Femi Adesina, senior adviser to the president on media and
publicity, says President Muhammadu Buhari “has nothing to do” with the plan to
amend the Nigerian Press Council (NPC) act.
Adesina made the clarification on Wednesday when fielding
questions from state house correspondents after the weekly meeting of the
federal executive council (FEC) in Abuja.
He said the proposed amendment is a federal government
initiative, and as such, only the minister of information and culture, Lai
Mohammed, can address it.
He said: “That is not strictly a presidency thing because
the president has nothing to do with that. It’s a government thing and it’s the
minister that can talk about it. So, thank you.”
The bill, which seeks to repeal and re-enact the NPC act,
was considered at a public hearing organised by the house of representatives
committee on information, national orientation, ethics and values.
Media stakeholders had subsequently kicked against the
proposed amendment over some provisions they described as unconstitutional.
Azu Ishiekwene, a member of the NPO delegation, had said
almost half of the 39 clauses in the bill contained unconstitutional
regulations capable of stifling journalism practice.
Ishiekwene said the NPO had challenged the clauses up to the
supreme court, and that continuing with the amendment would amount to
preempting the court on the matter.
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