Blog

The recent amendment of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC’s) broadcast code has continued to generate controversies with practitioners and other stakeholders raising issues with the content and processes followed. CHIZOBA OGBECHE examines the Code and its implications for the media.

Journalism like every other profession has codes and ethics that guide the conduct of practitioners and these are expected to be updated regularly to suit the realities of the day as well as meet international best practices.

The new media has led to remarkable changes in the media, especially the emergence of citizens’ journalism and its accompanying increase in misinformation, fake news and hate speech giving rise to the need for the review of existing code and ethics.

Despite resistance to previous efforts, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has remained resolute on regulating the social media and by extension the nation’s media.

The proposed National Commission for the Prohibition of Hate Speech bill, and the Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulation and other Related Offences bill were resisted following perceptions that it was attempts by the government to censor and punish social media users for expressing their opinions. 

The bill prescribes punitive measures like fines and imprisonment of up to three years for exercising the right to freedom of expression, while in the case of the “hate speech” bill, people could face life imprisonment and the death penalty.

Amended NB Code

The latest effort at regulating the media space is the recent amendment to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC’s) Nigeria Broadcasting (NB) Code which has been tagged: NBC New Code on Hate Speech.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, while unveiling the reviewed NB Code at an event organised by the NBC this month said the amendments were necessitated by a presidential directive in the wake of the 2019 general elections for an inquiry into the regulatory role of the NBC with a view to repositioning the regulator for optimum performance.

He said despite the attacks by some vested interests, “who believe that their singular business interest is superior to national interest,” the federal government remained unperturbed.

According to him, “As it currently stands, the 6th edition and the amendments, which we are unveiling today, remain the regulations for broadcasting in Nigeria.

“Our intention remains the good of the country. We need to catalyse the growth of the local industry. We need to create jobs for our teeming creative youths. The opportunities must be created and we believe that effective regulatory interventions are a sure way of attaining this. That’s why we will not waver.”

He said the antitrust provision in the Code would boost local content and local industry due to laws prohibiting exclusive use of rights by broadcasters who intend to create monopolies and hold the entire market to their products and services.

“I must explain that this provision is not new to Nigeria Broadcasting. Exclusivity was disallowed at a certain time in the history of our broadcasting.”

He said the revised Code also contains the law prohibiting backlog of advertising debts in order to promote sustainability for the station owners and producers of content, as well as the law on registration of Web Broadcasting, which will grant the country the opportunity to regulate negative foreign broadcasts that can harm the nation.

NBC Board kicks

However, the NBC Board of Directors disowned the “purported” amendment to the 6th edition of the broadcasting code accusing the Minister of Information of amending the code alone, an action which they described as illegal.

Addressing a press conference on the amended Code recently in Abuja, the chairman of the Board, Ikra Aliyu Bilbis, alongside other members, said: “You may all be aware of the recent negative developments concerning the purported amendment of the NB Code. The wellbeing of the broadcast media has direct relevance to the stability of our democracy.

“The NBC is established by law and Section 2 (h) of the NBC Act empowers the Commission to establish and disseminate a Nigeria Broadcasting Code (NB Code) which sets standards for the quality and content of broadcast materials.

“Code review is undertaken every four years and involves the staff of the NBC, former Directors General, retired Directors of the Commission, and all other relevant stakeholders in broadcasting.

“The current edition (6th Edition) was presented to the public in 2019 at an elaborate ceremony in Kano which attracted a broad section of various stakeholders.”

Speaking further he said: “From the history, traditions and the convention of the NBC, no Minister of Information has ever interfered in any NB Code review…. Lai Mohammed acted alone with just a handful of his loyalists who have written a new NB Code that has created uproar in the industry.

“The minister has constantly dropped the name of President Muhammadu Buhari as having approved his own version of the Code review. The NB Code is a regulatory framework put together jointly by stakeholders to guide their operations in the industry. It is, therefore, not a unilateral government instrument and is already covered by Law; hence not requiring any further presidential approval. This might be the reason till date the minister cannot show us a copy of the presidential approval.”

The Board chair said further: “President Buhari is a stickler for due process and he always insists on organisations doing the right thing. The minister’s version of the revised NB Code does not meet any known criteria of due process and inclusiveness of stakeholders.

“The director overseeing the office of the DG of the NBC has equally made insinuations that the Board endorsed the amendments culminating in its ‘public presentation’ on March 26, 2020, at the L’eola Hotel in Lagos. Nothing can be farther from the truth. The Board was neither informed nor represented.”

Bilbis said, “While not disputing the fact that there are many challenges in the sector, the quest to find solutions cannot be totally assumed by one man. Approaches to solutions must be through wide consultations, discussions, persuasion and concession.

“We are in an era of democracy. The NBC was set up by law and there is an Act that guides its operations. The Minister therefore cannot usurp the powers of the Board as clearly stated in the Act. Any such action by the minister is illegal.”

