Media
By Anthony Isibor
NIGERIANS have strongly criticised the National Broadcast Commission’s, NBC, revocation of licenses of 52 broadcast media in the country, including television and radio stations such as African Independent Television, AIT, Silverbird and Anambra Broadcasting Stations.
Those, who spoke to Realnews, condemned the NBC, saying that the revocation sends a very negative signal especially when the country is six months away from the general election in 2023.
Also, some people counselled the broadcast stations to pay their dues so as not to give the government any reasons to clampdown on them, while others worried about how the NBC’s action will worsen the already high unemployment rate in the country which is above 30 percent because affected workers will increase the ranks of the unemployed should the stations discontinue operations as a result of the revoked licenses.
According to Professor Anthony Kila, a Jean Monnet professor of Strategy and Development, and also the international director of studies at the European Centre of Advanced and Professional Studies, “Decision to revoke licenses of major media outlets in the country is a sad development and it is an index of how bad things are in the country.”
Kila is also of the view that operators of broadcast stations should pay their dues, while advising regulators to consider the revocation of licenses as a very last and dramatic option.
“As an arm of government, regulators should be conscious of their actions, it is easy to at least suspect if not imagine that this action is aimed at gagging independent media. Ideally regulators should do all they can to avoid such speculations.
“Given the state of the {economy}, government also need to go beyond implementing laws, government has to take into account the consequences of their actions on the lives of staff of these affected organisations as well as their families. These are all citizens and they are the major stakeholders of the Nigerian project,” Killa said in a text to Realnews on Friday, August 19.
Stating that a “government that cares and feels accountable to its citizens should feel obliged to identify and explore many readily options before pushing the last and dramatic button”, he added that “Outstanding fees can be negotiated, agreements can be reached, Accounts can be frozen.
“This is a time to grow companies not impede their operations,” he said.
Similarly, the Nigeria Guild of Editors, NGE, in a statement signed by Isa Mustapha, NGE president, and Iyobosa Uwugiaren, general secretary, NGE, expressed concern, stating that “while they are not against broadcast stations fulfilling their financial obligation to NBC. We note the current harsh operating environment that has crippled every sector in our nation and was not taken into account by the NBC before its action.”
“Currently, it is difficult for private stations to import broadcast equipment due to the high exchange rate, we are all aware of the high operational cost, including the cost of diesel to power their generating set,” the Guild explained.
On its part, the Media Rights Agenda, MRA, has expressed shock at the action of NBC. Obioma Okonkwo, head of MRA Legal Department, in a statement on Friday said: “We are shocked by this naked display by the NBC of a lack of appreciation of its principal role which is to contribute to the emergence of a knowledge society. Rather, it has chosen to create an environment in which millions of Nigerians will wallow in ignorance, deprived of access to crucial information that they need to make critical decisions in their lives or to enhance their livelihoods.
She argued that “the action of the NBC has only worsened the prevailing lopsidedness in the broadcasting landscape in Nigeria which was already dominated by government-owned broadcasting stations but is now under the monopolistic control of Federal Government-owned stations, which will be almost unchallenged, with the result that citizens will now be fed unmitigated propaganda by these remaining stations.”
Obioma accused the NBC of being insensitive to the harsh economic environment under which the broadcast stations have operated over the last two and a half years as the national economy has been ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic itself and the measures taken by the government in response to the pandemic.
Similarly, the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, in a statement signed by Chris Isiguzo, NUJ national president, while condemning governments action described it as “a hasty decision”, and implored the NBC to exercise more restraint on this issue in consideration of national security and allow for more dialogue and consultation to find a better way of dealing with the situation.
NUJ stated that “Although the Director General of NBC, Malam Balarabe Shehu Ilelah claimed that the sanction had no political motives, the action was ill-timed and reckless.”
He noted that “this wholesale revocation of licenses at this critical time of insecurity in the Country appears to be a decision taken without careful prior deliberation, consultation or counsel.
“While we regret the inability of these broadcast stations to fulfil their obligations to NBC, in view of dwindling resources, we caution against such large-scale clampdown of broadcast stations in disregard to security issues and the attendant consequence. We cannot afford the unpleasant outcome of such media blackout at this time.
However, Balarabe Ilelah, director-general of the NBC, while defending its actions argued that the broadcast stations whose licenses were revoked were yet to pay their outstanding debts, and had been warned earlier.
He explained that in May 2022, the commission had published in the national dailies, the list of licensees that were indebted to NBC and granted them two weeks to renew their licenses and pay their debts or consider their licenses revoked and frequencies withdrawn.
”Three months after the publication, some licensees are yet to pay their outstanding debts in contravention of the NBC Act CAP N11, laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, particularly section 10 (a) of the third schedule of the Act,” he said.
However, Realnews recalls that this is not the first time that the NBC will hammer the broadcast media in Nigeria. In October 2020, it imposed a N3 million sanction each on AIT, Channels and Arise News television stations, for alleged violation of broadcasting code in reporting the #EndSARS protests.
According to Armstrong Adachaba, its acting director-general then, the sanction would serve as deterrent to broadcasters who did not verify news stories before they broadcast.
Also, in July 2022, it ordered television and radio stations not to disclose “details” of the activities of bandits, terrorists and kidnappers in daily newspaper reviews.
In a letter entitled, “Newspaper Reviews And Current Affairs Programmes: A Need For Caution”, Ilelah cautioned broadcast stations, in a letter signed by Francisca Aiyetan, director, Broadcast Monitoring.
The letter stated that “Headlines of most Newspapers on a daily basis are replete with security topics. While bringing information on security to the doorsteps of Nigerians is a necessity, there is a need for caution as too many details may have an adverse implication on the efforts of our security officials who are duty-bound to deal with the insurgency.
Also, the NBC had ordered all broadcast stations to go off Twitter after the ban by the federal government in July 2021
On March 5, the NBC also imposed N5 million fines on Multichoice Nigeria Limited, owners of DSTV, TelCom Satellite Limited (TSTV) and NTA-Startimes Limited for broadcasting a documentary by the BBC Africa Eye entitled, “Bandits Warlords of Zamfara.” As well as another N5 million fine on the Trust Television Network, Trust TV, for the broadcast of another documentary entitled, “Nigeria’s Banditry: The Inside Story.”
A.I
Tags: Balarabe Ilelah Chris Isiguzo Isa Mustapha Iyobosa Uwugiaren Malam Balarabe Shehu Ilelah Media Rights Agenda NBC NGE NUJ Obioma Okonkwo Professor Anthony Kila
