Stakeholders warn FG against overregulation of media industry

Stakeholders drawn from the academia and other stakeholders in the media industry on Thursday for the umpteenth time warned Federal Government against the imposition of regulations on the media industry.

The stakeholders who spoke in Abuja, during the public hearing on the bill which seeks to provide regulation and conduct of the practice of the broadcasting profession in Nigeria and other related matters which was declared open by the Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila averred that the bill was expected to change the broadcast and information landscape in the country.

While frowning at the overbearing powers conferred on the Minister of Information in the proposed legislation, former Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VOA), Professor Tony Iredia called for the removal of the toxic provisions in the proposed legislation and the government’s attempt to stifle the media.

Professor Iredia who also served as Director-General of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) maintained that the media should be allowed to self-regulatef the media industry in line with corporate social responsibility.

Professor Iredia who is now a university lecturer said: “We need to be careful. This bill is talking about empowering broadcasters professionally unlike other committees that have been very eager to promulgate social media, to promulgate this and that without reference to the fact that the media is constitutionally mandated to hold the government accountable to the people.

“If the people are to be held accountable are controlling those who hold them accountable, who will now hold people and create accountability in our system? So, lawmaking in the modern era must completely discountenance the old system of obsolete laws. Many of the laws we inherited are obsolete and those who gave us have changed them in different jurisdictions. What we need to do is to look, beyond here, and we see a lot of these issues that are being raised.

“When I listened to my brother from VON, I remember my days as a journalist in the military era, when everything is about dictation, everything was about dissemination, the media has moved beyond then. It’s no longer talking of dissemination of information now they are talking of management of information.

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“And so, when we talk about regulation as Mr Speaker’s representative and others said, we are talking about the idea of regulation by the international standard is self-regulation. So, we need to look at a bill that is talking about how broadcasters can regulate themselves not how public bodies can regulate themselves. And those public bodies should know too that the media is no longer owned by the government alone. When in those days the government has a monopoly, anything could be done.

“So for me, all that NBC has said this morning is quite good the only difference is that they are probably not aware that when events overtake the past you look at ways of updating the system,” Professor Iredia said.

While frowning at the undue interference with the media operations in the country and lacuna in the NBC (Establishment) Act, the former NOA helmsman underscored the need for the amendment of the NBC Act, with a view to reflect the current realities.

He argued that “the NBC as a body has not even given us any hope of being in a position to regulate broadcasters because NBC itself is at variance with the law setting it up. The law setting up NBC says that it shall compile requests for licenses and set up for presidential approval (section 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 be compiling for somebody to grant. So, the NBC act is already a misconception, who does what, when, where and how?

The stakeholders also opposed the proposal that the Minister of Information should nominate five members to the proposed Society of Nigerian Broadcasters, a self-regulation body, adding that what makes the minister different from the owners of private broadcast stations.

However, in his presentation, Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Shehu Ilela who opposed the bill seeking the establishment of the society, argued that the establishment of a new regulatory body will amount to duplicating the functions of the commission.

He said: “We observed that the bill intends to regulate the practice of the broadcasting profession in Nigeria. Therefore, the commission recommends that there is no need for the bill because there cannot be two statutory regulatory bodies for broadcasting.

“Section 1(e) should read ‘regulating the professional conduct of broadcasting practitioners’. There shall be replacement of the phrase ‘broadcasting profession’ with ‘broadcasting practitioners’ and any other similar phrase in the bill. There shall be deletion of ‘controlling’ and ‘regulating’ also.

“Section 1(9) should read ‘To make regulation for the smooth administration and management of the Institute’. Section 1(h) reads ‘Performing the other functions conferred on the council by this Act, including the establishment or operation of the Nigeria Institute of Broadcasting, should be replaced with ‘The Society can establish an Institute under the approval of the NBC.’

“Anybody accredited by NBC can handle hands-on training for broadcast practitioners. The Society of Nigerian Broadcasters shall be a private and voluntary organization. There shall be a new subsection 2(1)(d) which should read ‘The NBC shall have the power to nominate its staff to the academic Board of the Institute’.

“The Commission shall superintend the syllabus and training environment of any broadcast training institutions. Section 3(1) reads ‘Further to section 1 of this Act, the Institute shall have the power to do any other thing which in its opinion is calculated to facilitate the carrying out of its functions under this Act’, particularly as it relates to setting and maintaining standards in the broadcasting profession, should now read: ‘Further to section 1 of this Act, the Council shall have the power to do such thing which in its opinion is calculated to facilitate the carrying out of its functions under this Act, particularly as it relates to setting and maintaining standards for broadcasting practitioners’.

“Section 8(2)(p) shall read ‘adherence to all the Guidelines Contained in the NBC Act CAP N11 LFN, 2004 and Nigeria Broadcasting Code’. The bill did not define ‘broadcasting practitioner’. NBC should define who broadcaster is. The Commission is already empowered by the NBC Act to establish a Broadcast Institute, therefore, we submit this for your consideration and further action.

“The Commission is fully committed to its already assigned responsibility of sanitizing the industry by way of making it more professional and therefore strongly submits the above to be considered for your further action.”

Kehinde Akintola