TheCable

Media Rights Agenda (MRA), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), says it has filed a suit against the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) over its refusal to honour a request brought under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.

According to a statement, Idowu Adewale, MRA’s communications officer, said the organisation had written to NBC requesting details of payments of licence fees by broadcasting stations and platforms operating in Nigeria, and the amount each station owes in licence fees.

In the suit filed before a federal high court in Lagos, MRA is asking the court to declare NBC’s failure to provide it with the information it requested a breach of its right of access to information as well as a flagrant violation of the FOI Act.

MRA is also asking the court to order the commission to pay N1 million as exemplary and aggravated damages for “unlawfully” denying it the information.

NBC and the attorney-general of the federation are named as respondents in the suit.

“A declaration that the NBC’s denial of access to MRA of the information it requested by a letter dated August 22, 2022, constitutes a violation of the organisation’s rights of access to information established and guaranteed by Section 1(1) and 4 of the FOI Act,” the document reads.

“A declaration that the NBC’s failure and/or refusal to give MRA a written notice that access to all or part of the information it requested would not be granted with reasons for the denial and the section of the FOI Act upon which the Commission relied to deny the organisation access to the information requested amounts to a flagrant violation of Section 4 (b) and 7 (1) of the FOI Act.

“A declaration that by its failure to give MRA access to all or part of the information applied for in its letter dated August 22, 2022, within the time limit set out in the Act, the NBC is deemed to have refused to give MRA access to the information requested, as provided under Section 7(4) of the FOI Act.

“An order directing the NBC to deposit the information requested by MRA with the court pending the determination of the suit.

“An order directing the NBC to pay to MRA the sum of N1 million as exemplary and aggravated damages for the flagrant and unlawful violation of the organisation’s right of access to information.

“An order directing the Attorney-General of the Federation to initiate criminal proceedings against the NBC for the offence of wrongful denial of access to information under Section 7 (5) of the FOI Act.”

Meanwhile, the development comes days after a federal high court in Lagos extended the order restraining the NBC from revoking the licences of 53 broadcast stations in the country.

NBC had, on August 19, announced a revocation of the licences of the stations over an accumulated debt of over N2 billion.