INTERVIEW: NBC needs stronger, independent regulatory powers

In recent years, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has faced allegations of a lack of transparency and unfair targeting of the media through excessive fines. Many see this as an attack on press freedom in Nigeria.

In an interview with THIS MARMOTNBC Secretary Franca Aiyetan addressed these challenges and revealed what the commission needs to gain greater public trust.

Why do some citizens perceive NBC as biased?

It is difficult to gain the trust of citizens and the media who perceive NBC as an agent of the government. If NBC were an independent entity, there would be greater confidence that our actions benefited the public interest rather than being seen as attacks on the media’s role in holding the government accountable. Thanks to its independent status, the NBC can carry out its mandate more effectively, without accusations of government favoritism.

But for now, whatever NBC does, any regulations it issues are seen as an attack on the media, not as a way to protect people.

What efforts are being made to enable NBC to become independent?

Currently, the NBC Bill is before the National Assembly for review to bring it in line with global best practices and all these narratives will be analyzed.

The fact that NBC is an agency under the Ministry of Information, which also houses some of NBC’s regulations, makes this a bit tricky. How does NBC use its powers to regulate the Federal Broadcasting Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and other government media houses if it is supervised by the government?

However, if it is an independent organization and treats all media houses in the same way, then a level playing field can be ensured. Private stations won’t say, “Oh, there’s no level playing field,” or that NBC exists to favor government stations and antagonize private stations.

A student was recently bullied and the video went viral. What is NBC doing to protect the identities of minors?

Yes, if you look at your social media on your phone you will see where you can report. If you have a lot of reports, it gains traction and then the platform is forced to remove the video.

Nevertheless, there is a moderation committee for Meta, Facebook, X, Google, YouTube and so on.

Some time ago, when it hit an impasse with Twitter, the government tried to achieve taming of the social media giants in Nigeria.

What does it mean? You may recognize Facebook as Facebook Nigeria, Twitter Nigeria, TikTok Nigeria and so on. And once they are domesticated, we can identify with them in terms of Nigerian legislation and what is permissible in Nigerian territory.

Not because it is an international platform governed by international law and certain things are allowed. We don’t want that to happen.

We will not stop them from being international organizations. We want them to be able to respond to us as regulators or as a country. When we say this is unacceptable in Nigeria, they should remove it.

But now when we say that this is unacceptable in Nigeria, the comment that may come from them is that we see nothing wrong with it.

Someone from the UK, someone from the US or someone from Europe will not understand why Nigerians say this is unacceptable to them.

However, the issue of disclosing a child’s identity in the event of a crime should be of international concern.

This doesn’t happen outside Nigeria, so why is it happening to a Nigerian child? Why is something like this allowed to happen to a Nigerian child? This is because we have been unable to enforce these policies.

What is the progress in regulating social media apps in Nigeria?

A lot has been done, I’m not speaking on behalf of the federal government, but on behalf of NBC. To regulate these apps, there are various agencies. There are the NBC, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) which regulates the data, and the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA). So all these agencies are looking at how we can regulate them.

So what is important is that Nigeria is trying to consolidate all these agencies to have one agency that regulates these platforms.

And of course, regulation will not be as stringent as in the case of traditional media. But whether we like it or not, media activities on social media platforms are visible to everyone.

Young people don’t listen to the radio or watch TV, they all use social media. That’s why we should be concerned about what’s happening there.

Therefore, we should exercise moderation in what is happening there. And that’s why African regulators are also calling for some kind of media literacy, bringing it down to a basic level so that everyone knows how to engage and use these platforms.

While we still agree that these should be free platforms, there should be a certain level of moderation in what can be placed in public spaces.