Nigerian publishers urge self-regulation as government ups control
Posted by Lisette García on November 18, 2009 at 11:26 AM
Nigerian publishers Monday advanced self-regulation of the industry as the preferred means of safeguarding the freedom of and bolstering public confidence in the press, allAfrica.com reported yesterday. The impulse to grapple autonomously with the issues of credibility and censorship through a peer-appointed ombudsman follows legislative efforts to impose tighter controls on the press as a whole.
"What the colonialists tried to do but failed under the Newspaper Ordinance of 1903; what our politicians tried to do in 1964 but failed; and what the Buhari/Idiagbon regime and a succession of military dictatorships tried to do but all failed, is now being put forward again," Newspaper Proprietors' Association of Nigeria President, Chief Ajibola Ogunshola, was quoted in today's Guardian as saying at a public hearing on the matter.
"What the colonialists tried to do but failed under the Newspaper Ordinance of 1903; what our politicians tried to do in 1964 but failed; and what the Buhari/Idiagbon regime and a succession of military dictatorships tried to do but all failed, is now being put forward again," Newspaper Proprietors' Association of Nigeria President, Chief Ajibola Ogunshola, was quoted in today's Guardian as saying at a public hearing on the matter.
"As it was in the past, I am confident that the Press will, once again, outlive the sponsors of the vexatious bill. I urge them to stand aside, reflect a little, bend down a bit and drink from the well of history," Ogunshola said as the House of Representatives took public comment on "A Bill for an Act to Provide for the Repeal of the Nigerian Press Council Act 1992 and Establish the Nigerian Press and Practice of Journalism Council."
The bill under consideration would provide for a presidentially-appointed commissioner to regulate and enforce newspaper conduct, principally as related to complaints of libel, The Punch yesterday reported. It would also call for licensing of journalists as well as set financing rules for news publishers. As leverage, former Minister of Information, Prince Tony Momoh suggested at the hearing that no repeal bill should be entertained without first enacting a Freedom of Information measure, which had previously died on the House floor, Nigerian Compass yesterday reported.
Momoh further warned the National Assembly should avoid enacting provisions which effectively censor because such a move would contravene the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which as ratified in 1999 recognizes a free press, The Nigerian Bulletin yesterday reported.
The bill under consideration would provide for a presidentially-appointed commissioner to regulate and enforce newspaper conduct, principally as related to complaints of libel, The Punch yesterday reported. It would also call for licensing of journalists as well as set financing rules for news publishers. As leverage, former Minister of Information, Prince Tony Momoh suggested at the hearing that no repeal bill should be entertained without first enacting a Freedom of Information measure, which had previously died on the House floor, Nigerian Compass yesterday reported.
Momoh further warned the National Assembly should avoid enacting provisions which effectively censor because such a move would contravene the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which as ratified in 1999 recognizes a free press, The Nigerian Bulletin yesterday reported.
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