{"id":172112,"date":"2025-08-01T12:20:43","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T11:20:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/cross-river-most-open-tolerant-state-in-nigeria"},"modified":"2025-08-01T13:35:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T12:35:16","slug":"cross-river-most-open-tolerant-state-in-nigeria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/cross-river-most-open-tolerant-state-in-nigeria","title":{"rendered":"Cross River Most Open Tolerant State in Nigeria"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>The 2024 Openness Index published by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development, CJID, has ranked Cross River State as the \u201cmost open\u201d state in Nigeria.<\/p>\n<p>The report, which evaluated all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, was released in Abuja on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>In arriving at the openness ranking, each state was evaluated across seven diagnostic factors, including political environment \u2013 which assesses tolerance for dissent, freedom of assembly and freedom of expression by political actors and institutions.<\/p>\n<p>Other diagnostic factors include legal environment \u2013 which evaluates the existence and enforcement of laws that support or inhibit freedom of expression and media rights \u2013 economic environment \u2013 relating to the financial visibility of media operations, ownership patterns and advertising dynamics \u2013 and social and cultural context \u2013 which looks at social attitudes towards press freedom, including gender, religion, ethnicity and social norms.<\/p>\n<p>Journalistic principles and practices \u2013 which examines internal media standards, professional ethics and capacity for independent journalism \u2013 treatment of journalists \u2013 which tracks physical attacks, harassment, intimidation and legal actions targeting journalists \u2013 and gender inclusion \u2013 focusing on gender representation in media leadership and coverage, and experiences of gender-based discrimination \u2013 complete the seven diagnostic factors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe findings of the CJID Openness Index reveal a complex, uneven democratic landscape. Openness exists on a spectrum across Nigeria, shaped by political culture, institutional capacity, and the behaviour of powerholders,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n<p>According to the findings of the 2024 Openness Index, Cross River ranked as the most open state in Nigeria, with the state standing out for \u201cits tolerance of dissent, proactive information disclosure, and relatively safe environment for journalists and civic actors\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Ondo, Delta, Katsina and Ekiti complete the top five most open states. According to the Openness Index, the four states demonstrate strong institutional protections, functional media environments and low incidences of harassment.<\/p>\n<p>The report, in the same vein, identified Anambra, Nasarawa, Bauchi, Ebonyi and Imo states as the lowest performing states.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey all performed below average on indicators that appraised political tolerance, media independence, and behaviour of the security forces, representing a repressive environment,\u201d the report noted.<\/p>\n<p>The Openness Index highlighted the poor performance of Lagos State.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDespite being Nigeria\u2019s media and commercial hub, Lagos recorded persistent high-severity violations, including the harassment and detention of journalists, alongside poor perceptions of openness. It ranks 22nd on the perception index but for instance accounts for the highest number of murder recorded against journalists in the country, using PAT data,\u201d the report noted.<\/p>\n<p>The report equally observed regional trends in the Openness Index, with southern states performing better than the northern states \u201cbut with significant exceptions\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Also, it was observed that some states with relatively robust legal frameworks still reported high incident rates \u2013 underscoring the gap between the law and practices.<\/p>\n<p>Dapo Olorunyomi, Chief Executive Officer, CJID, described the findings as \u201cboth sobering and hopeful\u201d, noting that openness must be continuously protected.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe states that perform the best show that democratic space can be expanded with deliberate action. Others, however, demonstrate how quickly rights can erode when civic space is treated as expendable,\u201d Olorunyomi added.<\/p>\n<p>Explaining the need for the Openness Index, the CJID boss stressed that the health of any democracy is measured not by the presence of elections or institutions, but by the everyday freedoms the citizens enjoy \u2013 especially the freedom to speak, organise and dissent without fear.<\/p>\n<p>However, he observed that in Nigeria, democratic progress is most often measured through a national lens, thereby overlooking how power and civic freedom are negotiated at the state level.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur federal structure means that the realities of press freedom, civic participation and open expression differ dramatically from one state to another. Until now, this uneven terrain has gone largely unmeasured.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe CJID Openness Index responds to this gap. It is the first comprehensive attempt to systematically assess the state of openness and the conditions that enable expression, participation, and media freedom across all 36 Nigerian states and the Federal Capital Territory. By combining the lived experiences of over 1,000 respondents with verified incident tracking, this Index offers a data-driven picture of where openness thrives and where it is under threat,\u201d Olorunyomi said.<\/p>\n<p>He added that the Index is a call to action as it offers policymakers journalists, civil society actors and citizens a clear, comparative view of how their states are doing, and where work is needed. \u201cBy setting key benchmarks, it creates a framework for accountability and reform.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. The 2024 Openness Index published by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development, CJID, has ranked Cross River State as the \u201cmost open\u201d state in Nigeria. The report, which evaluated all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, was released in Abuja on Thursday. In arriving at the openness ranking, each [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":172111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,30],"tags":[9245,649,254],"class_list":["post-172112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-cjid","tag-cross-river","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Cross River Most Open Tolerant State in Nigeria - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The 2024 Openness Index published by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development, CJID, has ranked Cross River ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/cross-river-most-open-tolerant-state-in-nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cross River Most Open Tolerant State in Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The 2024 Openness Index published by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development, CJID, has ranked Cross River ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/cross-river-most-open-tolerant-state-in-nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-01T11:20:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-01T12:35:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/sm_1754039245.450463.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1022\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"570\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/cross-river-most-open-tolerant-state-in-nigeria#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/cross-river-most-open-tolerant-state-in-nigeria\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Cross River Most Open Tolerant State in Nigeria\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-01T11:20:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-01T12:35:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/cross-river-most-open-tolerant-state-in-nigeria\"},\"wordCount\":747,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/cross-river-most-open-tolerant-state-in-nigeria#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/sm_1754039245.450463.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"CJID\",\"Cross River\",\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/cross-river-most-open-tolerant-state-in-nigeria#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/cross-river-most-open-tolerant-state-in-nigeria\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/cross-river-most-open-tolerant-state-in-nigeria\",\"name\":\"Cross River Most Open Tolerant State in Nigeria - 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