the 1999 Constitution set the tone by dedicating itself to promote “good government and welfare of all persons on the principles of freedom, equality and Justice”. Also, chapters two and four of the Constitution extensively deal with human rights issues. While chapter two is captioned, Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy, chapter four is entitled, “fundamental rights”. Under the Fundamental Objective and Direct Principles of State Policy, the rights, consisting of economic, social and cultural rights are extensively set out in sections 13 to 21. These rights are predicated on the necessity for the material well-being of the citizenry with the state playing a pivotal role. These rights which are essentially equalitarian and egalitarian in character are rooted on the belief that the attainment of certain level of social and economic standard is a necessary condition for the enjoyment of the civil and political rights (Dada: 2012).
However, these rights require affirmative governmental action for their enjoyment. Thisis captured by section 13 which provides that:
“It shall be the duty and responsibility of all organs of government, and of all authorities and persons exercising legislative, executive or judicial powers, to conform to, observe and apply the provisions of, the fundamental objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy”.
An important section to the present exercise is section 16, which entrenches the economic objectives of the nation. It guarantees, the right to any person to participate and engage in any economic activities, subject to necessary restrictions, and obliges the government to protect the right of every citizen to engage in any economic activities outside the major sectors of the economy. The section further provides that the state shall direct its policy towards ensuring that suitable and adequate shelter, food, reasonable national minimum wage, cares for the old and pensions, sick benefits and welfare of the disabled are provided for all citizens.
In Section 17, the state is obliged to direct its policy towards ensuring that all citizens, without discrimination whatsoever have the opportunity to secure adequate means of livelihood as well as suitable employment. Furthermore, the state is obliged to ensure that the conditions of work are just and humane and that there are adequate facilities for leisure and for social, religious and cultural life and also ensuring that the health, safety and welfare of all persons in employment are safeguarded and not endangered or abused. Government policy is also required to ensure that there are adequate medical and health facilities for all persons, equal pay for equal work without discrimination on account of sex, or on any other ground.
In section 18, Government is obliged to direct its policy towards ensuring that there are equal and adequate educational opportunities at all levels and Government to provide free, compulsory and universal primary education, free university education and free adult literacy programme. Section 21 which deals with cultural rights provides that the state shall protect, preserve and promote the Nigerian cultures which enhance human dignity and are consistent with the fundamental objectives provided for in the constitution.
However, there are a number of pitfalls in the content and application of human rights and the provisions for their enforcement under the 1999 Constitution. The pitfalls not only serve as impediment to the promotion and protection of human rights but also undermine the global conception of human rights.
However, people (especially Nigerians) have failed to recognize their basic rights and privileges; they have been robbed of their fundamental human rights by the government, politicians, top government officials, security agencies/services, business moguls, and people who can be referred to as human right oppressors. It is therefore the desire of the researcher to review the efforts of the Nigerian mass media specifically the newspaper in reporting human right violations in Nigeria by assessingtwo national dailies in the country; the papers are The Punch and the Nation Newspapers.
1.2.    Background of the study
Human rights are the basic rights and freedom that all human beings are guaranteed, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of thought and expression, equal justice and, any attempt to depart or break away from these rights is referred to as violation or abuse of human rights. Human rights are rights possessed by all persons by virtue of their common humanity to live a life of freedom and dignity. Human rights are universal; they are the same for everyone everywhere, they are inalienable rights; they can neither be taken away nor given up, there is no hierarchy among rights and no right can be suppressed in order to promote another right.
Human rights have four key attributes, they are:Universality, Fair, Equal and Right. Universality means that human rights are inalienable; they arefundamental rights ofall persons simply by virtue of being human.Fairhere implies being reasonable, impartial, just, open-minded, rational, honest and unbiased etc. Equal means the same, equivalent, uniform, evenly balanced, correspond etc. Right means legal claim. Therefore, human rights are the basic legal rights that assure a person of peaceful livelihood, it assures a person that he is free from hostility or oppression of any kind such as racial discrimination, gender inequality, language barrier, religious conflicts etc. and if he gets one from anyone there is always a court where he can seek redress.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted and proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 10th December 1984, “as a common standard of achievement for all people and all nation, every individual and every organ of the society, shall strive to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of members states themselves among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction”. The declaration consists of a preamble and 30 articles setting forth the human rights and fundamental freedoms to which all men and women, everywhere in the world, are entitled, without any discrimination. Since its proclamation in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has become one of the best-known and most influential documents of all times.
