Niger state appropriates broadcast regulation to self

There is a side of the politician that we don’t readily credit, to our own disadvantage. The average politician believes he is God and everything moves at his word. He looks at the ordinary fella with imperial arrogance and expects servile response to even his flatulence. He promotes arrogance and ignorance over knowledge. He takes his place and seizes your space, and expects you to be impotently genuflective in acknowledging his greed.

Or how do you ever describe the action of the Niger State Governor, Mohammed Bago, who ordered a radio station in his state to be shut immediately, directing the Police Commissioner to do his job.  At his word! The governor is in charge and he doesn’t want anybody to ever doubt his executive powers by engaging in actions that make the state uncomfortable.

The governor who spoke at the APC caucus meeting, accused the Badeggi Radio station, FM 90.1,  of incitement, and directed the Commissioner for Homeland Security and state police commissioner to shut the station and withdraw its license.

“Governor Bago also accused the owner of the station of incitement of the people against the government and directed that the license of the radio station be revoked,” Bologi Ibrahim, Chief Press Secretary, made the anger of the governor known.

Continuing, Ibrahim said the governor has  directed “the Commissioner for Homeland Security and the Commissioner of Police to seal the radio station, and emphasised the need for the security operatives to profile the owner of the radio station as his station promotes violence.”

Ordinarily, the governor wouldn’t deserve any response, but those who are shouting outrage, know the power of the executive governor; he is in charge of the state, his party is also in charge at the national level, meaning that the governor has infinite capacity to do damage.

The station has asked the governor to channel his grievances through the right channel, which is the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), the regulator of the broadcast industry.

“The right thing to do is to write to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) for investigation. NBC has a schedule of our programmes and we are being monitored every day.

“So, the governor should write to NBC and let the regulatory agency verify our contents and programme to establish if they contravene any of the NBC codes or ethical provisions,” Abubakar Shuaib, Director of Operations Badeggi FM, stated in his response.

That was a very smart response but others are not so conciliatory in their reaction. The truth is that broadcasters in Nigeria operate according to the Nigerian Broadcasting Code put in place  by the regulator. The laws are not cast in stone but strong enough to create some level of decorum in the industry.

There is a deluge of reactions, all pointing the governor to the limit of his powers. The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Amnesty International (AI), Media Rights Agenda (MRA), International Press Institute (IPI), and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), among others, have all condemned the governor’s action, demanding a rescind of his action immediately.

The NGE particularly described the governor’s action as “a blatant attack on press freedom and democracy,” noting that “the arbitrary closure of media houses reminds us of the dark days of military rule.”

The Guild, in the statement signed by its President, Eze Anaba, and General Secretary, Onuoha Ukeh, warned that such action was dangerous to the nation’s democratic system, while asking the governor to channel his grievances through legitimate channels.

It has been a frenzy. However, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris Malagi, who is image maker for the Nigerian government, had earlier taken a bold and very brilliant position, when he told the governor directly that the power of broadcast license revocation resides in the NBC.

His response was a clear testament that the governor was acting on his own and not in line with the Tinubu government’s understanding of broadcasting or the way it would want the media sector to be treated.

“While acknowledging the concerns raised, the Ministry notes that the suspension of broadcast licenses falls within the purview of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), as stipulated by law,” the minister said in a statement.

The minister appealed to all the parties to remain calm, assuring that the NBC has the necessary mechanisms to resolve the issue in a clear and impartial manner.

Metaphorically, that’s the way to douse a roaring fire threatening to do damage. But it is not the first time that a Nigerian politician would think that the world revolves around him, with all the executive powers laced into his well-starched agbada, to take such drastic decisions, no matter how arbitrary.

In the weekend of October 14, 2022, governor of Zamfara State, now Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, ordered the closure of six stations which include: the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Gasau, Federal Radio Corporation, Pride FM, Al’umma TV, Gamji FM and Gamji TV.

A bewildered nation, especially the Human Rights community, rose in defence of the stations. The NBC immediately requested the governor to rescind his withdrawal order and apologise to the people of his state.

“The NBC has clearly notified the State Government of the gravity of the illegality and requested it to expeditiously reverse the directive and apologise to the people of the state. We also urge the Security Agencies to ignore the call to restrict Staff of the affected Stations from conducting their legitimate duties.”

That was in 2022. We are in 2023. The politician has hardly changed. The colour remains the same. And the anger is as voluble as ever, threatening fire and brimstone at the smell of the tiniest scent of a perceived wrong, especially if the media channel is not politically aligned.

Unfortunately for those easily aggrieved, the media practitioners have their job cut out for them and must have to report every news, including those that puncture the ego of the self-acclaimed mighty ones. Fortunately, the law provides a leveller, especially where rightfully applied. I am happy to observe that media practitioners have enough capacity to shout at the roof top to denounce bad behaviour and make people even more uncomfortable.

The point has been well made. The NBC was created by an act of parliament, National Broadcasting Commission Act CAP 11, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria. 2004, to regulate the broadcast industry. The Act also empowers the NBC to work with broadcast professionals and other stakeholders, to create a Code that can serve as the Bible of broadcasting in Nigeria.

The NBC has not been derelict of its responsibilities except when politicians want to take its place through blatant regulatory capture, which is inimical to the industry and investment. There is need to call for caution, for politicians to understand that abuse of power, like just putting a lid on a station for whatever reason, is shameful incivility that should have no place in the schedule of a nation aiming for growth.

Governor Bago should do the right thing. It is a matter of honour and a display of strength to acknowledge a failing and right it immediately.