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Sanctions On Broadcast Stations Not Media Gag – NBC Clarifies

Published

2 years ago

May 19, 2023

… as journalists urge incoming govt to partner media on anti-corruption

Against the growing concern by stakeholders that press freedom in Nigeria is threatened by broadcast regulations, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) says its disciplinary measures and sanctions on erring broadcasting stations are not aimed at gagging the media.

NBC’s Director-General, Balarabe Shehu Ilelah, clarified during PUBLIC CONSCIENCE, an anti-corruption radio programme produced by the Progressive Impact Organization for Community Development, PRIMORG, Wednesday in Abuja.

Represented by the agency’s Director, Public Affairs, Susan Obi, revealed that imposition of sanctions on broadcast stations is not done hastily but requires a rigorous procedure and steps, insisting that the main aim has never been to gag the Nigerian media space but to get all stakeholders to play by the rules.

Obi said the functions of the Commission were not just set up by NBC but were agreed on by broadcast stakeholders while urging the media to take responsibility for ensuring credibility and balancing their duties.

She said NBC could contribute to Nigeria’s fight against corruption by ensuring that broadcast stations have programs or content that are authentic, that have been thoroughly investigated, and balanced contents.

Dismissing insinuations that NBC is contracting press freedom in the country with sanctions, Obi said: “NBC does not just sanction. There are procedures for sanctioning. They are even formal procedures because we are concise with decisions. There are letters given, letters of caution, and letters of warning before the sanction we all talk about, which is the fine.

“Broadcasting is supposed to help the people make informed decisions, make informed choices. Because of the function of the Commission, stations, on their own set agenda, have their content, but the Commission does not determine the station’s content.

“In the fight against corruption, how NBC can help is to ensure that the stations have programs or content that are authentic, that have been thoroughly investigated, that is why the Commission asks that there should be different sides and opinions being expressed,” She stressed.

On his part, Editor-in-Chief of Forefront Magazine and Online, Amos Dunia, questioned the legality of NBC sanctions, saying that it was founded on faulty grounds and had made NBC act as both complainant/prosecutor and the judge in sanctioning media houses.

Dunia called on the Nigerian government to be less combative against the media but work with them, particularly in the fight against corruption. He, however, stressed that journalists and the entirety of the media industry are doing their best in their role as enshrined in the constitution.

He lamented the dwindling fortunes of investigative journalism as journalists face attacks, adding that the government’s reluctance to react and act appropriately on corruption cases was worsening the issues.

“Government must understand that the media is the oxygen needed for democracy to thrive. And as long as the media must exist and work, the government should be less combative against the press. They should be able to listen more to the media and ensure that they carry the media along in the fight against corruption. You see, once corruption can be minimized. I’m not saying you can eliminate corruption totally. It’s pretty difficult to do because you are dealing with human minds. As long as corruption can be minimized, you have more development.

“The bottom line is that the government should see the media as partners in progress in governance,” Dunia said.

Advising the incoming administration on strengthening the fight against corruption, Kabir Yusuf, a Premium Times reporter, urged the government first to see the media not as a competitor but as a partner.

Yusuf stressed that anti-corruption agencies that are charged with the responsibility of fighting corruption must collaborate with the media while lamenting that journalists are facing a new form of attack by state actors.

“Government and the media can work together. There is no way a democracy like ours can develop and grow without the media playing its crucial role. I believe the government can work together with the media,” He stressed.

An investigative report by Premium Times exposed that media houses are tightening their digital security measures out of concerns that new spy technologies have exposed journalists to even more significant threats of surveillance and harassment.

Public Conscience is a syndicated weekly anti-corruption radio program PRIMORG uses to draw government and citizens’ attention to corruption and integrity issues in Nigeria.

The program has the support of the MacArthur Foundation.

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Business

Tax Reform Bills: The Verdict of Nigerians

Published

2 weeks ago

March 6, 2025

The Gleamer

Ismaila Ahmad Abdullahi Ph.D

The public hearings conducted recently by the two Chambers of the National Assembly have elicited positive responses from a broad spectrum of Nigerians, cutting across regional interest groups, government agencies, civil society groups, concerned individuals, the academia, and Labour Unions, among diverse others. Contrary to a few dissensions hitherto expressed in the media, almost all the stakeholders who spoke during the week-long sessions were unanimous in their declaration that the hallowed Chambers should pass the tax reform bills after a clean-up of the grey areas.

