Communication experts at the weekend commended President Muhammadu Buhari for refusing to sign the National Broadcasting Commission Bill 2018 (Amendment) into law.
They said the president’s action demonstrated his resolute commitment to national interest, over the primordial vested interest of a few powerful persons or a group of establishments.
The experts, Engineer Yusuf Ahmadu and Barbara Ekprikpo, conveyed their commendation in a statement issued in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
“The President’s decline to sign the bill was again communicated to the Senate President with reasons, which are mostly in alignment with the views of industry experts,” they stated.
The statement reads: “The President clearly stated that he seeks to ensure that the NBC is not dis-empowered by the proposed amended act.
“In a bizarre show of lack of National interest some Nigerians colluded with their foreign cohorts to influence the National assembly to, not only insert some strange clauses that would tamper with the number of Digital Broadcasting Signalling Distributor ( BSD) Licenses, stipulated by the white paper, but also expunge the clause that empowers the NBC to efficiently carry out its functions.
“This illegal action, if allowed to have passed with a Presidential assent, would have grossly hampered the currently ongoing Digital Switch Over (DSO) process.
“We indeed have a President that is reasonable and who has a listening ear as he has proven once again that bills would only be assented to by him, for the right reasons, and with strong considerations given to views of experts that our country, Nigeria is enormously blessed with.
“By this master stroke, the President, has saved the country tremendous national security and economic vulnerabilities.”
It would be recalled that some experts recently expressed strong worries over some insertions into the bill that were inimical to the position of the Federal Government White Paper on the NBC Act.
