The NIGERIAN Press Organisation (NPO) has announced the appointment of a nine-man board of the Ombudsman’s National Media Complaints Commission (NMCC) to resolve ethical breaches in media content.
The media commission is a body of the Public Complaints Commission set up to promote, facilitate and resolve media disputes from a neutral, independent viewpoint.
The announcement was made in a statement signed by the President of the NPO, Kabiru Yusuf, who is also the President of the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN) on Wednesday, February 22.
The statement stressed that the setting up of the Commission is a major step by the industry to strengthen public confidence in the media through the prompt resolution of issues bordering on ethical breaches in media content.
The members of the Commission who were drawn from the media, academia and civil society include former Managing Director of Guardian Newspapers, Emeka Izeze; former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Abubakar Mahmoud; the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, (Academic) Paul University, Awka, Anambra State, Chinyere Stella Okunna; Country Director, Care International (Nigeria) Hussain Abdu; and the Founder of Diamond Awards For Media Excellence (DAME) Lanre Idowu.
Others include the Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda, Edetaen Ojo; an Arbitrator, Dupe Ajayi-Gbadebo; a newspaper columnist and broadcast journalist, Eugenia Abu.
The Independent committee was set to resolve complaints about the press quickly, fairly, and free of charge; maintain high standards of Nigerian journalism and journalistic ethics; and defend the freedom of the press and the rights of the people to know.
The National Ombudsman would serve as an appellate body for the local Ombudsman which had been directed to institute the monitoring committee at the newspaper level.
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