Nigeria Decides: Don’t Invite Guests Making Volatile Comments, NBC Warns Broadcast Stations

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has issued warnings to  broadcasters covering the elections against using or allowing their platforms to be used for sharing content that may lead to the breakdown of law and order in Nigeria.

In a statement issued on Monday in Abuja by the Director-General of NBC, Balarabe Ilelah, titled “Warning to Broadcast Station” he affirmed that the commission had observed that some guests on broadcast stations were making volatile allusions capable of causing unrest in the country.

While reminding all broadcasters covering and reporting the 2023 General Elections to endeavor to abide with the provisions of the Extant Electoral Law(s), the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, and other relevant regulations guiding the broadcast of elections in Nigeria,” the statement reads. He further warned that appropriate sanctions would be meted out to any erring station that operates outside the confines of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code.

” For the avoidance of doubt, the Code admonished broadcasters in the following Sections:

” 5.3.3(k) not use any vote obtained at a polling station or from an exit poll to project or speculate on the chances of a candidate;

5.3.3(l) relay election results or declaration of the winner only as announced by the authorized electoral officer for the election; The NBC Act CAP N11, Laws of the Federation, 2004, also prescribes, in the third Schedule 12(6) that, “A licensee shall be responsible for the content of the Station’s Broadcast.”

By Mosunmola Ogi-olu

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