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For some Nigerians, especially the stakeholders in the media industry, the new Nigeria Broadcasting Commission Code is simply another attempt to gag the press in the country. Whether the authorities will drop the new NBC Code and rescind its decision on the fine slammed on the Lagos-based radio station may yet be another test of the press freedom in Nigeria
By Goddy Ikeh
WHEN the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC) slammed a fine of N5 million on Nigeria Info 99.3FM Lagos for what it described as a breach of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, little did the management know that their action will receive such unprecedented condemnation, especially from the Board of the NBC.
Announcing the fine on Thursday, August 13, the NBC said in a statement that the radio station provided its platform for the guest, Dr. Mailafia Obadiah, to promote unverifiable and inciting views that could encourage or incite to crime and lead to public disorder. It described the handling of the programme, “Morning Cross Fire”, aired on August 10, 2020, between 8.30am and 9.00am as unprofessional conduct by Nigeria Info 99.3FM Lagos.
According to the NBC, Mailafia Obadia’s comments on the “Southern Kaduna Crisis” were devoid of facts and by broadcasting same to the public, Nigeria Info 99.3FM, is in violation of the following sections of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, which stipulates that “No broadcast shall encourage or incite to crime, lead to public disorder or hate, be repugnant to public feelings or contain an offensive reference to any person or organisation, alive or dead or generally be disrespectful to human dignity.
And that “Broadcasting shall promote human dignity, therefore, hate speech is prohibited; The broadcaster shall ensure that any information given in a programme, in whatever form, is accurate among others; The Commission, again, wishes to reiterate that Broadcasters hold Licenses in trust for the people. Therefore, no Broadcast Station should be used, to promote personal or sectional interests at the expense of the people,” it said.
According to the statement, “Consequent on these provisions and in line with the amendment of the 6th edition of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, Nigeria Info 99.3FM Lagos, has been fined the sum of N5 million only. This is expected to serve as a deterrent to all other broadcast stations in Nigeria who are quick to provide a platform for subversive rhetoric and the expositions of spurious and unverifiable claims, to desist from such,” the NBC said.
The NBC warned that it will not hesitate to suspend the Broadcast Licence of broadcast stations that continue to breach the Code and that “Stations are, by this statement, admonished to desist forthwith, from airing unwholesome content, or be ready to face appropriate sanctions”.
Unfortunately, the Board of the NBC disagreed vehemently with the management of the NBC and lamented that Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture was trying to destroy the broadcast industry with the amendment of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code. The board said the danger of allowing the unilateral amendment of the code to stand is that investors will lose confidence in the stability the broadcast ecosystem has enjoyed before the advent of the current minister of information.
In a statement signed by Ikra Aliyu Bilbis, chairman, NBC Board, the board said the action of the minister in unilaterally amending the code was illegal and against the Act that set-up NBC. He said the very controversial portions of the amended code were aimed at destroying hard work and enterprise. He said the intention of the minister is to take away people’s freedom and intellectual property.
“It aims at depriving hard-working entrepreneurs to empower new entrants who have not cut their teeth and it aims at stifling investment. That is the main reason why stakeholder inputs are being avoided. As a Board that supervises the affairs of the NBC, it is important that we state that we cannot fold our arms and watch the activities of the Minister which is directed at destroying the modest gains the Broadcast Industry has achieved since the setting up of the Commission and the deregulation of Broadcasting in Nigeria.
“While not disputing the fact that there are many challenges in the sector, the quest to find solutions cannot be totally assumed by one man. Approaches to solutions must be through wide consultations, discussions, persuasion and concession. Dictatorship tends to ruin businesses and prompt divestment. The minister seems to have taken the option of working from an answer to the question instead of vice versa. We are in an era of democracy.
“The NBC was set up by law and there is an Act that guides its operations. The minister therefore cannot usurp the powers of the Board as clearly stated in the Act. Any such action by the Honourable Minister is illegal. The Board of the NBC wishes to make it quite clear that as long as it is in place, the only NB Code that we recognise and which we shall work within the setting of operating policies and standards for the NBC is the 6th edition of the NB Code, which was launched in 2019 in Kano. Any other purported review has no Board endorsement and therefore cannot be utilised in regulating broadcasting in Nigeria.
“Our president and his team have worked so hard to galvanise local and foreign investment in Nigeria. Allowing obnoxious policies to take root in our Investment Culture will spell doom for creativity, enterprise, diversity and the general development of broadcasting in Nigeria. From the history, traditions and the convention of the NBC, no minister of Information has ever interfered in any NB Code review. After the 2019 presentation of the 6th code (which is the present one), the Hon. Minister has acted alone with just a handful of his loyalists, who have written a new NB Code that has created an uproar in the industry, threatening to destroy investments and lead to job losses,” he said.
Bilbis accused the minister of using President Muhammadu Buhari’s name to achieve his personal ambition of closing some broadcast stations in the country. “The minister has constantly dropped the name of President Muhammadu Buhari as having approved his own version of the code review. The NB Code is a regulatory framework put together jointly by stakeholders to guide their operations in the industry. It is therefore not a unilateral government instrument and is already covered by Law hence, not requiring any further Presidential approval.
