The Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE now has a new president. He is Mustapha Isah, who has now been appointed as acting president. Isah succeeds Funke Egbemode who was in her second term as president of the guild when she was appointed Commissioner for Information and Social Orientation in Osun State. The decision conveyed in a communique released Monday was taken on Friday, November 8, 2019, at a meeting by the standing committee of the guild in Ikeja, Lagos. The committee cited article 13 (4) of the constitution of the guild to back up its decision. In the communique signed by Isah and Mary Atolagbe, secretary of the guild, the NGE also frowned at efforts by the federal government to, as it said “sanitise” the social media special. It said such step will be counterproductive because agents of state will exploit it to terrorise practitioners in the media industry. It reminded the government of failed attempts in the past to stifle the media. Rather than “sanitise”, the NGE suggests that the authorities engage “founders and promoters of social media (platforms) to creatively find ways of sieving information disseminated through their respective channels, to curtail extremism of violence and hate speech.”It is of the opinion that refusal to back down on the sanitisation effort will further worsen Nigeria’s rating in the international community, as a country where freedom of information is imperiled.

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