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NBC Amendment Bill: Senate says there’s no plan to gag the media
By Modupe Shodeinde
The Senate has said the planned amendment of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Bill by the National Assembly is not aimed at gaging the nation’s media industry.
It also stressed that it is not possible for anyone including the ninth National Assembly to ever attempt to stiffen the media in Nigeria.
According to the Senate, while freedom of speech is an inalienable rights of the people and effectively captured in the 1999 Constitution; there is 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 Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Basiru Ajibola, who stated this at the opening of a two-day capacity building programme for media aides to principal officers of the National Assembly, emphasised that the current efforts to amend the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Act and other relevant laws should not be misinterpreted as an attempt to tamper with the freedom of speech and free press in the country.
He said the current attempt to amend the NBC Act and the Press Council Act was to improve and sanitize and not to stifle the civic space.
“The media cannot be gagged in Nigeria, we have one of the most thrIving media in the world. For the fact that you regulate the activities of the media like the radio, television does not mean you are gagging the media. Media cannot be gagged anywhere in the world.” He said.
The senator said it could not be denied that the country needed viable and well-informed media personnel as intermediaries between the government and the governed.
According to him, the roles of media aides are more sensitive than those of other aides because they are the mirror through which their principals are assessed by the public.
He added that they are the repository of the “secrets” of their principals and that their job schedule cut across policy making and projection of their principals’ images
He, however, sounded a note of warning to the political class not to reduce their media aides to tools to further their political interests.
“As politicians, we do not really acquaint ourselves with the important nature of the job description of media aides, hence we fail to maximise the benefits derivable from them. It is high time we realised that media aides have so much to offer if we allow them to function strictly within the context of their engagement.
‘’The political class should not turn media aides to attack dogs that are let loose on others, which may not be in sync with their point of view or even of different political inclinations.
“Undoubtedly, media aides are stabilising factors in the polity, they have the onerous task of mitigating tension in the society through their releases on behalf of their principals.
“The political class must accept the fact that media aides have so much to contribute in the area of mitigation of societal tensions in all ramifications, if allowed and given the necessary support,’’ he said.
