VANGUARD
THE barring of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission, NBC, from imposing fines on electronic media stations came as a big relief and a major victory for the media and the broadcast sector in particular.
Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on May 10, 2023, told the broadcasting regulator that it had no power to impose fines without recourse to the courts. This ruling was widely applauded because the NBC and outgoing Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, had used an illegally amended Broadcasting Code to intimidate several electronic media with punitive fines and threats to withdraw their licences.
It all started after President Muhammadu Buhari complained bitterly about the way the electronic media were used during the 2019 general elections at a session of the Federal Executive Council. In an overzealous move, the then DG of the Commission, Ishaq Modibbo Kawu, imposed N500,000 fine on 45 broadcast stations over alleged infractions during the 2019 general elections.
The Media Rights Agenda, MRA, sued the Commission, saying that the action violated the right to fair hearing under Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Article 7 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (Ratification and Enforcement Act). The MRA asked the court to nullify the fines.
After Kawu was suspended, the Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed, and the Acting DG, Armstrong Idachaba, unilaterally amended the sixth NBC Broadcasting Code in August 2020. They jerked up the fine for infraction of the Code and “hate speech” from N500,000 to N5 million. The Chairman of the NBC Board, Ikra Bilbis, accused them of engaging in an illegality as only the Board had the power to amend the Code.
The NBC has since extortionately fined Channels Television, 99.3 Nigeria Info FM and other stations N5 million each, even for interviewing some people whose viewpoints displeased the regime. These include the late Dr. Obadiah Mailafia and the Vice Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed.