Tony Iredia’s take

A former director-general of the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), Mr. Tonnie Iredia, has also accused the information minister of hijacking the duties of the DG NBC, insisting that “as a politician Mohammed cannot regulate broadcasting.”

Speaking during a television interview, Iredia said: “Everybody expects a broadcasting commission to be an autonomous body that has no place in politics. If you listen to the news, who has been speaking? The Minister of Information! Is he the DG NBC?

“When the minister is speaking, there is no way broadcasters can see that the regulator is speaking. He is not a regulator. He should leave the broadcasters in the NBC to do their professional duty. The law gives him the right to supervise but not to take over the job.

“The moment the minister is speaking, no matter how well-intentioned he may be, the people become suspicious because he belongs to a political divide and whatever he says is likely to be used against the opposition and I think this is a natural thing.”

Iredia also accused the NBC of shutting out stakeholders in the broadcast industry while drafting the new code, stating: “For the first time in the history of broadcasting in this country, the code was not done the way it used to be done. This time around, the NBC just rolled out a number of things that it felt should be in the code and did not hold consultations with the stakeholders.”

Soyinka’s view

In the same vein, playwright and Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, has said that the amended Code was economic sabotage writ large, directed against thousands of practitioners.

Soyinka in a press statement said it was better for the government to admit its war on “arts and its producers instead of its tactics of slowly weakening the sector.”

“I think it is about time the government come out openly and admit that it has declared war against the Arts and its producers, instead of its present tactics of piecemeal attrition.

“Just when we were reeling from the action of the Ministry of Youth and Development in joining hands with book pirates by providing a free-loading portal for the works of Nigerian authors, among others, along comes a new regulatory hit against the cinema and video enterprise, and its operators. “Whilst one concedes that some of the regulations are well-intentioned, I shudder to imagine unintended consequences such as backhanded censorship in the age of digital media.

“These restrict intellectual property rights and their scope of exploitation with whomsoever one chooses to collaborate. It is economic sabotage writ large, directed against thousands of practitioners. This is strangulatory in effect!”

NUJ’s stance

The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has condemned the N5 million fine imposed on Nigeria Info Radio as provided in the amended NB Code.

The union in a statement by its national president, Comrade Chris Isiguzo, charged the NBC to withdraw the fine, and called on the federal government to end the impunity for all crimes against journalists and the media.

“The purported slamming of N5 million fine on Nigeria Info is totally unacceptable to us in the NUJ. At any point, the Nigerian populace is restrained from free expression, democracy completely takes flight. Free expression remains the hallmark of democratic governance and we must not by our actions deliberately destroy this democracy.

“I want to urge the NBC to quickly rescind that anti-people policy against Nigerian Info. The media worked round the clock to help birth this democracy and we shall not allow political actors who clearly do not understand the pains we went through, the sacrifices we made to undermine,” he said.

Isiguzo also charged the federal government to engage stakeholders in finding better solutions to the menace of hate speech and fake news, adding that reckless imposition of fines on mainstream media industries negates the UN resolutions on safety of journalists.

An expert’s view

According to a publication by Fakoyejo Olalekan, the new broadcast media regulation would put an end to monopoly and anti-competitive practices.

He said it was no longer business as usual for foreign broadcasters that monopolise or engaged in anti-competitive practices against local players as it prevents the misuse of monopoly or market power or anti-competitive and unfair practices by a foreign or local broadcaster to suppress other local broadcasters in the television and radio markets.

He said, “When implemented content providers and producers will be rewarded for their contribution to the broadcast media. Producers of content will be paid promptly for adverts and sponsored content placed on all TV, radio and broadcast platforms.”

Operators differ

While some industry players agree that the anti-competitive objectives would protect Nigerians from ‘modern colonisation,’ movie content distributors and operators have kicked against the move to outlaw content exclusivity.

For them, owning exclusive content was their major Unique Selling Proposition (USP) and they are not ready to lose such fortune for others that did not work for it.

Reacting to the development on his Twitter handle, the Chief Executive Officer, iRokoTV, Jason Njoku, said the new law, if implemented, will destroy PayTV in Nigeria and alleged that NBC in compelling sub-licensing of content and regulating price, would effectively turn a private enterprise into state property.

“NBC in making exclusivity illegal, compelling sub-licensing of content and regulating price, are effectively turning the private enterprise into state property. Interference distorts markets. If implemented this 100 per cent destroys PayTV in Nigeria.

“This is our champagne socialism and zero input style of policymaking is the reason Nigeria is stunted in everything. I invest billions of naira in content then I am compelled to share with everyone else as NBC sets the price. Why?”

The Copy Right Law

Similarly, for policy expert and lawyer Ayobami Oyeleke, the Nigeria’s Copyright Act allows a content producer to grant to distributors and the NBC has no legal right to determine who shares what content or even fix certain prices.

“The agency cannot correct a wrong with another wrong. For such code to be a success, it must approach the National Assembly to amend the Copyright Act. After three readings, the committee would hold a public hearing in that regard before that is done,” he said.

Related