Channels TV N5m fine: Arbitrariness taken too far – Media group tackles NBC

Media advocacy groups have slammed the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, for imposing a five million naira fine on Channels Television.

This was contained in a joint statement made on Tuesday by the Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda, MRA, Edetaen Ojo and the Executive Director of the International Press Centre, IPC, Lanre Arogundade.

Recall that on March 31, 2023, NBC slammed Channels Television with an N5 million fine over a violation of the commission’s code.

The NBC fine came on the heels of the appearance of Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, the Vice Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, on Channels Television where he said the swearing in of President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu would mean an end to democracy in Nigeria.

MRA and IPC called on NBC to reverse the fine imposed on Channels Television and provide an opportunity for the station to defend itself.

“For the umpteenth time, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has acted arbitrarily in the purported exercise of its powers as the regulatory authority for the broadcast sector in Nigeria.

“Assuming without conceding that Channels TV erred in the management of the said interview, it was still pertinent for NBC to have heard their side of the story. In failing to do so, NBC acted unfairly and unjustly as it based its heavy-handed decision on the claims of one side only,” the statement partly reads.