Faced with barrage of criticisms over the ongoing attempts being promoted by Ministry of Information and Culture to amend the Nigerian Press Council (NPC) Act and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Act, The Presidency has distanced itself from the move seen by stakeholders as attempt to muzzle the media.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, told journalists
On Wednesday at the end of the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) that because the initiative is that of the federal government, only the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, can address the issue.
Adesina noted that the ongoing amendments which has been condemned as draconian and authoritarian “is not strictly a Presidency thing because the President has nothing to do with that. It’s a federal government thing and it’s the Minister that can talk about it. So, thank you.”
Asked to react to ECOWAS Court ruling against Nigeria for suspending the micro-blogging platform, Twitter, Adesina said, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, is studying the ruling issued by the ECOWAS Court and would advise the federal government on the next step to take.
The Presidential Spokesperson stated: “The Attorney-General of the Federation is going to study that report and then he’ll advise government on the way forward. The committee set up by the President to engage with Twitter is actually holding a meeting about now, or it will hold a meeting this afternoon (Wednesday) towards engaging with Twitter.”