The public hearings were auspicious for all Nigerians desirous of economic growth and fiscal responsibility. They were also a watershed moment for the Federal Inland Revenue Service, which had been upbeat about the tax reforms. Indeed, the public hearings had rekindled hope in the tenets of democracy that guarantee freedom of expression and equitable space for cross-fertilisation of ideas. Without gainsaying the fact, the tax reform bills have been unarguably about the most thought-provoking issues in Nigeria today, drawing variegated perspectives and commentaries from even unlikely quarters such as the faith-based leaders, student bodies, and trade unions, which speaks much about the importance of the bills.

In the build-up to the public hearings, not many people believed that the bills would make it to the second reading, much less the public hearings. Even the Northern stakeholders who seemed unlikely to support the passage of the bills have softened their stance and have given valuable suggestions that would enrich the substance of the bills. The Arewa Consultative Forum came to the public hearings well-prepared with a printed booklet that addressed their concerns. It concluded with an advisory that the bills should be “Well planned, properly communicated, strategically implemented and ample dialogue and political consensus allowed for the reforms to be accepted.”

The concerns of ACF ranged from the composition of the proposed Nigeria Revenue Service Board as contained in Part 111, Section 7 of the bill, the unlimited Presidential power to exempt/wave tax payment as proposed in Section 75(1) of the bill, the family income or inheritance tax as contained in Part 1, Section 4(3) of the bill, to the issues around development levy and VAT. On the development levy, the ACF stated that unless the Federal Government is considering budgetary funding for TETFUND, NASENI and NITDA, it does not see the “wisdom behind the plan to replace (them) with NELFUND”.

The position of the North was equally reinforced by the Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria, Northern Elders Forum, Kano State Government, Professor Auwalu Yadudu, and the FCT Imams. Like the ACF, these stakeholders lent their respective voices to the Section on the Inheritance Tax in Part 1 of the bill and the use of the term ‘ecclesiastical’, which, in their views, undermines certain religious rights and beliefs. The Kano State Government, represented by Mahmud Sagagi, affirmed that “we support tax modernisation” but cautioned that “we must ensure that this process does not come at the expense of states’ constitutional rights and economic stability”. Professor Auwalu Yadudu, a constitutional law professor, drew attention to the use of the ‘supremacy clause’ and cautioned that the repeated use of “notwithstanding” in the bills would undermine the supremacy of the Nigerian constitution if passed as such.

Other stakeholders that made contributions at the sessions included the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, Nigeria Customs Service, and a host of others. While most of their concerns bordered on technical issues requiring fine-tuning, they were unanimous in their support for the bills. They aligned with the position of the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Zacch Adedeji, Ph.D. and the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, which is that the extant tax laws and fiscal regulations are obsolete necessitating reforms aimed at creating a fair and equitable tax and fiscal space to grow Nigeria’s economy.

In one of the sessions, Dr Zaach Adedeji expounded on the criss-cross of trade activities in the Free Trade Zone whereby companies misuse tax waivers as exporters to sell their goods or services in the Customs Area at an amount usually less than the price the operators in the Customs Area who pay VAT and other taxes sell theirs thereby disrupting business transactions. This way, the operators in the Free Trade Zone shortchange the government in paying their due taxes by circumventing extant regulations, which are inimical to the economy’s growth.

Overall, the presentations were forthright, foresighted, and helpful in elucidating the issues contained in the bills. According to the statistics read out at the end of the hearings at the Senate, 75 stakeholders were invited, 65 made submissions, and 61 made presentations. At the House of Representatives 53 stakeholders made presentations. By all means, this is a fair representation. Given the presentations, it is evident that the National Assembly has gathered enough materials to guide its deliberations on the bills. As we look forward to the passage of the bills, we commend the leadership of the National Assembly for their unwavering commitment to making the bills see the light of the day.

Abdullahi is the Director of the Communications and Liaison Department, FIRS.

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