television stations and print media institutions. WAMDEF's instruments include loans, equity, technical assistance and capacity building. It offers several different loan options to its clients and the exact maturities, amounts and interest rates vary depending on the particular media company, its business plan, the environment in the country in which it is operating, etc. WAMDEF's vision is to engender the emergence of successful, diversified and sustainable media enterprises, which contribute to strengthening democracy in West Africa. It hopes to improve access to finance and technical assistance for private media entrepreneurs by lending to or investing in private media enterprises with limited access to generate income which improve their operations and in turn promote democratic processes. I strongly believe that such an intervention will result in ensuring the sustainability of the media organizations in Nigeria and other parts of West Africa and place the media on a stronger footing to contribute to the process of development. Summary of Challenges Facing the Media in Nigeria As indicated earlier, in countries like Nigeria where the political culture and legal systems are weak, governments have used the excuse of regulating media conduct to violate media freedom. Such violations manifest in many different forms and ways and prevent the media from providing independent coverage of government. Some of the manifestations of press freedom violations include: Legal Challenges • Difficulty in obtaining facts and information in the absence of access to information and whistleblower protection laws • Official Secrets Acts and other secrecy laws and provisions which punish public officers who give out information and sometimes journalists who receive such information • Absence of protection for journalists' confidential sources of information and materials • Abuse of judicial or parliamentary powers to punish journalists or media organizations for contempt • Use of criminal libel or criminal defamation laws against journalists or media organizations that write on sensitive topics. • Use of sedition laws to punish journalists or media organizations that write stories or articles critical of government officials.