The Media Rights Agenda (MRA) on Monday released a report exposing a persistent pattern of attacks, intimidation, and harassment targeted at journalists and other media workers by security, law enforcement, and intelligence agencies in Nigeria.

SolaceBase reports that the report, titled “When Protectors Become Predators: The State Against Freedom of Expression in Nigeria,” was published to commemorate this year’s International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists (IDEI).

According to MRA’s Deputy Executive Director, Mr. Ayode Longe, in a statement signed by the organization’s Communications Officer, Mr. Idowu Adewale, those mandated to maintain law and order — including the police, security, and intelligence agencies — have instead become tools of repression, frequently targeting journalists for performing their legitimate duties of informing the public and holding power to account.

The statement disclosed that the report revealed government officials were responsible for nearly 74 percent of all attacks on journalists and freedom of expression recorded by MRA in Nigeria between January 1 and October 31, 2025.

The Nigeria Police Force, it said, emerged as the worst offender, accounting for 45 percent of all recorded violations of media rights.

“Other perpetrators of attacks on journalists include operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), various branches of the military and paramilitary agencies, as well as elected and appointed political office holders at both federal and state levels,” the report noted.

MRA documented at least 69 incidents during the review period, including arbitrary arrests and detentions, physical assaults, threats to life, media office invasions, abductions, and other forms of harassment against journalists engaged in legitimate professional activities.

“The report shows that journalists in Nigeria are increasingly under siege, not just from criminals and insurgents, but principally from the very state institutions charged with protecting them,” Longe stated.

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The statement further lamented that the situation represents a “direct contradiction of the government’s constitutional and international legal duty to ensure the safety of media practitioners and uphold the public’s right to be informed.”

It described the trend as “a fundamental breakdown of law enforcement accountability and a direct assault on democracy and the rule of law.”

The report emphasized that the climate of impunity for crimes against journalists has eroded public trust in government institutions, emboldening perpetrators who are rarely identified, investigated, or prosecuted.

This, MRA warned, has created an atmosphere of fear and self-censorship, undermining democratic governance.

MRA reiterated that ensuring the safety of journalists is both a legal and moral obligation of the government, as enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution, Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, among other regional and international human rights instruments.

The organization, therefore, called on the Federal Government to establish and enforce accountability mechanisms for officials involved in attacks on journalists, and to reform and re-train security, law enforcement, and intelligence agencies to respect and uphold human rights and media freedom.

It also proposed the creation of a national multi-stakeholder protection mechanism for journalists and the adoption of urgent measures to stop the misuse of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015 (as amended) and other repressive laws against the media.

Furthermore, MRA urged the National Assembly to enact legislation that specifically criminalizes attacks on journalists and called on the National Judicial Council (NJC) to monitor the misuse of judicial processes used to harass journalists while taking steps to prevent such abuses in the future.