According to Duyile, (2015) Human rights has been defined as: “Universal moral right, something which all men, everywhere, at all times ought to have and something of which no one may be deprived without affront to justice, something which is owing to every human being simply because he is human”. (P. 176)
Nzarga, F. (2014) says that human rights are rights possessed by all persons by virtue of their common humanity to live a life full of freedom and dignity. Human rights are universal, they are the same for everyone everywhere, they are inalienable, and they can neither be taken away nor given up. They are also indivisible, there is no hierarchy among rights and no right can be suppressed in order to promote another right.
Human rights are commonly understood as those rights which are inherent to the human being. The concept of human rights acknowledge that every single human being is entitled to enjoy his or her human rights without distinction as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Human rights are legally guaranteed by human rights law, protecting individuals and groups against actions which interfere with fundamental freedoms and human dignity. They are expressed in treaties, customary law, international law, bodies of principles and other sources of law. Human rights law places an
obligation on states to act in a particular way and prohibits states from engaging in specified activities. However, the law does not establish human rights. Human rights are fundamental entitlements which come to every person as a nature of being human. Treaties and other sources of law generally serve to protect the rights of individuals and groups against actions or abandonment of actions by Governments which interfere with the enjoyment of their human rights.
ARTICLE 1 of the United Nations Human Rights Charter (1987), opined that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, they are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Human rights are founded on respect for the dignity and worth of each person, they are universal, which means that they are applied equally and without discrimination to all people, human rights are inalienable, in that no one can have his or her human rights taken away other than in specific situations – for example, the right to liberty can be restricted if a person is found guilty of a crime by a court of law. Human rights are indivisible, interrelated and interdependent, for the reason that it is insufficient to respect some human rights and not others. In practice, the violation of one right will often affect the respect of several other rights. (United Nations: 1983)
Below are some of the fundamental human rights as stated in chapter IV sections 33-46 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with amendments in 2011
Right to life - everyone has a right to life and no one shall be deprived intentionally of his life.
Right to dignity of human person- every individual is entitled to respect for the dignity of his person, no one shall be subjected to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment; no person shall be held in slavery or servitude; and no person shall be required to perform forced or compulsory labour.
Right to personal liberty- every person shall be entitled to his personal liberty that is; personal freedom or independence and no person shall be deprived of such liberty.
Right to fair hearing- in the determination of a person’s civil rights and obligations, including any question or determination or against any government or authority, a person shall be entitled to a fair hearing within a reasonable time by a court or other tribunal established by law and constituted in such manner as to secure its independence and impartiality. Whenever a person is charged with criminal offence, he shall be entitled to fair hearing in public within a reasonable time by a court and anybody charged with criminal offence shall be presumed to be innocent until he is proved guilty.
Right to private and family life- the privacy of citizens, their homes, correspondence, telephone conversations and telegraphic communications is hereby guaranteed and protected. 
Right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion- every person shall be entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including freedom to change religion or belief and freedom to manifest and propagate his religion, belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance. No person attending any place of education shall be required to receive religious instructions or to take part in or attend any religious ceremony or observance if such instruction or ceremony or observance relates to a religion other than his own or a religion not approved by his parent or guardian. No religious community or denomination shall be prevented from providing religious instruction for pupils of that community. However, nothing in this section shall entitle any person to form, take part or be a member of a secret society.
Right to freedom of expression and the press - every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression including freedom to hold opinions, to receive and impact ideas and information without interference. Every person shall be entitled to own, establish and operate any medium for the dissemination of information, ideas and opinions.
