NBC Plans to Appeal Court Judgement that Forbade it from Fining Broadcast Stations

By Nurat Uthman

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) is to appeal against the ruling by the Abuja Federal High Court that barred it from imposing fines on Nigerian broadcast stations.

It would be recalled that the presiding judge, James Omotosho, said in his ruling on Wednesday that NBC lacked the judicial powers to impose penalties and gave an order of perpetual injunction restraining the NBC from imposing fines, henceforth, on broadcast stations in the country.

He also set aside the N500,000 fines imposed on March 1, 2019, on each of the 45 broadcast stations.

However, reacting to the ruling in a statement yesterday in Abuja, the NBC Director General, Mallam Balarabe Shehu Ilelah, said that the Commission has applied for a certified copy of the judgement, adding that NBC will appeal against the judgement if it is found to be in conflict with previous judgements of the court that empowers the Commission to regulate broadcasting in Nigeria.

He said, ‘ The attention of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has been drawn to the ruling by the Abuja Federal High Court nullifying the powers of the Commission to impose fines on broadcast stations that violate the provisions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code. In view of the foregoing, the commission has applied for a certified copy of the judgement. It is global best practice and ethnics of the legal profession that no party to a suit can freely comment on a judgement it has not seen or read”.

“The Commission will appeal against the judgement when it is found to be in conflict with previous judgements of the court, which empowers the Commission to regulate broadcasting in Nigeria,” he added.

In the ruling, Justice Omotosho held that the 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 impose a fine arbitrarily without recourse to the law adding that the commission did not comply with the law when it sat as a complainant and, at the same time, the court and the judge on its own matter.

The judge agreed that the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, being a subsidiary legislation that empowers an administrative body such as the NBC to enforce its provisions, cannot confer judicial powers on the commission to impose criminal sanctions or penalties such as fines.

He also agreed that the commission, not being Nigerian police, had no power to conduct a criminal investigation that would lead to criminal trial and the imposition of sanctions.