“This might be the reason why till date the minister cannot show us a copy of the Presidential approval. President Buhari is a stickler for due process and he always insists on organisations doing the right thing. The minister’s version of the revised NB Code does not meet any known criteria of due process and inclusiveness of stakeholders. The National Broadcasting Commission is established by law and section 2(h) of the NBC Act empowers the Commission to establish and disseminate a Nigeria Broadcasting Code, NB Code, which sets standards for the quality and content of broadcast materials.
“Code review is undertaken every four years and involves the staff of the NBC, Former DG’s, retired Directors of the Commission and all other relevant stakeholders in broadcasting. These include Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria, BON, Independent Broadcast Association of Nigeria, IBAN, Private Media outfits, Broadcasters, Notable media Intellectuals, Communication experts, Digital team and Academia.”
The statement by the board of the NBC was followed by a flood of criticisms, demanding that the NBC should rescind its decision on the fine slammed on the radio station. In its reaction, the Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE, called on the NBC to rescind with immediate effect the N5 million fine it imposed on Nigeria Info 99.3 FM radio station in Lagos, for allegedly providing its platform to be used to promote “unverifiable and inciting views that can incite public disorder”.
In a statement, the NGE described the action of the NBC as preposterous, vexatious and grossly undemocratic because the instrument that gives any tincture of legal credence to such a fine, to wit – the Nigeria Broadcasting Code – is illegal and illegitimate having failed to go through the recommended and mandatory due process for its review.
According to the NGE, having carefully studied the statement of Ikra Aliyu Bilbis, the Chairman of NBC Board, the Guild “is constrained to believe that the NBC acted with inexplicable desperation, using a revised Code that lacked the input of the relevant stakeholders who ought to be part of the review of the Code. This makes the action of the NBC null and void, ultra vires and of no justifiable effect. The Guild hereby demands an immediate reversal of the fine and nullification of any other punishment meted out to the radio station”.
It frowned at the arbitrary imposition of fines on broadcast stations without being given an opportunity to defend themselves. “By its action, NBC acted as the accuser and the judge at the same time. The NBC referred to sections of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code to justify the fine but it failed to acknowledge the sad fact that it puts itself in the way of a fair hearing in a manner that undermines fair comment and free speech,” the NGE said.
“For the avoidance of doubt, no section of the Broadcasting Code shall override and invalidate the provisions of sections 22 and 39 of the extant Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which upholds the inviolable freedom of every Nigerian, including the Press, to freely express themselves and freely hold opinion and “to receive and impact ideas and information without interference.”
“The Guild maintains that no fine is justified until the errant station is given fair hearing and opportunity to defend its actions or inactions in a court of competent jurisdiction. Acting without fair hearing is a negation of the tenets of democracy and civil liberty. We abhor this.
“We reiterate our position that the N5 million fine for alleged ‘Hate Speech’ or for promoting views that can ‘incite public disorder’ as contained in the recently ‘amended’ NBC Code, which has been roundly disowned by a properly constituted Board of NBC for not following due process, be rescinded forthwith. The NBC should be a truly independent body devoid of any interference from the Minister of Information or any other quarters,” the NGE added.
According to local media reports, the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ and the Nigeria Labour Congress also joined more than 50 stakeholders, who condemned the new Broadcasting Code and its attempt to suppress the freedom of the press in a democracy.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Femi Falana, also condemned the action of the NBC, describing the N5 million fine on the Lagos-based radio station, Nigeria Info 99.3 FM as illegal.
Falana wondered in a statement why the NBC would be in a hurry to penalise the radio station. While noting that the State Security Service, SSS, has not concluded an investigation into the radio station’s guest, Mailafia Obadiah, Falana asked why the Commission was in a hurry to violate the broadcast firm’s fundamental right.
According to Falana, it is only a competent court of law that has the right to impose fines on a criminal suspect after conducting a trial.
“Only a competent court of law is empowered to try, convict and impose a fine on a criminal suspect after a trial has been conducted before a competent court.
“In view of the fact that the imposition of the N5 million fine was anchored on a purported amendment of the Code and since the NBC lacks the legal competence to impose a fine on any broadcasting station without a finding of guilt by a properly constituted criminal court the NBC should suo mutu quash the illegal fine,” Falana said.
The senior lawyer added that: “Section 33 (4) of the Constitution provides that anyone charged with a criminal offence shall be tried before a competent court or tribunal.”
Obviously, the development at the NBC and some of the issues revealed at the ongoing probes by the members of the National Assembly have shown how some officials of government, in their quest to tackle the challenges in their ministries, departments and agencies, resort to unconstitutional means in handling them. Often such officers, like the NBC Code case, will avoid wide consultations and “take the option of working from an answer to the question instead of vice versa”. Hence the consequences are regrettably huge and damaging to the overall development of the nation.
– Aug. 24, 2020 @ 10:27 GMT |
Tags: Mailafia Obadia NBC Nigeria Broadcasting Commission's reforms under fire
