NBS bill scales second reading at Nasarawa Assembly.
….As members divided over appointment of DG, move to totally separate the outfit from ministry of information.
….Speaker Jatau commits bill to Information Committee, seeks wider consultations, slates May 6, for submission of report.
Nasarawa State House of Assembly, has today Monday passed into second reading “A Bill for a Law to Enact Nasarawa Broadcasting Service and For Other Matters Connected Therewith 2024”
Read: Affirmation of Gov. Sule’s mandate, victory for Nasarawa State, says NSHA Speaker Jatau.
Rt. Hon. Danladi Jatau, the Speaker of the House announced the passage of the bill into second reading after Hon Abel Yakubu Bala, the Deputy Majority Leader of the House presented the substance of the bill during the House proceedings today in Lafia.
The Speaker committed the bill to the House Committee on Information to work on it and report back to the House on May 6th, 2024.
“Am giving you two weeks for wider consultations and get the best out of the report for submission” the Speaker said.
Earlier, Rt. Hon. Abel Yakubu Bala, the Deputy Majority Leader of the House while presenting the substance of the bill said that the bill was to give NBS legal backing for effective dissemination of information in the State.
“As it will increase the revenue base of the State and it will enhance effective service delivery of the station inline with global best practices ” he said
Hon Abel also said that the bill was seeking the appointment of Director General (DG) of NBS against the previous General Manager GM.
The Deputy Majority Leader called on his colleagues to support the bill to scale second reading.
In their contributions, Dr Peter Akwe, Hon Solomon Akwashiki, Hon Musa Ibrahim, Hon Yusuf Chunbaya, Hon Larry Ven Bawa, Hon Esson Mairiga and Hon Ibrahim Abdullahi Sa’ad, all supported the bill to scale second reading.
They said that the enactment of the bill would also give room for complete separation of NBS from the State Ministry of Information thus making the station have independent and autonomy of itself and it would enable NBS to have more power for effective service delivery.
Hon. Musa Ekye noted that for NBS to operate efficiently it needs independent of it self just as Hon Ibrahim Abdullahi Saad was hopeful that with the law it will help improve service delivery to enable his people in Toto receives NBS transmission which he said was totally absent at the moment.
On their parts, Hon Hudu. A Hudu, Hon Hajarat Danyaro Ibrahim and Rt. Hon. Muhammad Adamu Oyanki, the Deputy Speaker said that they supported the bill but many things have to been looked into considerations before its passage into law.
Oyanki and Danyaro threw their weights behind the observation made by Hon Hudu A Hudu who said that he was not in support of the appointment of a DG for the station which according to him is too political for a professional outfit of such and will affect the growth of the staff in their cadres.
He suggested appointment of General Manager Radio, General Manager Television and General Manager, Keffi station.
Hon Hudu who was a former staff of the station also suggested that the House should take into consideration the issue of separating NBS from Ministry of Information before passing the bill into law.
