* Senate allays fears
The Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) has advanced reasons why the government should not regulate the media.
The union stressed the need for the media to be regulated by stakeholders and practitioners in the sector.
The NUJ was reacting to the Bill seeking to amend the Nigerian Press Council (NPC) Act currently before the House of Representatives.
The union stressed that it would be subjudice to discuss the amendment of the NPC Act when the Nigerian Press Organisation (NPO), the umbrella body for the Newspapers Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN), the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and the NUJ, is currently in court with the government over issues affecting the NPC.
The NUJ President, Chris Isiguzo, made the comments in an interview on Channels TV.
He said: “From the NUJ perspective, we didn’t really make a presentation during the public hearing last week because we were not properly invited to that public hearing. But from the NPO perspective, we opposed the planned amendment.
“From that angle, we asked the House of Representatives and, by extension, the National Assembly, to drop the move because the NPO is in court with the government as regards issues affecting the NPC. We felt that it would be subjudice to begin to discuss the issues while they’re in court, although the committee chairman had a different view about it. From that angle, we said they should stop for now and let us dispense with the issues in court.
“I do not think anybody is allergic to being regulated. What we are concerned about here is: if you look at the issues in court, we said the government should not regulate the media but allow the practitioners, stakeholders to regulate themselves. It’s very simple.
“If you go to some other countries, Ghana for instance, the person heading the Press Council, of course, is a journalist. We felt that when you allow us to regulate ourselves, it will be a lot easier.
“If you look at the proposed amendment Bill, you will be looking at areas where they want to even criminalise journalism practice. For instance, if a journalist breaches – so to speak – the ethical code, you want him to go to prison and all that.
“We said no; there are ways that we can sanction practitioners that breach the ethics. We can suspend the person and we can also get the NUJ to get the person’s name struck out of the membership list, instead of sending the journalist to jail. These are the grey areas that we felt we should address.
“We said at the National Assembly last week that before we even zero-in to a public hearing, discussing the proposed amendments and Bills, that we needed to have sat down as stakeholders. You get the NUJ, the Editors’ Guild, NPAN, government representatives and all of us to sit down together and clear the grey areas so that we can be on the same page.”
“Recent developments send shivers down our spines. If we cave in to this subtle attack, what could come after it may not be controlled by anybody. That is why we are worried.
“Even when they talk about regulating social media and all that, ordinarily, one would have said there is no problem with that. This is because if you go to other climes, these are very simple things they do. If you come, you must align with their own system. If it is not in line with that, you cannot operate the social media.
“But today, all the newspapers, broadcast stations are on social media. And if you just give them a blank cheque to regulate the social media, your guess is as good as mine as to what will come out of it.
“That is why it becomes imperative that stakeholders have to come together, sit and agree: look at what we want and make it clear so that all the parties will understand before you go to a public hearing. But when you want to jump the gun – so to speak – gather people, like for us, we were not invited properly.”
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of Media Career Development Service, Mr. Lekan Otufodunrin, said the amendment bill and the Decree 4 enacted by President Muhammadu Buhari in 1984 during his regime as military Head of State, are the same.
Otufodunrin said the two pieces of legislation are meant to stifle the press in Nigeria.
Otufodunrin said: “Decree 4 was during the military regime and even then, it was heavily criticised by journalists and this led to the imprisonment of some prominent journalists.
“The interesting thing then was that when Buhari came in, he said he was going to tamper with press freedom and he did. This Press Bill, as well as the NBC Bill are just indications that this government seems determined to stifle the press freedom we have.
“It is quite unfortunate that this is coming under a democratic system of government. They can amend law because the laws have been in place for years and it is believed that events must have overtaken them, but what they are proposing is totally different.
“This is an attempt to stifle press freedom and it is a deliberate act to control and monitor the activities of the media.
“Most people would not have been aware because they planned to do it in a quiet way. They came for Twitter when nobody expected it but we are hopeful that members of the House of Representatives will listen to the voices of reason from the media stakeholders.”
Otufodunrin also said it was shocking that the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, who is a lawyer, could support the move.
“The Minister of Information used to be the Publicity Secretary for the All Progressives Congress and we saw how he used the media and social media to counter the Peoples Democratic Party and bring his principal to power.
“For someone who is also a lawyer and knows about the importance of the press, it is quite shocking even in his office as the Minister of Information,” he said.
Also, the Editor of Premium Times, Idris Akinbajo, said media practitioners should not be deterred.
He continued: “Nigeria is slipping down the ladder when it comes to the freedom of press.
“With this direction, it is same with the Decree 4. The media should not allow themselves to be cowed into submission and they should ensure they report objectively and courageously.”
Editor of The Cable, Kolapo Olapoju, said the bill should not be allowed to scale through because it was against the democratic system of government.
He said, “The law will gag the media. It is not in the best interest of democracy and that of the media to have such a law in place. It is going to suppress freedom of speech to a large extent. Such law would put the media at the mercy of the government.”
Also, a media practitioner, Yemi Farounmbi said: “The NPC amendment bill would definitely stifle dissemination of information in the country which is guaranteed in Section 22 of the 1999 constitution.
“The Ministry of Information and Culture has not comported itself well and it should have a rethink.
“Decree 2 and 4 stifled information. Decree 4 particularly stifled information that was factual. What mattered was that it must not be brought to the notice of the public. Decree 4 dealt only with the print media that time because of its role but with technology it would be extended to other outlets.”
However, the Senate assures that it is not possible for the 9th National Assembly to stiffen the media in Nigeria with its current amendments to the acts, which established the National Broadcasting Commission and the Nigerian Press Council.
The Spokesperson for the Senate, Dr. Ajibola Basiru, who gave the assurance on Monday, said the amendments to the acts and other relevant laws should not be misinterpreted as an attempt to gag the freedom of speech and free press in the country.
Basiru spoke in an interview with journalists at the sidelines of a two-day capacity building training for media aides to Principal Officers of the National Assembly, organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies in Abuja on Monday.
Basiru said: “The freedom of speech is an inalienable right of the people and effectively captured in the 1999 Constitution.
“There is the need to ensure that some regulations are put in place to prevent reckless and irresponsible use of such rights as had been exhibited by a few media establishments and individuals in recent times in the country.
“The current attempt to amend the NBC Act and the NPC acts is to improve and sanitise and not to stiffen the civic space.”
The Director General of NILDS, Abubakar Sulaiman, also said there is an urgent need to provide some levels of check on “a culture of misinformation” under the guise of freedom of speech.