A federal high court in Abuja has barred the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) from imposing fines on broadcast stations.
This ruling was made on Wednesday, by James Omotosho, the presiding judge. According to the judge, NBC does not have judicial powers to impose penalties.
The ruling was made in response to the N500,000 fines imposed on March 1, 2019, on each of the 45 broadcast stations by NBC over alleged ethical infractions during the general election. The affected media houses include Channels Television, TVC, AIT, NTA, etc.
Displeased with NBC fines on the 45 broadcast stations, Media Rights Agenda (MRA) sued the commission.
MRA cited that the action of the NBC violated the right to a fair hearing under Section 36 of the 1999 constitution (as amended) and Article 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act. MRA had asked the court to declare the fines imposed on the broadcast stations unconstitutional and null.
In his ruling, Justice Omotosho held that NBC, not being a court of law, had no power to impose sanctions as punishment on broadcast stations.
He further held that the NBC Code, which gives the commission the power to impose sanctions, is in conflict with Section 6 of the Constitution, which vested judicial power in the court of law. He said the court would not sit idle and watch a body arbitrarily imposing a fine without recourse to the law.
The judge added that the commission acted as the complainant, court, and judge when it acted on the alleged infractions. He further said that the Nigeria broadcasting code, which empowers the commission, cannot confer judicial powers on NBC to impose criminal sanctions or penalties.
He also noted that the commission is not the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) which has the power to conduct a criminal investigation, adding that NBC’s action is “against the doctrine of separation of powers”.
It is not yet clear if NBC will appeal the ruling. However, this ruling is expected to have significant implications for broadcast stations in Nigeria, as it removes the power of NBC to impose fines on them.
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