Nigeria, June 17 -- The Nigerian Press Organisation (NPO) has asked the House of Representatives to drop a bill seeking to amend the Nigerian Press Council Act.

The organisation objected to the bill during a public hearing on the bill on Thursday organised by the House Committee on Information, Culture, Ethics and Values.

NPO is the umbrella organisation for the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ).

The Editor-in-Chief of the Leadership newspaper, Azubike Ishiekwene, who represented the organisation at the hearing, asked the lawmakers to drop the proposed bill because of an ongoing court case.

He said 17 out of the 39 clauses in the bill a...