NGE pushes for tax exemptions to save Nigerian media's watchdog role - ITREALMS

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The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) has yet to secure a formal policy action or legal instrument on its request for corporate tax relief and VAT exemptions for the media industry, but President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has publicly "endorsed" and committed to "consider" the comprehensive proposals for fiscal incentives and other interventions, reports ITREALMS.

During the opening of the 21st All Nigerian Editors Conference (ANEC) in Abuja, NGE President Mr. Eze Anaba passionately pleaded for a 5–10 year tax holiday and VAT exemption on essential inputs to save the media’s struggling business model and ensure its constitutional watchdog function, noting that the inability to pay salaries due to soaring production costs, with newsprint alone rising to 1.3$ million to 1.4$ million per tonne, threatens the very existence of many newsrooms.

In response, President Tinubu acknowledged the severe economic distress of the media and assured the Guild that their requests which also included tax credits for advertisers, low-interest financing through development banks, and a Media Development Fund for digital transformation, would be reviewed by his administration, calling the media a partner in progress.

This presidential assurance, which was later relayed in a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, is viewed by the NGE as a significant commitment, especially since the President himself stressed that a free and responsible press is the lifeblood of democracy, stating, "When the press thrives, democracy breathes; when it is stifled, democracy suffocates."


The government's promise to consider these specific, targeted tax relief measures is an effort to address the media's unique systemic economic challenges, which were not fully covered by the broad Tax Reform Bills signed earlier in the year that primarily provided zero-rate tax only for "small companies" with a turnover of 50$ million or less.


The NGE's demands specifically seek to amend this framework to provide relief for the media as a public good, regardless of size.


Beyond the fiscal requests, the Guild also called for the repeal of laws that inhibit press freedom and the establishment of a Media Freedom and Safety Charter to protect journalists from arbitrary arrests and the misuse of cybercrime laws, requests which the President also pledged to look into.