NASS and the retrogressive Media Bill, Kupoluyi Adewale

Democracy requires an active media to thrive.
This is because the parameters that constitute good governance, which is a common feature of a vibrant civil rule, can be measured by the level of accountability, transparency and rule of law that exist in a country.
Ordinarily, it is a difficult task for many governments to appraise itself whether it is doing well or not.
Hence, the importance of the media in serving as the prism to review the performance of democratic rule parameters is ever relevant.
An attempt to stifle the media in carrying out these functions would bring about dire consequences for good governance.
A case under contention is the Nigerian Press Council Amendment Bill, which has already been debated at the public hearing stage.
The bill seeks to regulate journalism practice by creating a statutory body to arbitrate between the media and the public.
It is on this premise that the media can be compromised that Nigerians were angered with the new media bill before the National Assembly has been described as retrogressive, unconstitutional and anti-people.
The main justification that promoters of the legislation are hinging on is the fact that today, proliferation of the media is so severe that fake news and hate speech have dominated public spheres and posing national security problems.
Logical, is this line of argument.
Beyond this thought, introduction of the anti-media bill at this time is not only curious but apprehensive.
It is suggestive that there is a deliberate plan to manipulate the media toward certain political advantage.
It is also instructive to say that the action is sub judice since a suit on the subject-matter is still pending before the Supreme Court, which questions the rationale behind why the bill should have been drafted in the first instance.
The lawmakers should have awaited the outcome of the court’s ruling.
It is because of this constitutional crisis that many people feel that the introduction of the bill is nothing, but a mere amalgamation of the obnoxious Public Officers Protection Against False Accusation Decree No.
4 of 1984 and Newspapers Registration Decree 43 of 1993, being brought back into our legal system through the back-door; the draconian laws that were promulgated during the totalitarian military rule in the country.
It’s existence would criminalise journalism practice in Nigeria.
Do we need this? The answer is ‘no’.
Already, there are several extant laws in the country that can tame the excesses of media practitioners.
The birth of the imposed bill would make the Nigeria Press Council (NPC); a Federal Government agency, to usurp the powers of the courts by assuming extra-judicial powers.
In addition, the bill is inconsistent with the provisions of Sections 22, 39 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended) and Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement Act) No.
2 of 1983 to which Nigeria is a signatory.
That the bill, through some of its other obnoxious provisions, intends to indoctrinate Nigerians, through the use and misuse of educational curricula in the training of journalists and usurp the powers of the regulatory bodies in the educational sector that are equipped and designed to train courses in media and journalism.
This is unnecessary and a misplaced priority.
Nigeria should do this rightly.
We should not be taking after countries that are not doing well in democratic rule and press freedom.
We recall that Nigerians are more active in protecting the nation’s democracy at all cost.
A similar and controversial bill failed to sail through the parliament in 2016, when the Frivolous Petitions Prohibition Bill (also known as the Social Media Bill) was being pushed for passage into law the before it ‘died’ at the Senate plenary.
The bill was dropped during the celebration of the International Technology Day, an event that offered an opportunity to users of the Internet and service providers to examine the impact of the social media on good governance.
This is likely to be the same path that the new legislation is bound to take going by criticisms that had trailed its incursion into our political lexicon.
Already, the Nigerian Press Organisation (NPO), Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN), Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON) and other civil society organisations had decried the attempt to pass the bill and calling for its suspension.
While such internal mechanism should be fully deployed to curb perceived excesses in the media, those on the social media are uncontrollable; which remains a global source of concern for all.
There are enough existing laws that can guarantee against excesses by media practitioners.
It should be stressed that media houses and journalists are bound by the ethics of the journalism profession.
Citizens, bodies and organisations that feel injured or negatively affected by the conduct or offensive publications can always approach the courts for legal redress.
This is what democracy is all about.
Rather than waste precious time debating the obnoxious NPC bill, further deliberations should be suspended forthwith.