The Nigerian Press Organisation (NPO) has appealed to politicians and state actors to minimise their inflammatory rhetoric in order to reduce tension and ease the growing sense of fear among the people.

NPO made the appeal in a communique issued after a meeting held on Friday, May 21, 2021.

The Nigerian Press Organisation comprises the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN), the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), and the Nigeria Union Of Journalists (NUJ).

It also urged the Federal Government to adopt State Policing, adding that its implementation will curb the “galloping rate of criminality, reduce tension across the country, and reset the button of development.”

Part of the communique read: “Immediately take steps at devolving powers to the component units by implementing the El Rufai Committee Report, which among others, recommends State Policing, in addition to other far-reaching adjustments to the structure of governance. The continued delay to implement the report after its recommendations have been approved by all the organs of the ruling All Progressives Party, in line with the manifesto for which the party sold itself to win the 2015 election is self-defeating.

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“Implement the Orosanye Report, which provides a veritable road map for arresting the unsustainable high cost of governance. A reduced cost of governance will free substantial funds to fight insecurity, provide social safety nets for the generality of the people, fund developmental projects, and stem the current penchant for external and local borrowing by the government.

“Put pressure on the National Assembly to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill, (PIB), which has gone into our history as the longest bill to ever go through legislative processes. It is of common knowledge that the petroleum industry has been long overdue for an overhaul and the passage of the bill will be a major boost. That the bill has stayed this long in the National Assembly militates against improved corporate governance in the oil sector.

“There is a need to avoid the debt overhang inherent in excessive borrowing. We are aware that borrowing is good so long as such loans are deployed to funding enduring development projects, within the GDP ratio. However, the current borrowing in the face of the slide in the value of the country’s number one revenue earner oil remains worrisome.

“We appeal to politicians and state actors to minimise their inflammatory rhetoric in order to reduce tension and ease the growing sense of fear among the people.”