NBC: Between Regulation and Strangulation of Press Freedom 

The new directive by the National Broadcasting Commission against anchors and presenters on private television and radio stations, appears to be an attempt to shield public officials from scrutiny, Davidson Iriekpen writes 

About three weeks after it failed to secure a Court of Appeal judgment to impose fines on broadcast stations across the country, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), last week warned that presenters who expressed opinions as facts and bullied guests would henceforth be sanctioned.

In a statement, the commission raised concern over what it described as a growing lack of professionalism among anchors and presenters, warning that violations of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code would attract sanctions.

“Broadcast platforms are increasingly being deployed in ways that depart from their core obligation to inform the public with accuracy, balance, and professionalism,” the statement said.

The commission added that the trend included presenters expressing personal opinions as facts, failing to give equal representation to opposing views, and allowing inflammatory or divisive content on programmes, stressing that such actions violated the code’s provisions requiring accuracy, professionalism, and responsible conduct.

It added that some anchors and presenters deviated from professional standards by denying fair hearing to opposing views and compromising neutrality during broadcasts.

The NBC warned that such conduct contravened the code’s provisions, which required presenters to remain impartial and ensure that all sides of issues of public interest were fairly represented.

“Henceforth, any anchor or presenter found to have expressed personal opinion as fact, bullied or intimidated a guest, denied fair hearing to opposing views, or otherwise compromised neutrality, shall be deemed to have committed a Class B breach,” the commission said.

It also raised concerns over the increasing use of broadcast platforms by political actors to air divisive, inflammatory, and unsubstantiated content, and reiterated that broadcasters would bear full editorial responsibility for all content aired, including during live programs, adding that such responsibility cannot be transferred to guests.

As the country moves toward 2027, a critical electoral period, the NBC urged broadcasters to ensure responsible discourse, noting that the airwaves must not “amplify tension or propagate misinformation” but remain platforms for credible information and national cohesion.

Indeed, the commission is justified in its warning against the use of broadcast platforms by political actors to air divisive, inflammatory, and unsubstantiated content.

Nigerians are increasingly being divided along ethnic, religious and political lines by political actors who use such divisive rhetoric to win elections and advance their political careers.

However, evidence abound showing that the NBC has been making efforts to unjustifiably gag broadcasting stations for some time. 

On two occasions, it had imposed fines of N500,000 and N5 million on some stations.

Specifically on March 1, 2019, it announced that it had imposed a fine of N500,000 each on 45 broadcast stations for alleged contraventions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code.

A media civil society organisation, Media Rights Agenda (MRA), challenged the commission’s powers to impose fines in court by approaching the Federal High Court in Abuja to challenge the decision.

After hearing the case, the presiding judge, Justice James Omotosho, in his judgment set aside the fines. He ruled that fines are sanctions imposed on a person who has been found guilty of a criminal offence.

Justice Omotosho added that under the law in Nigeria, only courts of law are empowered to impose sanctions for criminal offences. He noted that the commission’s action violated the Nigerian Constitution because NBC “is neither a court nor a judicial tribunal to make pronouncements on the guilt of broadcast stations notwithstanding what the NBC Code says.”

The judge thereafter gave an order of perpetual injunction restraining the commission from imposing the fines henceforth on broadcast stations in the country.

Displeased with the Federal High Court judgment, the NBC proceeded to the Court of Appeal. It asked the appellate court to overturn the lower court’s judgment.

But in a unanimous decision delivered by Justice Oyebiola Oyewumi on behalf of a three-member panel, the appellate court affirmed the earlier ruling of the lower court.

It ruled that NBC’s appeal lacked merit and consequently dismissed it.

Still not satisfied, the commission came up with another ploy. But this time, it has attracted more opprobrium to itself, with many Nigerians and civil society organisations criticising its decision.

While Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution mandates that the press, radio, television, and other agencies of mass media must at all times be free to uphold the fundamental objectives of the state and ensure accountability of the government to the people, Section 39 guarantees every person’s right to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive/impart ideas without interference.

No doubt government officials and their supporters are uncomfortable with the way and manner presenters on private television and radio stations subject public office holders to public scrutiny on their programmes.

While government functionaries use NTA, FRCN, and state media daily to dispute, ridicule, and delegitimise the opposition, without sanction, it is threatening private anchors with heavy penalties for perceived bias.

This is why many analysts feel that NBC’s latest directive is a ploy to gag private anchors of private television and radio stations, and stop them from scrutinising public officials.

For instance, Amnesty International has strongly condemned the directive, saying that it is authoritarian and unconstitutional. In a statement signed by its Executive Director, Isa Sanusi, the body argued that the commission has no power or right to tell journalists how to do their job. It stated that broadcasters must continue doing their job fiercely and independently without fear.

The body advised the federal government to stop using the NBC in an unrelenting quest to silence journalists and the media organisations that are crucial to ensuring an independent and diverse media space that fulfills people’s right to information.

On their part, both the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) have condemned the NBC’s threat, calling it a direct assault on press freedom, and a veiled attempt to gag the media and institutionalise censorship respectively.

In a statement by NGE’s President, Eze Anaba and General Secretary, Onuoha Ukeh, they said the move was “dangerous and injurious to journalism” and would undermine editorial independence and democratic accountability.

While Guild acknowledged the NBC’s stated goal of promoting professionalism, it warned that the commission’s “vague and broadly worded” threat was open to abuse. It added that such ambiguity could be “selectively applied or misinterpreted” to target journalists doing legitimate work.

The NUJ National Secretary, Achike Chude, said the NBC’s position on anchors expressing personal opinions and its push for a crisis-free presentation style amounted to “direct interference in the internal editorial processes of independent media houses.”

The NUJ further said: “To strip presenters of their right to analyse and contextualise news is to reduce the Nigerian media to a mere mouthpiece. This regime of fear encourages self-censorship, where journalists are too afraid to ask tough questions for fear of being labeled ‘unprofessional’ or ‘hostile’ by a regulatory body that has increasingly become a political tool.

“The media is the watchdog of society, not the lapdog of the government and opposition. Any attempt to break the screen or silence the microphone is an attack on Nigerian democracy itself,” the statement added.

The NBC should be made to understand that its latest directive was a direct assault on the freedom of the press, free speech and democracy.