The House of Representatives says its amendment into the National Press Council Bill is to reform the council for efficiency and service delivery.
The Chairman House Committee on Information, Culture and National Orientation, Olusegun Odebunmi stated this in Abuja, while reacting to the public outcry that the proposed amendment was to restrict freedom of expression.
Odebunmi explained that the current NPC Acts was not friendly to the media which informed the decision for amendment to conform to the global best practices.
“When I went through the existing act, we are even lucky that none of the government’s agencies uses it to deal with the press.
If they want to judge any of you according to the existing law, there will be serious problem for the press,” he said,
The lawmaker who expressed concern over the non-performance of the Nigerian Press Council, explained that the proposed amendment to the bill will add value to the operations of the council.
“I have the privilege of serving this committee for the second time now. Press Council is one of the agencies under the supervision of this committee.
My experience with that agency is as if the agency does not exist and obviously on yearly basis, there will always be fund given to them either for capital or for the personnel”, he added.
In the proposed amendment, Journalists and media houses can be fined N250, 000.00 and N10m by the Nigerian Press Council for any violations of the act.
Nneka Ukachukwu
