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Last Updated: Wednesday, December 1st, 2004 HOME | Previous Page Stakeholders shun Senate’s public hearing on Press Council Law   By Adetutu Folasade-Koyi and Paul Mumeh, National Assembly Correspondents, Abuja   Major stakeholders, including the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) shunned a public hearing in a bill to amend the Nigerian Press Council Law. The public hearing on the proposed amendment, which was convened by the Senate Committee on Information on Tuesday, had no representatives from the beneficiaries to articulate their opinion on the NPC law. Jonathan Zwingina who represented Senate President, Adolphus Wabara at the occasion, bemoaned the fact that Nigeria does not have a regulating agency for the nation’s media industry. Zwingina, who is also the Senate Deputy Leader, assured that the new bill will protect not only practitioners, but also the public against attack by the media. “It is unfortunate that it is only in the media that we do not have a regulatory agency. Efforts to do this dated back to the 1977 law, which was greatly attacked and set aside. Inputs into this new bill have come from all stakeholders in the media already. This public hearing is another opportunity for additional input. According to him, the bill seeks to protect practitioners and also seeks to protect the public against attack by the media and assured journalists that the bill and its proposed amendment were the initiative of journalists and not an executive bill as was insinuated in some quarters. In his words: “This bill is a creation of the feelings of Nigerian journalists. The Senate will produce a bill that will address the needs of the journalists and the public. In 1988, Prince Tony Momoh came up with the NPC law. Those who criticised the law never read it. There was a campaign of calumny against the law.” Copyright� 2004. All Rights Reserved. Independent Newspapers Limited Block5, Plot 7D, Wempco Road, Ogba, P.M.B. 21777, Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria. www.independentng.com e-mail: [email protected] Designed By Powered By DNet.

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