Th e management of the News Agency of Nigeria has retracted a story published June 26 on alleged increase in school fees in federal, state and private universities. Th e story titled: “38 Nigerian Universities increase tuition fees – ASUU’, was credited to Deji Omole, the Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Ibadan chapter. Th e News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, has carried out checks on the story and discovered that standard
editorial procedures were not followed to verify its authenticity. Th e alleged press statement was found to have been mailed to a staff of the Agency who passed it on for publication. Th e statement was utterly false. Th e story was also inadvertently transmitted by NAN after failing integrity tests. Th ree senior editorial staff involved in the processing of the story have been suspended without pay by management, to serve as a warning that the agency will not tolerate breaches of its editorial integrity. “Th is is to assure our numerous clients that NAN will continue to maintain its policy of credibility, fairness, justice and not compromise its professional ethics,’’ management said on Sunday. NAN Management will send a letter of apology to Omole. NAN Management regretted the story and has apologised to its subscribers. It has also enjoined subscribers to trash the story from their websites (NAN)
