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Newspaper owners urge FG to tackle banditry, kidnapping

The Newspaper Prorietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) has urged the Federal Government to “rise up to its responsibilities of protecting of life and property by stamping out terrorism, banditry, kidnapping.”

This is one of the resolutions reached at the association’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), according to a statement by the body’s new President Malam Kabiru Yusuf, Chairman of Media Trust Limited, publishers of Daily Trust newspapers, and Secretary Mohammed Idris, Chairman, Blueprint Newspapers.

The statement added “That the Federal Government revs its response to the COVID-19 pandemic by making aggressive effort to procure the vaccines from whatever sources as may be available and vaccinate our citizens against the deadly disease.”

The newspaper owners resolved “That as the media is evolving because of digital intrusion, the Association may need to at the Executive Council take another (look) at the situation and respond as appropriate.

“Furthermore, NPAN reflected vigorously on the absence of paper culture on the newspaper industry in particular and the Nigerian economy in general,” it added.

It urged the federal government to make a conscious effort to revive the newsprint factories in Nigeria towards improving the health of the newspaper business and paper industry.

In the interim, NPAN said, the government should take the newspaper business as educational venture and grant zero tariff on paper to promote education and Constitutional and civic duty of the media at holding the government accountable to the people.

“NPAN views seriously the steady encroachment on freedom of the press and free speech, especially by state actors and urge resistance through all legitimate means to any infringement on press freedom and free speech.

“Likewise, the NPAN holds that the right to protest is a fundamental human right that must be guaranteed by the Nigerian state in such a way as to stave off violence.

“That the NPAN in particular, pays deserving attention to media education in Nigeria and support the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ) to achieve the stated objective for its establishment, including an upgrade to a degree awarding media training institution in the future.”

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