Nigeria
Editors guild denounces press billPosted Dec 1 2009
Council Bill, which was debated in the House of Representatives Nov. 16. The NGE’s president Gbenga Adefaye, wrote an open statement entitled: “The Nigeria Guild of Editors rejects poison- journalism bill,” and the Guild is expected to take their protests to the doorsteps of the capitol.
The bill, officially titled “An Act to Provide for the Repeal of the Nigerian Press Council Act 1992 and Establish the Nigerian Press and Practice of Journalism Council,” will impose various regulations including salary requirements of 20 percent more than the national minimum wage and licensing through qualification examinations on journalism practitioners in Nigeria if passed.
Sponsored by a Abike Dabiri-Erewa, a distinguished former journalist with the Nigerian Television Authority, the act intends to create a regulatory council whose chairman will be appointed or dismissed at the president’s discretion on the recommendation of the Minister of Information and Communications, Vanguard reported.
Section 10 of the bill requires that members of this council must swear to an oath of secrecy. The NGE wrote that, “this may be a standard ritual in government offices, but journalism is about revelation and conflict.”
They also noted that the House is focusing on this “chasing shadows” with this legislation rather than “devoting its efforts to the passage of the Freedom of Information Bill, which will have a more profound impact on accountability and transparency.” The FoI Bill has been pending before the National Assembly for more than six years, according to THISDAY.