The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has imposed fines of N5 each on Channels Television and Inspiration FM Lagos, for granting a leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB last month.
NBC had previously reprimanded Channels for what the regulator considered a breach of the broadcasting code by granting interviews to the spokesman of the organization, Emma Powerful on its ‘‘Politics Today’’, on Monday, April 26th.
In a statement on Thursday, NBC acting director-general, Armstrong Idachaba, said the sections of the code breached by the stations are “class A” offences which attract the “immediate order of suspension of broadcast services; suspension of licence and immediate shut down”. “Section 3.11.1(b), the broadcaster shall ensure that no programme contains anything which amounts to subversion of constituted authority or compromises the unity or corporate existence of Nigeria as a sovereign state,” according to a report by the News Agency of Nigeria.
“(In) 15.5.1: the following penalties shall apply in respect of a breach committed by the broadcaster: light, N200,000 to N500,000; heavy, N500,000 to N4,999,000; severe, N5,000,000.” According to Idachaba, NBC reviewed the appeals of both stations and decided to set aside the option of suspension of licence.
“The NBC has reviewed the appeals and apologies from both stations, and has decided to set aside the option of suspension of licence,” he said. “The commission has, however, directed both stations to pay N5 million penalty each to serve as a deterrent.”
There had been a nationwide condemnation of NBC’s action against Channels, as many Nigerians equated the commission with an attack on media freedom in the country.
In its letter to Channels TV Managing Director following the broadcast, the NBC accused the station of promoting content liable to incite hatred and sectionalism by tolerating the IPOB spokesman’s “derogatory, false and misleading statements” which is in violation of Sections 3.11.1(b) and 5.4.3 of broadcasting Act.
A day later, NBC denied suspending the TV station, claiming that it only warned it and did not suspend the station’s operations over the broadcast of an interview with a leader of an outlawed group, IPOB.
NBC, however, said the TV station apologised for breaching the code. Similarly, Inspiration FM Lagos reportedly aired a broadcast of IPOB wherein it made “secessionist claims”.
The NBC boss, however, warned broadcasters to desist from endangering the security of the nation by giving voice to “terrorist
