NBC Barks, to Sanctions Broadcast Stations that Violate Codes

National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) said it would not spare broadcast stations airing contents that contravene the nation’s broadcasting code.

Alhaji Ikra Bilbis, chairman, and Modibbo Kawu, director-general of the NBC, stated this in their separate speeches delivered during the commission’s 5th annual lecture series in Abuja with theme, ‘Contemporary challenges of the Nigerian state: Need for constructive broadcasting.’

Kawu said, “The duty of regulating broadcasting becomes ever more challenging, as the number of stations being licensed to operate increases by the day. The NBC has to keep up with the growing number of licences, amongst whom are those who believe they should not be regulated, or who regularly air content that leave much to be desired from the perspective of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code.”

In his presentation, Bilbis said, “There are a number of initiatives that the commission is focusing on in order to bring broadcasting in Nigeria at par with the rest of the world. We must again ponder at the power of the broadcast media which can affect people’s thinking and behaviour for good or evil. Such a medium with monumental influence on society cannot be unregulated.

“As you are all aware, the NBC was established on August 24, 1992, some twenty-seven years ago. Its primary mandate was to initiate and promote private ownership of broadcasting in Nigeria, after close to 60 years of government sole ownership of the industry.”

Lai Mohammed, minister of Information and Culture, represented by Priscilla Ihuoma, director of Public Communication and National Orientation, said he was committed to taking the broadcast industry and indeed the information sector to the next level of prosperity.

Mohammed said, “Let me reiterate that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has great respect for the media and still continues to work with them as partners in progress.

“In recent times, our information space has been flooded with contents that test the unity and peace of the country. These contents circulate within the social media like Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram and many other social media platforms.

“Some of these contents which are mostly unverifiable find their ways into the main stream media in form of fake news. I will enjoin the broadcast media to constructively make use of the social media contents with great sense of patriotism for peace and unity in Nigeria.”