Hearty Salutes to NBC @ 20

In an era filled with mistrust for government institutions, National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) goes against this grain to stand out as a public agency admired for what it does and how well it does it.

And despite the complexities and challenges of the broadcasting, NBC has managed to maintain the delicate balance ensuring fair representations of all sides.

Though broadcasting in Nigeria dates back over 77 years since 1935, it is only recently that broadcasting began to have a human face.

From empire service to re-diffusion service and to radio Nigeria and the arrival of the television in 1959, Nigeria has seen plenty.

It would be recalled that the Western Nigeria Broadcasting Service (WWBS) was the first regional broadcasting service to be established in 1959, followed by the Eastern Nigeria Broadcasting Service (ENBS) in 1960 and by the Northern Nigeria (BCNN) in 1962.

But on August 24, 1992, the then Ibrahim Babangida’s administration, through Decree 38 established the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).

It was the first of its kind body in the history of Africa.

The board of the NBC was inaugurated on October 6, of that year, in the office of Prof. Sam Oyovbare, the then Minister of Information and Culture in Lagos.

Decree No. 38 of 1992 (now an Act of Parliament No. 38) was amended by Decree 55 of 1999 (now an Act of Parliament No.55).

NBC has been able to produce its leadership from within itself beginning from Dr. Tom Adaba who was appointed pioneer director general to serve on a ten man board with Mr. Peter Enahoro as the first board chairman and Bright Igbako as secretary to the Commission.

It has been able to do this because the Commission went for young people who could grow and grow with the Commission.

At inception, NBC major task was to set up an administrative structure, the nucleus of which was the red bricks building, Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) in Lagos.

In 1998 however, NBC moved its headquarters from Lagos to Abuja.

The second director general, Mallam Nasir Danladi Bako, was appointed in July 1999; he resigned his appointment in November 2002 leaving Dr. Silas Babajiya Yisa to take over from Bako in November, 2002. Bayo Atoyebi took over from Yisa as acting director general.

Engineer Yomi Bolarinwa, the present director general was appointed in 2007 on acting capacity and later confirmed by President Yar'adua on February 17, 2009.

It is under him that the commission has inspired a quiet yet profound revolution in the broadcasting space.
Hinged on his unassuming and humble posture, NBC has emerged as outstanding agency where government agency is carried out in the most transparent manner.

Today at the NBC, employees strive for excellence by making the various public satisfied at the end of the day.

With five directorates: office of the Secretary and Legal Adviser to the Commission; directorate of Broadcast Content and Enforcement; Directorate of Broadcast Policy and Research; Directorate of Engineering Technology and Directorate of Management Services; while the department of Public Affairs and Internal Audit are under the Office of the Director General.

With all these departments NBC has stood as a public institution where government business is transacted in the most transparent manner.

It also has ten zonal offices and seventeen state offices to take services closer to Nigerians.

NBC captures its commitment to service with the phrase -‘Your right to quality broadcasting’.

From the first set of broadcast licences issued to 14 television and 13 MMDS Stations, there are 305 functional broadcast stations in Nigeria made up of 122 television stations, 177 radio stations, 24 MMDS and 12 Direct-to-Home licences.

Africast, the summit of African broadcaster’s biennial conference initiated by the Commission in 1996 is today a platform on which broadcasters, manufacturers of broadcasting equipments, academics, lecturers, students of broadcasting and mass communication come together.

Under the current director general, NBC has sustained its public enlightenment with a quarterly magazine.

NBC also has the "the regulator'' which is the in-house journal for staff.

It is used by staff to express themselves and discuss with each other.

It is on record that television broadcasts reach more than 24 million house-holds nationwide.

NBC is also putting together DIGITEAM to work on the transition programme as approved by the government white paper.

A new dead line of January 1, 2015 has been set as the final switchover date for Nigeria.

America switched over June 12, 2009, and several other countries in the world have also done so.

Here in Nigeria, encouraged by robust regulation, all cable licensees’, Direct-to-Home have gone digital as far back as 2006.

On August 24, 2012, NBC will 20 and it is a toast to the vision and sustainability of ideals for which the commission was set up.

It is also a toast to the relevance of NBC’s regulatory policy and recent efforts to develop and deepen regulatory policy and governance.

And thinking ahead, the commission is planning to launch the 5th edition of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code at its 20th anniversary celebration.

At 20, NBC has shown both character and competence through everything it does or says and we are happy to be associated with the commission.