Right to peaceful assembly - every person shall be entitled to assemble freely and associate with other persons, and in particular he may form or belong to any political party, trade union, or any other associations in protection of his interest.
Right to freedom of movement - every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof and no citizen of Nigeria shall be expelled from Nigeria or refused entry or exit.
Right to freedom from discrimination - no citizen of Nigeria shall be subjected to any disability or deprivation merely by reason of the circumstances of his birth.
Right to acquire and own immovable property anywhere in Nigeria - every citizen of Nigeria shall have the right to acquire and own immovable property anywhere in Nigeria.
However, there can be limitations to all the aforementioned rights if a person is charged with or guilty of a criminal offence, a member of a secret society, a public offender, or a violator of the rule of law.
In view of the fact that human rights are backed by provisions of the law, infringement on these rights guaranteed under an existing law is referred to as violation or abuse of human rights and to violate the basic human rights is to deny individuals their fundamental moral entitlements. It is in a sense, to treat them as if they are less than human and undeserving of respect and dignity.
Examples of human rights violations we have seen and heard of in Nigeria so far include acts typically deemed as crimes against humanity such as genocide, torture, slavery, rape, child abuse, trafficking, kidnap, unlawful arrest or detention, terrorism, deliberate starvation, massacre, Boko Haram killings, bombings, abduction and rape of women, and other attacks resulting in deaths, injuries, and wide spread destruction of property; human right abuse by security services which include extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, beatings, arbitrary detention, ill treatment of detainees, and destruction of property; widespread societal violence, including ethnic, regional, and religious violence.
Other serious human rights violations include vigilante killings, prolonged pre-trial detention, denial of fair public trial, executive influence on the judiciary, restrictions on the freedoms of speech, press, assembly, religion, and movement, official corruption, violence against women, child abuse, female genital mutilation/cutting, infanticide, sexual exploitation of children, trafficking in persons, discrimination based on sexual orientation, ethnicity, regional origin, religion, and disability, forced, bonded labour, and child labour etc. Human rights violations cut across all spheres of man’s existence and the Nigerian security services which are supposed to serve as protection to persons being oppressed have been accused of being one of the greatest violators of the said rights in Nigeria. It can be seen clearly that violation of human right is an oppression which must be wiped from our society.
Human rights reflect basic human needs. They establish basic standards without which people
cannot live in dignity. To violate someone’s human rights is to treat that person as though he
or she is not a human being. To advocate human rights is to demand that the human dignity of all people be respected. In claiming these human rights, everyone also accepts responsibilities: to respect the rights of others and to protect and support people whose rights are abused or denied. Meeting these responsibilities means claiming solidarity with all other human beings.
Meanwhile, the press which is believed to be a powerful tool must be in the fore front in combating the violations of human right. The mass media is a tool for success or failure of human rights activities and essentially the main components of human rights activities all over the world.
The place of the mass media in the promotion of human rights in any given society cannot be overemphasised; the mass media generally, can be used to bring about positive attitudinal change in the individuals. The mass media are crucial to opinion formulation and outcome of events. They act as the eyes, ears and voices of the public, drawing attention to abuses of power and human rights, often at considerable personal risk. Through their work, they can encourage governments and civil society organisations to effect changes that will improve the quality of people’s lives in the society.
International Federation of Journalists (2005) as cited in Asemah et al (2013) notes that all journalists’and media professionals have a duty to maintain the highest ethical and professional standards and should promote within the industry, the widest possible dissemination of information about the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and its implications for the exercise ofindependent journalism.
Although the press in Nigeria have been faced with challenges, however these challenges have not prevented them from impacting on the nation in diverse ways.
1.3.    Statement of the Problem
Human rights violation is viewed as oppression and threat to a peaceful livelihood of mankind which must be frowned at in our society, it is therefore imperative that all and sundry should stand against human rights violations.
Many Nigerians have failed to recognize their basic rights and privileges; they have been robbed of their fundamental human rights by the government, politicians, top government officials, security agencies/services, business moguls, and people who can be referred to as human right oppressors. It is a menace that is contributing to the setbacks we have in Nigeria today.
