The House of Representatives Committee on Information, National Orientation, Ethics, and Values has decried the non-payment of salaries to the Nigerian Press Council (NPC) staff since January this year.
The Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Fatoba Olusola who spoke while on an oversight visit to the council’s headquarters in Abuja promised to do everything possible to empower the agency to effectively perform her statutory functions.
He said his committee would revisit the enabling act to see what could be amended to enhance the council’s operations.
The committee chairman described the removal of the NPC from the budget as unacceptable and faulted the idea of leaving both staff salary and overhead out of the budget.
He commended the management and staff of the council for their resilience, attributing it to their love of the country and their job.
Olusola expressed satisfaction with the reforms taking place in the council, even at a time of financial draught, especially the creation of a marketing department and the efforts to develop a fact-checking app to contain misinformation and disinformation on the social media.
Earlier, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Press Council, Dr. Dili Ezughah, informed the committee members that the staff of the agency were going through a very difficult time as a result of the non-payment of salary for the past four months.
Ezughah attributed the situation to an error by those who wrongly classified the NPC as a professional body, instead of the regulatory agency that it is.
He noted that the error needed to be redressed with the urgency it deserved; and appealed to the committee to do everything within its powers to get the council into this year’s supplementary budget.
