By David Lawani, Abuja
The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Press Council (NPC), Dr Dili Ezughah, has said that with the council’s return to the budget, the agency is now set to actualise its vision and mission.
Ezughah stated this in Abuja during an interactive session with journalists over the weekend.
In a statement by the Head of Protocols/Public Relations, Mrs Chinyere Facah, the Executive Secretary thanked President Bola Tinubu for approving the council’s return to budget.
He said, “The council can now begin to work, can now begin to perform, can now begin to actualise the ideas and plans we have on the ground, to meet the expectations of the president, to meet the expectations of the Honourable Minister of Information and National Orientation, and to carry out the functions for which the council was set up in the first place.”
He said the council had not done much in the year as it had not received a dime as overhead or capital allocation since the beginning of the year, while the staff had not been paid salary since January.
However, Ezughah said the council had not stayed dormant all this while.
“We kept working, putting things in place, waiting for this time. We never lost faith because we knew who the President and Minister were. Yes, there was no fund to execute. But we have plans, and we have been waiting. When funds start coming in, we will run with them,” he explained.
He said that though the council had yet to receive the budget allocation for this year, he was optimistic that the presidential directive to restore the agency to the budget would be perfected before the end of the year.
Ezughah identified some priority projects the council would embark on when funds became available.
“All this while, we have been working on expanding the scope of our operations. We have been working on expanding what we met on the ground as we thought that it could not carry us through to do what we want to do and meet government expectation to bring in much more revenue than we have been doing,” he said.
Specifically, the Executive Secretary said the agency would create more departments, especially marketing, to spearhead its revenue drive, expand its internet capability, and establish its presence in all 36 federation states.
The Executive Secretary praised President Bola Tinubu, whom he described as a leader with listening ears.
He noted that the council was only returned to the budget because of the President’s courage in correcting mistakes.
Ezughah equally commended the efforts of the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, who, he said, personally presented the white paper on the Steve Oransanye Committee Report to the President, pointing out the error in removing the Nigerian Press Council from the budget.
According to him, the white paper clearly states that the council is a regulatory body and will continue to be supported by the government.
He also acknowledged the assistance of the National Assembly committees on information, remarking that NPC enjoyed the listening ears of all those it spoke with about the agency’s plight.
He said the President equally approved the return of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria, ARCON, to budget.
