Media groups under the Nigerian Press Organisation (NPO) have kicked against the proposed amendment of the Nigerian Press Council Act over the inclusion of some clauses they described as unconstitutional.
The bill was considered at a public hearing organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Information, national orientation, ethics and values on Thursday.
Some media rights groups and other critical stakeholders in the media industry have also vowed to resist any move to infringe on press freedom through the proposed amendment of the NPC Act.
The NPO, an umbrella body of the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), argued that such clauses were a threat to press freedom.
A member of the NPO delegation, Azu Ishiekwene, said almost a half of the 39 clauses in the bill contained unconstitutional regulations that could stifle journalism practice.
He 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.
“It is a matter that has been pending in court since 1999 but the first decisive ruling in the matter came in 2010 when the high court ruled that 17 out of the 39 clauses in the bill were unconstitutional,” he said.
“The Federal Government appealed and got a ruling in December 2010. That ruling was again appealed by the NPO and it is pending at the Supreme Court.
“If you make a law now that binds the hands of the legislation or tilts the legislation one way or the order you are preempting the outcome of what the court is going to do.”
the International Press Centre (IPC) alongside Media Rights Agenda (MRA), Centre for Media Law and Advocacy (CMLA) and the Premium Times Centre For Investigation Journalism (PTCIJ) have also kicked against moves to infringe on press freedom and media independence in Nigeria.
Executive Director at the IPC, Lanre Arogundade, contributing, said, “The provision of 3 (d) constitutes a potential threat to press freedom and media survival as it does not provide for judicial intervention before highly punitive measures are handed down by the council and indeed could be used as a political weapon against the media.
“The section provides for penalties and fines against violation of the press code by print media houses and media practitioners, including revocation of licence.
“Section 17 (3) (a) & (b) provides that a journalist could be held liable for the offence committed by his or her organisation and can be made to pay a fine of N250,000.”
Arogundade added that another “punitive” clause is in section 21 (5) (a) whose amendment is such that “a journalist can be punished by the council even after he/she might have been found guilty by a court of law and without the council going back to the court to report continued infringement.
“Section 33 (3) and (4) does not give room for retraction or apology where a fake news is mistakenly published but recommends a blanket sanction of up to N10m or closure for a period of one year.”
A former Rep member and former Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Sani Zorro, expressed concern over the NPC bill amendment, which he noted, was coming at a time when the government had taken some decision in regulating social media.
Zorro said the best way to go was for the NPC and critical stakeholders in the media industry to dialogue and chart way forward in the best interest of all.
He advocated that the NPC Board should be made up of professionals rather than being a “political board” which will not augur well for the interest of the media industry.
The Radio, Television and Theatre Arts Workers Union of Nigeria (RATTAWU), said Section 3 of the bill which wanted to empower the NPC to “approve penalties and fines against violation of the Press Codes by print media houses and media practitioners, including revocation of license,” should be expunged, arguing that print media houses were business ventures registered by the CAC and not NPC.
The union said any move to censor them would amount to a nullity.
National President of RATTAWU, Comrade Kabiru Garba, also pointed out that Section 9(1) of the bill which said, “the council shall establish a national press and ethical code of conduct for media houses and media practitioners, which shall come to effect and be disseminated after approval by the minister”, should be discarded.
He said the codes should rather come from the board of the council comprising all the stakeholders.
But Executive-secretary of the NPC, Francis Nwosu, commended the amendment of the bill and recommended that the council should also be empowered to regulate online media.