As part of ongoing public engagement and advocacy ahead of the upcoming electoral cycle, the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ), represented by Programme Officers, Mariam Alo and Nurudeen Salako, featured live on Radio Now 95.3 FM on Tuesday, 4 August 2026, where they were hosted by Abiodun Adelowore, broadcast journalist, Radio Now to analyse the key findings of the Centre’s flagship publication, the 2025 Journalism and Civic Space Status Report, titled Silenced Voices, Shrinking Space: Civic Freedoms Under Pressure.
The discussion opened with an examination of the report. Nurudeen detailed WSCIJ’s systematic media monitoring approach. He emphasised process transparency, noting that the report tracks 245 verified infractions across 570 media reports published by 54 media organisations across print, online, radio, and television between January and December 2025.
Building on this, Mariam addressed a major institutional challenge highlighted in the findings: law enforcement agencies, particularly the Nigeria Police Force, were responsible for most documented violations. Mariam also unpacked the significant shift toward non-violent administrative measures, such as arbitrary arrests, detentions, and regulatory sanctions, which outweigh physical violence and heavily impact public discourse and civic participation.
Furthermore, Nurudeen noted that repression has expanded beyond newsrooms, affecting ordinary citizens in over half of the documented incidents. Reviewing trends across previous status reports up to this 2025 edition, the team explored how the landscape of press freedom and civic space has evolved over time and what these trajectories mean for everyday democratic engagement in Nigeria.
Tying the report back to WSCIJ’s broader goals, the representatives discussed the ongoing work of the Civic Space Guard project, which encompasses media monitoring, safety training, and support for journalists. They underscored WSCIJ’s core values of Integrity, Collaboration, and Excellence, emphasising integrity as fundamental to public trust. The conversation concluded with the report’s primary recommendations for the three tier arms of government, security agencies, media organisations, and civil society, alongside a final call to action directing listeners and stakeholders to download the full report.
Download the 2025 Journalism and Civic Space Status Report, titled Silenced Voices, Shrinking Space: Civic Freedoms Under Pressure.
