EDITORIAL: NBC and freedom of expression
The sixth edition of the National Broadcasting Commission’s code recently launched is receiving the slings and arrows of an angry public for its draconian provisions.
One of the provisions that has miffed the public is the hefty increase in fine from five hundred thousand naira to five million naira, a ten-fold raise, for infringement of the code by any electronic medium.
The first casualty of this provision is a littleknown radio station based in Lagos called Nigeria Info 99.3 FM.
This punishment is based on an interview granted by a former Deputy Governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank, Dr Obadiah Mailafia to the radio station. In the interview he is reported to have said that one of the governors in northern Nigeria is a sponsor or commander of Boko Haram, the terrorist organisation that has savagely attacked life and property in the northeast.
He claimed to have got the information from a repentant ex-Boko Haram terrorist. The radio station has been hammered with a hefty fine while Dr Mailafia has been making involuntary trips to the offices of the Department of State Services, and the Police for interrogation.
A lawyer has reportedly sued the Minister of Information, Mr Lai Mohammed for ‘unilaterally jacking up the fine’ and the NBC for permitting that to happen. Within the NBC there is a split.
The Chairman of the Board, Mr Ikra Bilbis has disagreed with the Acting Director General, Professor Armstrong Aduku Idachaba for using strong-arm tactics to effect a change in the fine without due process.
Mr. Bilbis thinks the fine may become a disincentive to investment in the broadcast industry.
The matter has therefore birthed a triangle of acrimony involving the Minister of Information, NBC, and the public.
The issue has become a matter of grave public concern about the nature of our democracy, free speech, and the public’s right to know.
For starters it is appropriate to say that live broadcasts come with their perils because they are not filterable or editable.
Therefore, electronic media gatekeepers must choose their interviewees wisely and brief them appropriately on the limitations of live broadcasting.
The veracity or otherwise of any piece of information can be ascertained by either the quality of the source of information or the content of the information itself or both. In this case neither is the source credible nor the content believable.
The security forces raised the matter to the realm of paranoia apparently because of the concern raised by the governors about group defamation.
The security men did not need to raise the nation’s temperature on a matter that could have been easily dismissed as careless talk.
Perhaps it is the stature of Dr Mailafia as a former Deputy Governor of the CBN and a presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress that has raised the dander of the security operatives.
But no one, no matter how highly placed, is above careless talk or flippancy. Even our political elite at the highest level indulge in it.
Even the erudite and well-respected educationist Dr Tai Solarin was also caught napping in 1989 when he claimed that the American softcore magazine, Ebony had published an adverse story about Nigeria in its May 1989 edition.
Dr Solarin said he picked up the information from Molue. It turned out to be false.
In this era of social media with many people who operate them but have no experience in media or the law, there is a likelihood of an increase in infractions. Since we are operating in a democracy that guarantees freedom of expression in Section 39 of the Constitution, it will benefit the NBC to do more of its regulatory work by continuous education, arbitration, mediation and engagement with the broadcast media rather than frequent resort to the use of the sledge-hammer.
Our democracy is already under ruthless attack by enemies of the rule of law.
Security forces break up peaceful demonstrations at will, ban reporters from covering events of public interest and sometimes engage in extra-judicial killing of our citizens.
So, this democracy remains fragile and needs a strong media environment to help its growth.
Pressures on the press even for forgivable infractions as the Mailafia one can hinder rather than help that growth.
We must be mindful that Nigeria’s democratic space is shrinking because of these unanticipated happenings.
It is compounded by officialdom’s narrow interpretation of what has come to be called hate speech which in most cases ought to be classified simply as careless talk. Careless talk may not necessarily be or even lead to hate speech. Hate speech has much more profundity than flippancy.
We live in a period of extreme uncertainty especially in matters of security. This uncertainty breeds fear and fear fuels rumours, even silly ones.
The government and its agents must do more to kill the blight of uncertainty in our lives instead of chasing shadows on matters that are immaterial to our survival.
Let these weighty issues receive the undivided attention that they deserve so that incrementally we can continue to water the tree of our democracy for growth.
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We need a diversity of media outlets in a vast heterogeneous country like Nigeria.
It is this multiplicity of voices, big and small, this media pluralism, that can nurture our democracy. Huge fines will kill off many small media who bring the voices of people in far-flung places into the marketplace of ideas.
The Daily Times urges the NBC to return to the previous fine of five hundred thousand naira. The security agencies should give Dr Mailafia a slap on the wrist with the message: Go home and sin no more.
