We’re no instrument for gagging the press—NPC

The Nigerian Press Council (NPC), has stated that one of the primary objectives of setting it up is to enhance the nation’s press, rather than serve as an instrument to gag it.

The Director General of the Council, Mr. Francis Nwosu, made the disclosure, recently, at a media roundtable, tagged ‘Deepening Media Professionalism Through Co-Regulation’, and featuring media executives in Lagos.

Nwosu stated that one of the ways the federal government has demonstrated its faith in the nation’s press is through the Freedom of Information Bill, which he argued, guarantees every practitioner unhindered access to information, especially in government quarters.

The NPC’s boss commended stakeholders’ for bringing up the initiative of fashioning out workable code of ethics that would serve as a guide to practitioners, regarding how journalism should be practised, professionally, in the country.

He also disclosed plans by the Council to organise a stakeholders’ meeting, aimed at bringing all stakeholders under one umbrella, to enable them address the myriad of issues, confronting media practice in Nigeria.

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“Why I commend every stakeholder present at this roundtable, and the organisers of the initiative that seeks to fashion out a decent code of ethics that would aid journalism practice in the country, let me however assure that NPC is not an instrument to gag the press. Rather it is meant to enhance it. That is why we are interested in anything that will enhance press freedom, and grow the industry,” he stated.

In his remarks at the event, the Chairman of the event, Chief Olusegun Osoba, urged the nation’s media to be ever-ready to contain government’s excesses, regarding the press.

“We should all know that the war between the media and government will never end. Even the United States which we see as the ideal democracy is never exempted. We all saw how former President Donald Trump banned the CNN from the State House, until the organization went to court and got a ruling against that,” the former Ogun State governor stated.