The Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN), on Tuesday, elected Chairman, Trust Media Limited, Mallam Kabiru Yusuf, as president at the end of its Annual General Meeting in Lagos.
NPAN also elected other officials at the meeting, namely: Lady Maiden Ibru (The Guardian) as Deputy President; Mohammed Idris (Blueprint) asGeneral Secretary; Fidelis Anosike (Daily Times) as Assistant General Secretary; Mr Wale Edun (The Nation) as Treasurer; and, Nwaduito Iheakanwa (Champion) as Publicity Secretary.
Also, Ray Ekpu, Sam Nda-Isaiah (Leadership) and Dennis Sami (Nigerian Pilot) all emerged as Ex-Officio members, while Prince Nduka Obaigbena (THISDAY) joined Sam Amuka (Vanguard) and Segun Osoba as Patrons.
In a communique issued at the end of the AGM, the association urged the Federal Government to make conscious effort to revive the newsprint factories in Nigeria towards improving the health of the newspaper business and paper industry.
NPAN urged the Federal Government to “rev 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.”
It further urged the Federal Government to, in the interim, 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.
The association said it viewed seriously the steady encroachment on freedom of the press and free speech, especially by state actors and urged resistance through all legitimate means to any infringement on press freedom and free speech.
The communique stated: “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.
“That the Federal Government rises up to its responsibilities of protection of life and property by stamping out terrorism, banditry, kidnapping.”
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