Over one year after GEJ conceded defeat to PMB, read what has happened
– EU rates Nigeria’s democracy as the best in Africa
– Michel Arrion, the ambassador and head of the EU delegation to Nigeria, said Nigeria is a country where freedom of expression is in general respected, the traditional media is relatively pluralistic, bloggers and cyber activists share their views
– Arrion says that these significant steps underlines the priority the EU accorded to freedom of opinion and expression as an essential foundation for democracy
The European Union (EU) on Tuesday, May 3, has described Nigeria’s brand of democracy as the best in Africa, over one year after ex-president Goodluck Jonathan conceded defeat to President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to EU, Nigeria is running the most vibrant democracy in the continent with absolute press freedom, Daily Post reports.
Buhari-Jonathan phone call
Speaking at the 2016 World Press Freedom Day celebration in Abuja with the theme: “Access to information and fundamental freedom: This is your right”, Michel Arrion, the ambassador and head of the EU delegation to Nigeria, said: “Nigeria, in our assessment, is a country where freedom of expression is in general respected, the traditional media is relatively pluralistic, bloggers and cyber activists share their views.
“Nigeria boasts of a large, vibrant social media community, whose engagement with the socio-political processes has enriched public discourse and widened the frontier of participation on issues that concerns the citizenry.”
Arrion added that these significant steps underlined the priority the EU accorded to freedom of opinion and expression as an essential foundation for democracy.
He said the EU recognised that free, diverse, independent media were essential for the promotion and protection of freedom of opinion and expression.
“By facilitating the free flow of information and ideas on matters of public interest, and by ensuring transparency and accountability, independent media constitute one of the cornerstones of democracy,” he stated.
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