IPC, MRA berate NBC N5m fine on Nigeria Info 99.3FM

The International Press Centre (IPC) and the Media Rights Agenda (MRA) have condemned the National Broadcasting Commission’s imposition of a N5 million fine on the Nigeria Info 99.3FM Lagos.
The NBC had cited the alleged unprofessional conduct of Nigeria Info 99.3FM in the handling of the programme, “Morning Crossfire,” aired on August 10, 2020, between 8.30am and 9.00am.
The statement further detailed that, “The station provided its platform for the guest, Dr. Mailafia Obadiah, to promote unverifiable and inciting views that could encourage or incite to crime and lead to public disorder.”
Executive director of the IPC, Lanre Arogundade, in a statement, said the NBC gave the impression that it was the radio station that put the words in the mouth of the guest and went on to impose a fine without any evidence whatsoever that the alleged statement had degraded any person or groups of persons, which would have amounted to hate speech.
“Even if a case of hate speech can be established, it is totally out of place in a democratic setting that NBC would be the one to accuse, prosecute and judge its own case against the station,” Mr. Arogundade said.
Mr. Arogundade added that the hefty fine represented an assault on media independence, freedom of expression and the right of citizens to know about issues of public interest.
He, therefore, demanded the immediate reversal of the decision, stating that it was the only path of honour left for the NBC to follow, having embarrassed itself with the unreasonable fine against the radio station.
In the same vein, MRA, in a statement signed by its programme director, Mr. Ayode Longe, said it was concerned by the latest development in Nigeria of a supposed media regulatory body taking the country down a dangerous path of official censorship by constituting itself into a legislature making criminal law and acting at the same time as an accuser, prosecutor and judge in its own case.
The MRA said the situation was an affront to the rules of natural justice.
The organisation noted that, only a week ago, on August 4, 2020, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, announced at the unveiling of the revised Nigerian Broadcasting Code that the Federal Government had increased the fine for hate speech from N500,000 to N5 million and, a few days later, the NBC was already abusing the provision to censor a media organisation without due process for a broadcast that could not be defined as hate speech under any circumstance.
It said, “We are aware that the NBC is empowered to make regulations for the conduct and operations of broadcast stations in Nigeria, but it cannot usurp the legislative powers of National Assembly, the prosecutorial powers of the executive and the judicial powers of the courts by making laws, interpreting the laws, imposing punishment and executing its judgment as it has done in this case. Such action is obscene and offensive, particularly in a democracy.”
It called on the NBC to rescind its decision, saying it would only subject itself to public and international ridicule by failing to do so and trigger a wave of global condemnation of Nigeria that the country can ill-afford.