Ahead of the forthcoming elections in some states as well as the 2019 general elections, the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, has declared that it will impose heavy sanctions on broadcast stations which promote hate speeches. The Director-General of the commission, which is charged to monitor all broadcast stations in the country, Mr. Ishaq Kawu, handed down the warning at the formal inauguration of a new radio station in Ogidi, Anambra state.
Mr. Kawu said the commission had taken note of hate speeches from some parts of the country, pointing out that NBC would jealously guard against the infiltration of hate speeches in the broadcast industry.“We are already seeing signs of hate speeches among Nigerians and would not tolerate it in the broadcast industry as we prepare for the 2019 elections. Our broadcast stations should rather be used to engender tolerance, mutual respect as well as promote unity among Nigerians,” he warned.
The NBC boss said that the broadcast industry had witnessed tremendous growth in the last few years owing to the complete deregulation of the sector, disclosing that there were about 800 radio stations in the country, generally expected to engage in healthy competition.“We now have a very competitive private sector that is experiencing great growth. Competition in the sector has to be friendly in order to generate multiplier effects in terms of job creation and education,” Mr. Kawu said.
Earlier in an address of welcome, the Managing Director of the Broadcasting station, Dr. Damian Ike, said the company was conceived 2 years ago. Dr. Ike, who is a veteran broadcaster, assured that the station would usher in a new dimension to broadcasting not only in Idemili-North Local Government Area but also in Anambra state and the South-East Zone of Nigeria.“Our passion for broadcasting has its roots on the need to affect the society that is virtually derailing from basic tenets of upright living and morality. The level of decay has affected our society to the point that there seems not to be adequate value for life,” he said.
Dr. Ike said that programmes of the station would be designed towards the improvement of family values and standards. He appealed to regulators in the industry to provide a level playing ground and opportunities for private sector participation in the industry and urged relevant government agencies to review downwards customs duties and taxes payable on communication and broadcast equipment for greater results.“One of the problems which have continued to bedevil this industry is the cost of operations and roll out,” he said. We hear that the company operating the radio station is also licensed to launch a private television station in Anambra state.
In a related development, broadcasting stations in Anambra State have been urged to operate within the ethics of the profession.
The Director-General National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, Mr. Ishaq Kawu, who made the call in Awka, during a Sensitization Workshop, organized by the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, on Political Broadcast, stressed the need for practitioners to uphold professionalism in service delivery.
Mr. Kawu represented by the Head of Legal Department and the Secretary to the Commission, Mrs. Alhaeri Saidu, was very critical of the way broadcasting stations go contrary to the National Broadcasting Code to favor political parties and stressed that NBC will not hesitate to sanction any station that is caught erring while carrying out its duties.
Mrs. Saidu also cautioned against hate speech by political opponents through media houses in the state while expressing optimism that the identified shortcomings will subside after the workshop.
In her opening remarks, the chairman of the workshop, Mrs. Chinwe Nnedum, who had served as the Managing Director of the Anambra Broadcasting Service, (ABS), noted that the NBC sensitization workshop was apt and long overdue because of the increasing political tension in the state, and called on the commission to discharge its regulatory function and bring sanity to the broadcasting industry in the country.
The first resource person, the Director, Investigation and Enforcement, NBC, Mr. Olufemi Ayeni, who spoke on “the Role of The Broadcast Media in Political Transition,” discussed the need for media houses to comply with the ethics of the profession as stipulated in the NBC Code to avoid heating up the polity. In his presentation, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mass Communications, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT, Dr. Nnamdi Okenwa, spoke on the topic, “Hate Speech, the Broadcast Media and Peace Building in an Ethno-Liberal Democracy,” and stressed the need to use the media to foster peace across the different political parties in the state.
The event, which has its theme as “The Role of The Broadcast Media in Political Transition”, was declared open by the Zonal Director of NBC, Enugu, Mrs. Susan Obi. It was heavily attended by dignitaries including the former Commissioner for Information in Anambra state, Professor Stella Okunna, Managing Director and Chief Executive officer of ABS, Mr. Uche Nworah, the Director of News and Current Affairs of the ABS, Mr. Gab Okpalaeze, Heads of different media organizations within and outside the state.Other stakeholders which included representatives of the Nigerian Police Force, Department of State Security Service, Federal Road Safety Commission and political parties, among others also attended the event.
