- The Federal High Court in Lagos ruled that the NBC cannot impose fines or sanctions on independent media, deeming such actions unlawful and beyond its legal authority
- The judgment followed a lawsuit by SERAP and CJID contesting NBC's N5 million fines on media houses over terrorism documentaries, arguing violations of freedom of expression
- Justice Oweibo's verdict upheld the rights of media houses to provide diverse information, striking down NBC's unilateral penalties as inconsistent with constitutional and human rights provisions
The Federal High Court in Lagos has issued an order prohibiting the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) from using the NBC Act and the Nigeria Broadcasting Code to impose fines, threaten sanctions, or intimidate independent broadcasters and other media organisations in the country.
In a judgement delivered in June, Justice Nicholas Oweibo ruled that NBC and its representatives lack the legal power to unilaterally impose penalties such as fines, suspensions, licence withdrawals, or other forms of punishment on media houses that foster public access to diverse information.
This verdict arose from a lawsuit filed by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) which was marked FHC/L/CS/1486/2022 against Buhari; former Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, and the NBC. The certified true copy of the judgment was made available last Friday, November 15, 2024.
The suit was initiated following NBC's imposition of a N5 million fine on Trust TV, Multichoice Nigeria Limited, NTA-Startimes Limited, and TelcCom Satellite Limited in 2022 for their documentaries on terrorism in Nigeria. According to NBC, the documentaries allegedly glorified bandit activities undermined national security and violated provisions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code.
Justice Oweibo clarified that “The issue of the locus standi of SERAP and CJID needs to be resolved first is a threshold issue. It is established that the Statement of Claim must reveal sufficient interest by the Plaintiff to grant them the capacity to sue.”
He further concluded that “SERAP and CJID have standing. Examining the provisions of the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009 and their preambles, the conventional requirement for locus standi has been set aside. SERAP and CJID are not busybodies.”
In his ruling, Justice Oweibo emphasised that SERAP’s and CJID’s cases constituted public interest litigation based on their core mandates and the affidavits presented.
The judge dismissed the NBC’s counsel's objections, supporting the arguments of SERAP and CJID. Consequently, the court ruled in their favour against NBC.
Justice Oweibo’s judgment, dated June 13, 2024, stated that the case centred on a breach of SERAP’s and CJID’s fundamental rights to free expression, access to information, media freedom, and fair hearing, as protected under sections 22, 36, and 39 of the amended Nigerian Constitution.
Declarations of the court to NBC’s actions
The court’s reliefs included declarations that:
- The imposition of an N5 million fine on independent media houses by NBC is unlawful and violates the principles of legality, necessity, and proportionality, thus breaching freedom of expression and media rights.
- The application of the Broadcasting Code to sanction media outlets without court recourse contravenes sections of the Nigerian Constitution and international human rights treaties.
- The NBC lacks the legal authority to impose penalties, such as fines and licence suspensions, on media houses for providing diverse viewpoints on matters of public interest.
The declaration reads:: “A declaration is hereby made that the act of the defendants imposing a fine of N5m each of the independent media houses is unlawful, inconsistent with, and amounts to a breach of the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality and therefore a violation of the rights to freedom of expression, access to information, and media freedom;
“A declaration is hereby made that the use of the Broadcasting Code by the NBC to impose sanctions on the independent media houses for alleged infractions without recourse to the court constitutes an infringement on the provisions of sections 6[1] & [6][b] and 36[1] of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 and Articles 1 and 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Nigeria is a state party;
“A declaration is hereby made that the provisions of the NBC Act and the Nigeria Broadcasting Code which are arbitrarily being used by the defendants to sanction, harass, intimidate and restrict the independent media houses are inconsistent and incompatible with sections 36[1], 39 and 22 of the Nigerian Constitution, Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and are null and void to the extent of their inconsistency and incompatibility;
“A declaration is hereby made that the defendants lack the legal power and authority to impose penalty unlawfully and unilaterally, including fines, suspension, withdrawal of license or any form of punishment whatsoever on the independent media houses for promoting access to diverse opinions and information on issues of public importance.”
Court annuls N5m fines imposed on media outlets
The court further annulled the N5 million fines imposed on Trust TV, Multichoice, TelCom Satellite, and NTA-StarTimes for broadcasting the BBC Africa Eye documentary "Bandits Warlords of Zamfara" and issued an injunction preventing the NBC from imposing future penalties or engaging in harassment of independent media
“An Order of Perpetual Injunction is hereby made restraining the defendants or any other authority, persons or group of persons from unlawfully shutting down, imposing fine, suspension, withdrawal of license or doing anything whatsoever to harass and intimidate or impose criminal punishment on the independent media houses or any of Nigeria’s journalists and media houses for promoting access to diverse information on issues of public importance.”
Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP’s deputy director, responded by urging NBC to comply with the court’s judgment, stressing the need for adherence to the rule of law.
Court orders FUOYE to pay N40m to professor over unlawful dismissal
Meanwhile, TheRadar previously reported on the declaration of the National Industrial Court in Akure on FUOYE's liability to pay N40 million damages to Professor Niyi Akingbe, the former Acting Dean of The Faculty of Arts, for wrongful dismissal.
Some sources confirmed that Akingbe had frequently criticised the university’s administration under former Vice-Chancellor Kayode Soremekun, who dismissed him after a plagiarism query.
In the court’s declaration, the Counsel highlighted that Akingbe met all criteria for promotion to Professor in the Department of English, and the denial of this promotion due to baseless allegations was ruled unlawful.
