Amidst the proposed Nigerian Press Council (NPC) and National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Amendments Bills currently before the National Assembly, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila said he would not be a party to any attempt to gag the Nigerian media.
The proposed amendments to the NPC and NBC have received stiff opposition from stakeholders in the media industry evident in the adornment of front pages of almost all National Newspapers with images depicting resistance captioned: ‘Information Black out’ on Monday.
But speaking at a media award dinner tagged ’’Recognising Good Governance and Legislative Excellence in the Face of Adversity,” in Abuja on Monday Gbajabiamila said stakeholders should be properly engaged before the passage of the proposed amendments.
He said: “I will not be part of any bill that will seek to gag the press, no bill will come to the floor of the house that seeks to gag the press because the press is supposed to be the voice of the people.
“However, there is press freedom and there is freedom of expression; it is important for Nigerians to listen to one another and understand each other so that we can make progress as a nation.
“There is nowhere in the world where freedom of expression is absolute, freedom of expression is limited to the extent that it does not affect another person’s freedom.
“That is made abundantly clear in the Constitution itself. If you go to section 45, it states the freedom of expression you have is limited for sake of security, it is written in black and white.
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Gbajabiamila, however, expressed worry that whenever the National Assembly tried to make laws with the best of intentions, everybody descended on the parliament even without asking questions.
The speaker disclosed that he has already directed proponents of the Press Council Bill to engage stakeholders and resolve grey areas, but the report he got was that they wanted the bill thrown out completely.
According to him non-governmental organisations (NGOs), religious bodies, social media practitioners, and academics do not want to be regulated but be allowed to have a free-range.
Gbajabiamila said that people want good governance, but do not want to be regulated, stressing that regulation was a key component of good governance.
“We cannot let every institution run amok, the executive is regulated, the judiciary to a large extent is regulated, the legislature is regulated; institutions are meant to be regulated, there is no one institution that is above the law.
“Especially an institution that is meant to be the fourth estate of the realm, whose utterances or writing can make or break even a government,’’ he said.
Earlier, the Chairman, Nigerian Union of Journalists (FCT) Council, Emmanuel Ogbeche said gagging the media might not augur well for the nation’s democracy.
“If we survive dictators in the past, I persuade that we will survive every attempt to stifle or repress to gag and to place a stranglehold on the constitutional guarantee of freedom of the press and expression in this country,” he said.
Recipients of the awards of excellence included, Gbajabiamila, Governors
Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State, Diri Douye of Bayelsa, Babjide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State and Umara Zulum of Borno. as well as Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi and Central Bank Governor (CBN), Godwin Emefiele among others.