Human rights violations cut across all spheres of man’s existence and the Nigerian security services have been accused and found guilty of being one of the greatest violators of human rights in Nigeria. Several reports that cover abuse of human rights by Nigerian security services have been made over the years by Human Rights Watch. The Nigerian security services have been accused and confirmed to be guilty of unlawful arrest, detention and killings, torture, extortion, bully, rape, invasion, brutality and massacre of the citizens, police use of lethal and excessive force, includingthe use of live ammunition, to disperse demonstratorshave resulted in numerous killings in Nigeria.
Aside from brutality and massacre of the citizens by the security is the violation of press freedom in Nigeria. Despite the transition from military to civilian rule in 1999, clampdowns assault, torture, unlawful arrests, detention and police raids against producers of print media have continued. Between June 2002 and September 2003 Media Rights' Agenda - (MRA), a Lagos based Non-Governmental Organization which promotes, press freedom and freedom of expression recorded more than fifty cases of reported abuse of journalists' rights and other violations of press freedom and freedom of expression.
Also, the Nigerian government is not excluded in the act of violating the rights of the citizen. The government and its agents have so far committed numerous unlawful killings. They have neglected the masses and took to servicing their own pockets; they have failed to provide basic human needs of the people which are supposed to enhance good living. The National Human RightsCommission (NHRC) and the Committee against Torture held mandates to examine security force killingsand referalleged perpetrators for prosecution but did not do so.
Hence, this research work will focus on two national dailies in the country to examine the efforts of the Nigerian press in its fight against human rights abuse across the country.
1.4.    Research questions
1    What specific way did the selected newspapers report human rights violations?
2.    What was the dominant form of human rights violations the mass media reported?
3.    What was the placement of stories related to human rights violations?
4.    What was the depth of stories about human rights violations?

1.5    Objectives of the study
This research work is aimed at evaluating the efforts of the Nigerian press in the reportage of human rights violations in Nigeria.
1.    To find out the specific way human rights violations are reported in the newspaper. 
2.    To investigate the dominant form of human rights violations in the selected newspapers.
3.    To investigate the placement of stories about human rights violations in the selected newspapers.
4.    To investigate the depth of stories about human rights violations in the selected newspapers.

1.6     Significance of the study
This study is a comparative analysis of The Nation and The Punch newspaper coverage of human rights violations in Nigeria. Abuse of human rights is a threat to the existence of man and many Nigerians lack the knowledge that when one is oppressed, one can seek redress in a court of law, hence, this research will help people to be aware of the need to rise up against human right oppressors and seek redress in the court of law if anyone violates their fundamental rights and privileges.
This study will be useful to relevant bodies such as Human Rights (HRW), The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), and Amnesty International (AI) etc. in the country whose main function is to combat violations of human rights.
This study will also contribute to the existing body of knowledge and help future research endeavours in the area It is significant in that it will encourage other research works on what it takes to stand up for one’s right even in Nigeria.
1.7    Scope of the study
This research work will focus on two national dailies which are; The Nation and The Punch newspapers. The period of study for this research is (3) months from January to March, 2016. It will be impossible to analyse the entire editions of the newspaper for both papers within the research period, hence, the research will be limited to some carefully selected editions that carries stories on human right violations.
1.8    Limitations to the Study
This study is limited by the very common factors of time and resources. The researcher faced a serious challenge trying to gather editions of The Nation andPunch newspapers for the three months period under study. Instead, the researcher had to settle for what was obtainable and less cost demanding, considering the time limit for the submission of this research report.
1.9    Definition of terms
Human Rights: This term means one of the basic rights that everyone is to be treated fairly and not in a cruel way.
Violation: The term violation means the act of doing something that is not allowed by a law or rule. It means the act of ignoring or interfering with a person’s rights. It also means an act of showing disrespect for something usually by damaging it.
Comparative:This term is connected with studying things to find out, how similar or different they are to one another.
Analysis: The term analysis means a careful study of something to learn about its parts, what they do, and how they are related to each other.

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