The House of Representatives has affirmed its commitment to press freedom and stated that the media will not be gagged under the proposed Press Council Bill.
The bill, which is being sponsored by Olusegun Odebunmi, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Information, National Orientation, Ethics and Values, is presently at the public hearing phase.
The debate about the bill comes amidst recent moves by the Federal Government to intensify its control over social media after suspending Twitter. However, Benjamin Kalu, spokesman of the House, rejected the rumors of trying to suppress the press, noting the importance of media in nation-building. Kalu, who was reacting to the issue during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, said, “If the press is gagged, then we are finished.”
He added, “The House has taken a position and that position of the House is that no attempt will be made by the House to gag the press. The press freedom is where we stand and it is part of the legislative agenda of the Ninth Assembly because we see the media not just as a tool for dissemination of information but as a tool for nation-building.”
The Nigeria Union of Journalists, the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria, and the Nigerian Guild of Editors paid for an advertisement which was published on the front pages of Punch, Vanguard, The Nation, ThisDay, Guardian, and Daily Sun newspapers in Nigeria. The advertisement, called ‘Information Blackout,’ criticized the proposed Press Council Bill and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Act, suggesting that they were denying citizens of their right to information.
“The NPC and NBC (Media) Act amendment bills being considered by federal lawmakers was geared against the right of citizens information,” the advertisement stated.
The House of Representatives and other groups have expressed concern about the bills proposed in the National Assembly. However, Information Minister Lai Mohammed has repeatedly denied that the bills are targeting the media or press freedom. Mohammed has stated that they are aimed at safeguarding the country and its citizens from misinformation and other harmful effects of the internet, and they are not intended to stifle free speech.
