The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has ordered the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to stop using the NBC Act and the Nigeria Broadcasting Code to fine, harass or intimidate broadcast stations and other independent media houses.
According to BusinessDay, the judgment was delivered by Justice Nicholas Oweibo in June following a lawsuit brought by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID).
According to the certified true copy of the judgment, “The NBC and its agents lack the legal power and authority to impose penalty unlawfully and unilaterally, including fines, suspension, withdrawal of license or any form of punishment whatsoever on independent media houses for promoting access to diverse information on issues of public importance.”
The suit followed the decision by the NBC in 2022 to impose a fine of N5 million each on Trust TV, Multichoice Nigeria Limited, NTA-Startimes Limited and TelcCom Satellite Limited for their documentaries on terrorism in the country.
The NBC claimed that the documentaries glorify the activities of bandits, undermine national security in Nigeria, and contravene the provisions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code.
In his judgment, Justice Oweibo held that the issue of the locus standi of SERAP and CJID needed to be resolved first, being a threshold issue.
“It is trite that the Statement of Claim must disclose the Plaintiff’s interest sufficient to clothe him/her with the requisite capacity to sue.”
“SERAP and CJID have been vested with locus standi. Looking at the provisions of the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009 and particularly the preambles to the Rules, the general requirement of locus standi has been done away with. SERAP and CJID are not meddlesome interlopers,” the judge said.
“I have looked at the affidavit in support of the suit, which in this case stands in place of a Statement of Claim. Considering the core mandates of SERAP and CJID and the affidavit in support of their suit, it is to be seen that this is a public interest case.”
Justice Oweibo dismissed the objections raised by the NBC’s counsel and upheld SERAP’s and CJID’s arguments, entering judgment in favour of SERAP and CJID and against the NBC.
