Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki,
Thursday, assured the Executive Board of the Online Publishers Association of
Nigeria (OPAN) that he will, in no way, support any form of press censorship in
the country or attempt to slow the progress made so far.
OPAN President, Mr. Olufemi Awoyemi, who was accompanied by a member of the Executive Committee of the association, Mr. Daniel Elombah; in his presentation at the meeting, stated why OPAN, along with a majority of Nigerians, disagree first with Section 4 of the Bill – a provision that aims to criminalise false statements and the use of unsupported petitions on social media; and second, the general approach to the subject of online engagement in Nigeria.
Saraki in his remarks assured OPAN that he remains an ardent user of social media platforms and reader of online publications as he used the opportunity to explain the method of presenting, processing and eventual passage of bills to Awoyemi, especially a private member bill like the frivolous petitions bill.
The Senate President further assured OPAN that the 8th Senate remains committed to the principles of fair, responsible and open engagement which the online platform provides as he urged OPAN to sift the real online publishers and journalists that follow the ethos and ethics of sound journalism practices from those that simply set up to use their platforms to extort and blackmail.
On his part, Awoyemi assured the Senate President that OPAN is made up of credible publishers of online platforms and newspapers with online presence and has modeled itself along best practices with relationships to key platform providers and value creators in the online ecosystem. According to him, efforts were underway to strengthen the industry through self-regulation.
Culled from The Nigeria Voice
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