Stakeholders from academia and other media industry stakeholders on Thursday warned for the umpteenth time the federal government against imposing regulations on the media industry.
Stakeholders who spoke in Abuja, at the Public Hearing on the Bill to Regulate and Conduct the Practice of the Broadcasting Profession in Nigeria and other related matters declared open by the President, l hon. Femi Gbajabiamila said the bill should change the landscape of broadcasting and information in the country.
While frowning at the heavy-handed powers given to the Minister of Information in the Bill, the former Chief Executive of Voice of Nigeria (VOA), Prof Tony Iredia, called for toxic provisions to be removed from the Bill. legislation and the government’s attempt to stifle the media.
Professor Iredia, who also served as the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), argued that the media should be allowed to self-regulate the media industry in line with corporate social responsibility.
Professor Iredia, who is now a lecturer at the university, said: “We have to be careful. This bill talks about professionally empowering broadcasters unlike other committees that have been very keen to enact social media, enact this and that without reference to the fact that the media is constitutionally mandated to hold government accountable to the people.
“If people are to be held accountable and control those who hold them accountable, who is now going to hold people and create accountability in our system? Thus, legislation in the modern age must completely ignore the old system of obsolete laws. Many of the laws we inherited are outdated, and those who gave them to us changed them in different jurisdictions. What we need to do is look beyond here, and we see a lot of these issues being raised.
“When I used to listen to my brother from VON, I remember my days as a journalist back in the military, when it was all about dictation, it was all about broadcast, the media went beyond that. We don’t talk about dissemination of information now we are talking about information management.
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“And so when we talk about regulation, as Mr. Speaker’s representative and others have said, we’re talking about the idea of regulation by the international standard, that’s self-regulation. So we need to look at a bill that talks about how broadcasters can regulate themselves, not how public bodies can regulate themselves. And these public bodies also need to know that the media is no longer the property of the government alone. When, in those days, the government had a monopoly, anything could be done.
“So to me, everything NBC said this morning is pretty good, the only difference is they’re probably not aware that when events go beyond the past, you’re looking for ways to update the system,” said said Professor Iredia.
While frowning at the undue interference in media operations in the country and the shortcomings of the NBC (Establishment) Act, the former NOA helmsman stressed the need to amend the NBC Act, to reflect current realities.
He argued that “NBC as a body hasn’t even given us hope of being able to regulate broadcasters because NBC itself disagrees with the law that created it. The law establishing NBC stipulates that it must compile license applications and submit them for presidential approval (article 2 of their law). Section 9 of their law calls them that they have the power to grant. You cannot have the power to grant and compile for someone to grant. So the NBC law is already a misconception, who does what, when, where and how?
Stakeholders also objected to the proposal that the information minister should appoint five members to the proposed corporation of Nigerian broadcasters, a self-regulatory body, adding that what makes the minister different from radio station owners private.
However, in his presentation, National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Director General Shehu Ilela, who opposed the bill to establish the corporation, argued that the creation of a new regulation would amount to duplicating the functions of the commission.
He said, “We have observed that the Bill seeks to regulate the practice of the broadcasting profession in Nigeria. Therefore, the commission recommends that the bill is not necessary as there cannot be two statutory regulatory bodies for broadcasting.
“Section 1(e) should read “regulate the professional conduct of broadcasting professionals”. The term “broadcasting profession” will be replaced with “broadcasting practitioners” and similar terms in the bill. There will be deletion of ‘control’ and ‘regulate’ as well.
“Article 1(9) should read “Establish regulations for the proper administration and management of the Institute”. Section 1(h) reads: “The performance of other functions conferred upon the Council by this Act, including the establishment or operation of the Nigerian Institute of Broadcasting, shall be changed to “The Corporation may establish an institute under the approval of the NBC”.
“Anyone accredited by NBC can run practical training for broadcast practitioners. The Society of Nigerian Broadcasters is a private, voluntary organization. There will be a new paragraph 2(1)(d) which should read “The CCNB shall have the power to appoint its staff to the Academic Council of the Institute”.
“The Commission will oversee the curriculum and training environment of all broadcasting training institutions. Section 3(1) reads as follows: “In accordance with section 1 of this Act, the Institute has the power to do any other thing which, in its opinion, is likely to facilitate the exercise of its duties under this Act”, in particular with regard to setting and maintaining standards in the broadcasting profession, should now read: “Pursuant to section 1 of this Act, the Council has the power to do anything which in its opinion is likely to facilitate the exercise of its functions under this Act, in particular in respect of establishing and maintaining standards for practitioners of the broadcasting”.
“Section 8(2)(p) should read ‘compliance with all guidelines contained in NBC CAP N11 LFN, 2004 and the Broadcasting Code of Nigeria’. The bill did not define “broadcasting professional”. NBC should define who the broadcaster is. The Commission is already empowered by the NBC Act to establish a Broadcasting Institute, therefore, we submit this for your consideration and action.
“The Commission is fully committed to its already assigned responsibility to clean up the industry by making it more professional and therefore strongly submits the above to be taken into account for your future action.”
