Lagos-based private radio station, Nigeria Info 99.3FM, has become the first victim of a N5 million fine for allegedly broadcasting views categorised as hate speech.
The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) slammed the fine on the radio station over the views expressed by a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Obadiah Mailafia, on one of its programmes, “Morning Cross Fire,” on August 10.
The commission said in a statement yesterday that the broadcast radio station yielded its platform to a guest “to promote unverifiable and inciting views that could encourage or incite to crime and lead to public disorder.”
The commission said broadcasters hold licences in trust for the people and no broadcast station should be used to promote personal or sectional interests at the expense of the public.
It noted that Mailafia’s comments on the Southern Kaduna crisis were devoid of facts and by broadcasting same to the public, Nigeria Info 99.3FM violated the Nigeria Broadcasting Code.
“By virtue of the provisions of some of the sections, stations are not allowed to broadcast contents that could incite to crime or lead to public disorder or programmes that contain anything that amounts to subversion of constituted authority, capable of compromising the corporate existence of Nigeria as a sovereign entity.
“Broadcasters are to balance all issues in the public interest and ensure that information given in a programme, in whatever form is accurate.
“Consequent on these provisions and in line with the amendment of the 6th Edition of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, Nigeria Info 99.3FM Lagos has been fined the sum of N5,000,000.00 (Five Million Naira), only.
“This is expected to serve as a deterrent to all other broadcast stations in Nigeria who are quick to provide a platform for subversive rhetoric and the expositions of spurious and unverifiable claims, to desist from such.”
It threatened to suspend the licence of broadcast stations that breach the code and warned broadcast stations to desist forthwith from airing unwholesome content, or they should be ready to face sanctions.
While there is a nationwide outrage over the NBC code in which the fine for hate speech was increased from N500,000 to N5 million, many Nigerians including the former vice president, Mr. Atiku Abubakar, Lagos lawyer and human rights campaigner, Mr. Femi Falana and organisations have condemned outrageous fine imposed on the station.
In his reaction, Atiku who was the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last election said the NBC was seeking to “exterminate” the media.
He accused the authorities of constricting free speech in the guise of preventing hate speech.
“It is globally acknowledged that one of the core functions of the mass media is to inform the society on all ranges of issues, not even to the exclusion of national security issues.”
“In many advanced democracies the world over, criminals on even wanted lists of law enforcement agencies have reached out to the media to express their opinions about the crimes that they had perpetrated and the media space was not denied to them.
“As a matter of fact, it seems somewhat contradictory that a country like ours, which is in the throes of national security skirmishes, would choose to shrink media access to critical information.
“It is not known if any society had won the war against terrorism by placing a restriction to access to information, in the way the NBC had done,” he said.
He added: “Whether or not what Dr. Mailafia said on the radio station was a false claim, it is outside of the objectives of a responsible regulatory framework to sanction a radio station for a comment an individual made, more so that the personality in question, Dr. Obadiah, had been quizzed and released by law enforcement agents.”
“If for any reason the authorities are not satisfied with his explanations, they are at liberty to prosecute him in court, but not to make a scapegoat of the media platform that provides opportunities for citizens to ventilate their views.
“The claim by the management of NBC that ‘this (the penalty) is expected to serve as a deterrent to all other broadcast stations in Nigeria who are quick to provide platform for subversive rhetoric and expositions of spurious and unverifiable claims, to desist from such’, is a naked attempt to gag the media in Nigeria.”
He asked the NBC to review the amended code and also drop the N5 million sanction it imposed on Nigeria Info.
For his part, Falana described the N5 million fine as illegal.
“Assuming that the code was properly amended, the board cannot charge a suspect with criminal offences, prosecute, convict and impose a fine on him. The investigation being conducted into Dr. Obadiah’s interview by the State Security Service has not been concluded. So, why was the NBC in a hurry to violate the fundamental right of the broadcasting station to a fair hearing?
“Section 33 (4) of the Constitution provides that anyone charged with a criminal offence shall be tried before a competent court or tribunal. Only a competent court of law is empowered to try, convict and impose a fine on a criminal suspect after a trial has been conducted before a competent court.
“In Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited in Suit FHC/UY/CS/1623/2016 – National Oil Spill Detection & Response Agency (NOSDRA) vs. Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited the Federal High Court per Hon. Justice Ojukwu held that the imposition of fines by regulatory agencies was unlawful. The judgment of the learned trial judge was upheld by the Court of Appeal in the case of Nosdra v Exxon Mobil (2018) JELR 41137 (CA).
“In view of the fact that the imposition of the N5 million fine was anchored on a purported amendment of the code and since the NBC lacks the legal competence to impose a fine on any broadcasting station without a finding of guilt by a properly constituted criminal court, the NBC should suo mutu quash the illegal fine,” he said.
Similarly, the Media Rights Agenda (MRA) berated the NBC describing as “appalling” the haste with which the agency sanctioned the radio station.
It said the commission was apparently doing the bidding of the minister of information by punishing Nigeria Info 99.3FM.
In a statement, MRA programme director, Mr. Ayode Longe said: “The NBC disregarded due process provisions in its own regulations and rushed to judgment without conducting any investigation or awaiting the outcome of investigations by any other law enforcement or security agency or giving the radio station adequate time and opportunity to defend itself against the absurd charge of hate speech in accordance with the requirements of the constitution.
“We are seriously concerned by this 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, a prosecutor and the judge in its own cause. This situation is an affront to the rules of natural justice.
“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.”
The organisation recalled that only on August 4, 2020, the minister of information and culture Lai Mohammed announced at the unveiling of the revised NBC 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 cannot be defined as hate speech under any circumstance.
MRA called on 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.
