The Presidency, on Wednesday, said it had no hands in the ongoing amendment processes to the Nigerian Press Council, (NPC) Act and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Act by the National Assembly.
Recall that a lot of outcries from media stakeholders had greeted the amendment processes, with some describing it as another attempt by the federal government to gag the media and others describing it as a reintroduction of the obnoxious Decree Number 4 of the past.
Responding to questions from State House Correspondents after the week’s virtual Federal Executive Council (FEC), presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said the issue of the amendment had nothing to do with the presidency, but a government matter.
According to him, the amendment initiative is a government thing, which only the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, can address.
Adesina also revealed that the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, is studying the ruling issued by the ECOWAS Court to the effect that Twitter users cannot be arrested or prosecuted, following the suspension of the activities of the microblogging site in the country.
He said the AGF would advise the federal government on the next step to take.
Adesina affirmed that the committee made up of ministers to engage with Twitter has begun to meet.
Meanwhile, Adesina also informed during the briefing that President Buhari had approved that the Second Peer Review Country Self-assessment Report should be carried out.
Giving an insight into the report that was presented at the Council, which the NEPAD official gave, Adesina disclosed that Nigeria has made progress in several areas and on several fronts.
“While 10 years ago, petroleum contributed more than 70%, even up to 90%, to GDP, you will find that today, petroleum contributes just about 45% and non-oil products contribute about 55% to the Nigerian economy. So, if Nigeria had been talking of diversification for 40, 50, 60 years, the economy can now be said to be diversified because our GDP, non-oil revenue, contributes about 55% to 45% of oil”, he stated.
