The Senate has said it is not possible for anyone including the 9th National Assembly to even attempt to stiffen the media in Nigeria.
The upper legislative chamber stressed that the current efforts to amend the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, Act and other relevant laws should not be misinterpreted as an attempt to gag freedom of speech and free press in the country.
Chairman Senate Committee on Media and Publicity, Bashiru Ajibola stated this on the sidelines of a two-day capacity building training for Media Aides to Principal Officers of the National Assembly organized by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies, NILDS, in Abuja on Monday.
Ajibola, however, said while freedom of speech is an inalienable right of the people and effectively captured in the 1999 Constitution; there is the need to ensure that some regulations are put in place to prevent reckless and irresponsible use of such rights as has been exhibited by a few media establishments and individuals in recent times in the country.
The Senate spokesperson said the current attempt to amend the NBC Act and the Press Council Act is to improve and sanitize and not to stiffen the civic space.
The Director-General, NILDS, Abubakar Sulaiman, shared a similar opinion with Ajibola when he said there is an urgent need to provide some levels of check on ” a culture of misinformation” under the guise of freedom of speech.
In his paper presentation titled: Communication with Tact and Diplomacy; Political Science lecturer, from Igbinedion University, Okada, Benin City, Professor Adeolu Akande, emphasized the need for Media Aides to master the act of communicating and convincing their audience without generating unnecessary controversies that could further complicate matters for their principals.
His position tallies with submissions from the Senate Spokesman, Basiru Ajibola, who cautioned Media aides to be circumspect with the communication they push out and to always see themselves as catalyst in the relative peace “enjoyed” in the ninth Senate.
The training workshop for Media Aides is the latest in the series of similar capacity-building exercises organized by NILDS for Parliamentary workers in Nigeria.
