Authority Denies Gagging Press

The Rivers State Road Traffic Management Authority (TIMA-RIV) says there is no truth in the allegation that the organisation is gagging the media in Port Harcourt.

The Rivers chapter of the Newspaper Distributors Association (NDAN), had alleged that TIMA-RIV personnel were preventing them from circulating newspapers and magazines in Port Harcourt, by clearing news stands at major junctions.

The Comptroller-General of TIMA-RIV, Mr. Nelson Jaja who said this in Port Harcourt on Friday, when a delegation of the chapter visited him noted  that the claim was false.

He said the authority was aware of the vital role of newspaper vendors in the society and would not prevent them from operating in the city.

Jaja said “TIMA-RIV personnel only instructed vendors to stop blocking the road,while displaying their wares”.

He said that the executives of the association had a role to educate their members against using road junctions to display newspapers in a manner that would impede smooth flow of traffic.

The comptroller-general urged vendors to ensure that their newspapers were 50 metres away from road intersections, adding that the order did not include mobile vendors who move along the streets.

He said that he had not received any report of the detention or confiscation of the newspaper of any vendor.

He appealed to the executives of NDAN to enlighten their members on the consequences of the display of newspapers on the roads.

He said “TIMA-RIV is poised to safeguard our highways from encroachment, especially market activities, road-side trading, street hawking and begging”.

Earlier, Chief Titus Eze, the president, NDAN in Rivers, had told Jaja that vendors were harassed and detained and their newspapers confiscated by TIMA-RIV officials.

He said that newspaper vendors played more of a social function in the society than business and appealed to the comptroller-general to call his staff to order.