The Federal High Court’s ruling prohibiting the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation from fining errant broadcast stations is “ill-conceived and dead-on-arrival due to legal encumbrances.” This is according to Mr. Nelson Orji, director of the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture’s legal division.
The Federal High Court in Abuja had already ruled that NBC lacks the authority to fine broadcast stations.
In response to the information, Mr. Nelson said that an Abuja-based federal high court had rendered a judgment to the contrary, holding that the NBC had the authority to impose sanctions on errant stations.
In April 2022, Justice N. E. Maha issued a decision in a case brought by seven organizations, including the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, against NBC.
The provision of Section 2(1)(n) of the NBC Act, 1992, was interpreted by Justice Maha in a Certified True Copy of the judgment that was made accessible to NAN.
“The Commission shall have the responsibility of determining and applying sanctions, including the revocation of licenses of defaulting stations that do not operate in accordance with the broadcast code and in the public interest,” the article reads.
The Justice Maha relied on the clause and stated, “The law is settled that a regulator imposing fines under its enabling statute in the exercise of its powers could not have acted contrary to the Constitution.
