The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has said he will not be involved in the passage of any bill that will censor the media.
Gbajabiamila said this on Monday at an award ceremony in Abuja, while reacting to calls by some lawmakers for amendment of the Press Council Bill in order to regulate activities of media in the country.
The bill, which is already at the public hearing stage, was sponsored by Olusegun Odebunmi, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Information, National Orientation, Ethics and Values.
Debate on the bill also came as the Federal Government moves to regulate social media after suspending the microblogging site, Twitter.
The Nigerian Press Organisation (NPO) had in June, during a public hearing on the bill on at the Lower legislative chamber, asked the House of Representatives to drop a bill seeking to amend the Nigerian Press Council Act.
NPO is the umbrella organisation for the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ).
On Monday, several newspapers in the country published an advertorial against media regulations bills. The advertorial, which appeared on the front pages of dailies was sponsored by the Nigeria Union of Journalists, the Nigerian Guild of Editors and the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria.
The advertorial said the NPC and NBC (Media) Act amendment bills being considered by federal lawmakers was geared against the right of citizens information.
However, Gbajabiamila said “I will not be part of any bill that will seek to gag the press, no bill will come to the floor of the house that seeks to gag the press because the press is supposed to be the voice of the people.
“However, there is press freedom and there is freedom of expression; it is important for Nigerians to listen to one another and understand each other so that we can make progress as a nation.
“There is nowhere in the world where freedom of expression is absolute, freedom of expression is limited to the extent that it does not affect another person’s freedom.
“That is made abundantly clear in the Constitution itself. If you go to section 45, it states the freedom of expression you have is limited for the sake of security, it is written in black and white.”
