FG inaugurates NBC committee to review fines on hate speeches, others

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has inaugurated the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Reform Implementation Committee to review fines on hate speeches and inciting comments.

Mr. Lai Mohammed in a press briefing on Thursday gave an upward review of fines from N500,000 to N5,000,000 for breaches of these offences.

Read Full Statement Below:

REMARKS BY THE HONORABLE MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND CULTURE, ALHAJI
LAI MOHAMMED, AT THE INAUGURATION OF THE NATIONAL BROADCASTING
COMMISSION (NBC) REFORM IMPLEMENTATION COMMITTEE IN LAGOS ON THURSDAY,
OCT. 9TH 2019

Good morning everyone, and welcome to this inauguration.

1. Please permit me to most sincerely thank the lady and gentlemen
   whom I have appointed to serve in the National Broadcasting Commission
   (NBC) Reform Implementation Committee.

I am most delighted that you all made it here, despite the fairly-short notice. This is a testament to your patriotism, and I thank you all

1. Before I proceed to the reason we are here today, let me give you
   a quick background.

Following deliberations at the Federal Executive
Council (FEC) of March 27th, 2019, on the unprofessional and unethical
conduct of some broadcast stations, especially before and during the
last general elections, President Muhammadu Buhari directed me to
institute an inquiry into the conduct of the stations and
report back to the Council.

1. Consequently, I inaugurated a five-member committee on Wednesday,
   April 10th 2019 with the following terms of reference:

– Find out to what extent the NBC was able to effectively carry out
its regulatory role before and during the 2019 general elections.
– Recommend measures that could strengthen the NBC’s regulatory role
and make it more effective.

1. The committee submitted its report on April 24th 2019, with 26
   recommendations, and I subsequently forwarded the report to Mr.
   President, who has since approved them.
2. Highlights of the recommendations approved by Mr. President are as follows:
   A) Independence of the NBC from political interference in the
   exercise of its regulatory powers, particularly with respect to the
   issuance and withdrawal of broadcasting licence.

B) A review of the National Broadcasting Code and extant broadcasting
laws to reflect the following amendments;

– Upward review of fines from N500,000 to N5,000,000 for breaches
relating to hate speeches, inciting comments and indecency.

– Wilful repeat of infractions on three occasions after levying fine
on a station to attract suspension of license.

– Upgrade of breach of political comments relating to hate speeches
and divisive comments to ”Class A” offence in the Broadcasting Code.

– Amendment of the NBC Act to enable NBC license WebTv and radio
stations, including foreign broadcasters beaming signals into Nigeria

C) Recruitment of more monitoring staff for the NBC. At the moment,
there are only about 200 Staff monitoring about 1,000 radio and
television stations.

D) Deployment of adequate monitoring equipment and technologies for the NBC
E) Enhancement of welfare packages of NBC staff to avoid their
compromise in the line of duty

1. We are now at the implementation stage, hence I have appointed
   seven ‘wise’ men and woman to design the framework for the
   implementation. The members are:

A) Prof. Armstrong Idachaba, Director of Monitoring of the NBC.

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