The Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) is the regulatory body for broadcasting in Nigeria. It was established by the Nigerian government in 1992 as an independent body responsible for the regulation of broadcasting activities in the country.
The NBC is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the broadcasting industry in Nigeria operates in accordance with the National Broadcasting Code, which outlines the ethical and professional standards for broadcasters in the country. The Commission also sets guidelines and standards for the operation of broadcast stations, including licensing and monitoring of broadcast content to ensure that it complies with national laws and regulations.
The NBC has various departments that oversee different aspects of broadcasting, including licensing, monitoring, and regulation. The Commission is also responsible for handling complaints from the public regarding broadcast content that is deemed offensive or inappropriate.
In recent years, the NBC has been at the forefront of regulating the social media space in Nigeria, particularly with the introduction of the National Broadcasting Code and the Code of Conduct for Social Media Platforms. The Commission has also been active in enforcing sanctions against broadcast stations that violate its regulations.
Overall, the NBC plays a crucial role in ensuring that broadcasting in Nigeria operates within legal and ethical boundaries, and that broadcasters comply with national standards and regulations.
However, despite its role as regulators, it must be seen as neutral. On the 26th of October barely one week after ENDSARS protests, the NBC fined three Nigerian stations for airing the videos of the shootings, all the videos aired have been forensically certified true, I once interacted with the then NBC DG, Prof Idachaba and I asked what method did the NBC use in verifying the alleged videos as false, the silence was legendary.
In recent times, most of the decisions of the NBC have been seen to tilt to certain quarters politically and a lot of watchers have argued that the NBC needs to be independent and possibly using templates from Ghana where more stakeholders involvement does exist.
Equally,when Channels TV was fined over Datti Baba Ahmed’s comments,despite the rebuttal from the Journalist, a lot of watchers challenged the NBC’s pattern of regulation.
The recent coup attempt in Adamawa was seen live on TV, as an acceptance speech of an ongoing election was carried live on TV by the NTA and close to a week after, the NBC hasn’t sanctioned the NTA.One will be itching to ask does the NTA function in a meta verse and why will the state broadcaster be exempt from scrutiny.
The NTA owes everyone public accountability as it is funded with tax payers money and only the strictest standards is expected from them. One will like to ask the following questions, Is it that the NTA didn’t read the INEC laws that state the Returning officers were to announce results? is it that they were not aware of the remaining local governments to be counted.Why will the NTA carry an acceptance speech with no returning score for the candidate? What is the editorial policy of the NTA on Fakenews and media brigandage?
I think for media regulation to be worthwhile in Nigeria, we must have more engagements across board.The NBC must do more and a stitch in time saves nine.
