News

December 20, 2011

Subsidy removal: NPAN holds Town Hall Meeting

LAGOS – The Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of  Nigeria, NPAN, will on Thursday host a Town Hall Meeting with the sole objective of promoting understanding of the desirability or otherwise, of petroleum subsidy removal. It is the second in the series of Town Hall Meetings.

The NPAN is expected to bring to the table and the public domain, the proponents of the subsidy removal, members of the opposing public including the civil society groups, the Nigeria Labour Congress and the general public, among others.

The Association is spear-heading the debate as part of its social and constitutional responsibilities of holding the government accountable to the people at all times, promoting better understanding of public policies  and getting people adequately educated in other to make an informed decision.

The Town Hall Meeting which will be broadcast live on national television, and slated for the Muson Centre in Lagos, will feature as discussants, Human rights Activist, Mr Femi Falana; Constitutional Lawyer, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, SAN and the Nigeria Labour Congress Vice President, Mr. Isa Aremu.

Other discussants will include the Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala;  Governor of Central Bank, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, and the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Allison -Madueke.

The panel from the media is currently being put together.

Also invited are members of the Nigeria Guild of Editors, the Nigeria Union of Journalists, and Civil Society Groups, members of government, public, and private sectors at all levels and the academia.

The Town Hall Meeting is coming exactly five months after the maiden edition organised by the Association on the Freedom of Information Law.