Seeks robust contribution to legislation
A former Speaker of Oyo State House of Assembly, Chief Akin Onigbinde, has urged media managers to sustain campaigns against the sponsors of the Nigerian Press Council and Nigerian Broadcasting Bills.
He also implored the media to use the advantage of slowing down by the sponsor of the bills to make robust contribution that will ensure that the law is in line with best global practices.
Onigbinde gave the advice in an interview with The Guardian in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, yesterday.
The former Speaker, who said though the media had been slow in reacting to steps taken by the National Assembly, lauded the editorials and advertorials against the move.
He said: “ I think the media has been slow in reacting. This is a law that is important to the practice of information management and journalism in Nigeria. You have journalists that are sitting in the National Assembly and will be aware of the fact that this law they are trying to change has been in the books for a very long time. Journalists are also aware of the weaknesses in the legislation.
“Given the possibility of technology, do you just leave the media space open, unregulated and uncontrolled so that the press would not say they are being gagged? Who is gagging the press? It is for the press and information managers to define what they want to see in their industry and to be at the driver’s seat. To look at that law and say this is what is best for us and define what they want to see in the industry.
“For instance, it is the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) that determines quite a number of things that we know about in the legal practice. Yes, we have regulators that see to it that you don’t misbehave as a lawyer. We do not wait for the National Assembly to define those things for us. We define them by ourselves.
“The information management industry has been slow in taking the initiative. However, it is not too late.”
