Abuja – Mr Bayo Atoyebi, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Press Council (NPC), said in Abuja on Friday that repositioning the council would greatly enhance the practice of the journalism profession.

Atoyebi said  that although the practice had improved, a lot still needed to be done in ensuring that the practitioners adopted and adapted to the profession.

According to him, a repositioned press council will ensure full supervisory role and also ensure that the profession becomes truly for the trained professionals.

He also said that a repositioned council would ensure that only trained journalist were allowed to practice the profession in the country.

“The best way to tackle people, who do not belong to the profession is for the professionals to put an eye on the work.

“Anybody, who is not a professional and poses as a professional is a criminal as far as the requirements of the profession is concerned,” he said.

The executive secretary said that journalist should have freedom of access to carry out their jobs without hindrances, adding that freedom of access would enhance the profession.

He also said that most Nigerians were ignorant of the provisions of the FOI Act and called for full-scale awareness campaign to educate citizens on their rights in making use of the Act.

Atoyebi said, “The FOI Act will help the civil society to know its mandate and for every Nigerian to know his or her socio-economic rights.

“The public should begin to ask questions from civil servants whenever they needed any information. The Act had made it impossible for any government agency to hide documents.” (NAN)