President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, on Friday stated that there can be no good governance in any country where press Freedom is not guaranteed.
\nSaraki made the statement in a goodwill message to a one day conference marking the 2019 World Press Freedom Day organized by the PremIum Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ) and the European Union\u2019s Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC) Programme.
\nThe theme of the conference was: \u201cPress Freedom in Nigeria \u2014 the Rule of Law, Media and Violent Extremism.\u201d
\nThe President of the Senate who was represented by the Deputy Minority Whip of the Senate, Senator Philip Aduda, stated that the 8th Senate values the media as crucial partners in the quest to build a stronger and more vibrant democracy.
\nHe said: \u201cWe do appreciate that we cannot deliver good governance without a free press, and we are always available to work in tandem with the media to ensure a democratic society that serves us all.
\n\u201cClearly, if we truly wish to grow and preserve our democracy, we must understand that a free and pluralistic media environment that guarantees access to information, is non-negotiable.
\n\u201cWhen citizens have information, they are able to make informed choices due to the diversity of their viewpoints. When we have such a society, when citizens are not only well-informed but are free to express their valid opinions \u2014 without fear or prejudice \u2014 it is only then that we can truly say we are practising true democracy.
\n\u201cThis is because democracy has at its foundation the freedom of the press, which in turn promotes good governance, accountability and respect for human rights.
\n\u201cThe urgency of this is reflected in Nigeria\u2019s ranking on the Global Press Freedom Index of 2019, where we are ranked 120 out of 180 countries.
\n\u201cOne step lower than our standing in 2018, in fact. Other pointers would include the incidence of detention of journalists in this country,\u201d he stated.
\nHe thanked the Chief Executive of PTCIJ, Mr. Dapo Olorunyomi, for inviting him to the event, which presented an opportunity to reaffirm the power and responsibility of the media, and to recommit to the ideals of a free and independent press.
\n\u201cIt also serves as an occasion to reiterate that this power of the press comes with a great responsibility: to be the watchdogs that tell the stories that protect, defend and preserve our democracy; and hold leaders to account,\u201d he stated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, on Friday stated that there can be no good governance in any country where press Freedom is not guaranteed. Saraki made the statement in a goodwill message to a one day conference marking the 2019 World Press Freedom Day organized by the PremIum Times Centre for Investigative […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":11280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17499\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}