The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has insisted he will not associate himself with any bill that seeks to gag media practitioners.
Gbajabiamila stated this on Monday at an award ceremony tagged “Recognising Good Governance and Legislative Excellence in the Face of Adversity” in Abuja.
“I will not be part of any bill that will seek to gag the press, no bill will come to the floor of the house that seeks to gag the press because the press is supposed to be the voice of the people.
“However, there is press freedom and there is freedom of expression; it is important for Nigerians to listen to one another and understand each other so that we can make progress as a nation.
“There is nowhere in the world where freedom of expression in absolute, freedom of expression is limited to the extent that it does not affect another person’s freedom.
“That is made abundantly clear in the Constitution itself. If you go to section 45, it states the freedom of expression you have is limited for sake of security, it is written in black and white.
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Gbajabiamila, however, said he was worried because whenever the National Assembly tried to make laws with the best of intentions, everybody descended on the parliament even without asking questions.
The speaker said he had directed proponent of the Press Council Bill to engage stakeholders and resolve grey areas, but the report he got was that they wanted the bill thrown out completely.
He said NGOs, religious bodies, social media and professors in the universities did not want to be regulated, saying that everybody just wanted to have a free range.
Gbajabiamila said that people wanted good governance, but do not want to be regulated, stressing that regulation was a key component of good governance.