The Nigerian Official Secrets Act and Freedom of the Press: An Evaluation of Some Salient Provisions

Abstract

The 1999 Nigerian Constitution guarantees fundamental rights, including the right to freedom of expression and the Press to all citizens of Nigeria, including journalists. Thus paper evaluates some salient provisions of the Nigerian Official Secrets Act 2004 on the freedom of the Press. The research methodology utilised is mainly doctrinal analysis of applicable primary and secondary sources. The paper finds that the definition of classified matter under section 9(1) of the Nigerian Official Secrets Act 2004 is too wide and susceptible to abuse, as it allows the government to declare anything it likes as a classified matter and therefore not to be disclosed or revealed to the public without authorisation. The paper suggests that the Nigerian Official Secrets Act 2004 should be amended in its section 9(1) to define classified matter as only the information and public record which border on the defence and national security of Nigeria.