Presidency Has No Hand In Controversial Media Bills — Buhari’s Aide, Femi Adesina

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*Says AGF Studying Court Ruling On Twitter

The presidency on Wednesday distanced self the ongoing attempts
at the National Assembly to amend the Nigerian Press Council (NPC)
Act and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Act, in a way
media stakeholders have condemned as an attempt to muzzle the
press.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity,
Femi Adesina, gave this position to State House correspondents
after the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC),
saying however that the initiative is a government thing that only
the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, can
address.

Asked to comment on the issue, he said: “That is not strictly a
Presidency thing because the President has nothing to do with that.
It’s a government thing and it’s the Minister that can talk about
it. So, thank you.”

The presidential spokesman also said that there was nothing to
report on the FEC meeting as the issues discussed were not meant
for public consumption at this stage.

However, he revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari has
approved that the Second Peer Review Country Self-assessment Report
should be done.

He said: “The only thing of interest I would like to talk about
is the second Peer Review Country’s Self-assessment Report.

“Nigeria is ready for the second Peer Review Country Self
-assessment Report to be done by AUDA-NEPAD. I think the last
self-assessment report was done 10 years ago in Nigeria. Now,
Nigeria is ready for the second review self-assessment report.

“It’s been discussed at the Council and the President has
granted the approval that that peer review report can be conducted
on Nigeria.

“Actually, if you have an insight into the report that was
presented, which the woman in charge of NEPAD, Mrs Akobundu, can
give you, 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.

“So, it’s one of the highlights of the Peer Review Country
Self-assessment Report that was presented at the Council meeting
today. Details of that can be gotten from the AUDA-NEPAD
office.

“That is the only thing we can talk about FEC today. if there’s
any question, then I’ll gladly take it, thank you.”

The presidential aide also revealed that the Attorney General of
the Federation 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.

“The Attorney-General of the Federation is going to study that
report and then he’ll advise the government on the way forward.

“The committee set up by the President to engage with Twitter is
actually holding a meeting about now, or it will hold a meeting
this afternoon (Wednesday) towards engaging with Twitter.”