NBC Stopped By Court From Imposing Fines On Broadcast Stations

A federal high court sitting in Abuja has barred the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) from imposing fines on broadcast stations across the nation.

The ruling was given by Justice James Omotosho in the lawsuit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1386/2021 and filed by a group, the Incorporated Trustees of Media Rights Agenda.

Omotosho who voided the N500,000 fines imposed by NBC on 45 broadcast stations on March 1, 2019, stated that NBC is not a court of law and lacks the power to impose sanctions as punishment on alleged erring broadcast stations.

According to him, the NBC Code on which the commission relies to impose sanctions is in conflict with Section 6 of the Constitution that vested judicial power in the court of law.

The judge further said that the court would not idly watch a body impose fines arbitrarily without recourse to the law and added that the commission failed to comply with the law when it sat as a complainant and at the same time, a court and a judge on its own case.