UPDATE: COURT RULING ON NBC CAN'T STAND – INFORMATION MINISTRY

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Agency Report

According to Mr. Nelson Orji, Director of the Legal Division of the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, the Federal High Court’s ruling prohibiting the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation from fining ineligible broadcast stations “is ill-conceived and dead on arrival due to legal encumbrances.”

He claimed to the News Agency of Nigeria that an Abuja-based Federal High Court had already made the opposite ruling, holding that the NBC had the authority to impose sanctions on errant stations.

In April 2022, Justice N. E. Maha issued a decision in a case brought by seven organizations, including the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, against NBC.

The provision of Section 2(1)(n) of the NBC Act, 1992, was interpreted by Justice Maha in a Certified True Copy of the judgment that was made accessible to NAN.

“The Commission shall have the responsibility of determining and applying sanctions, including the revocation of licenses of defaulting stations that do not operate in accordance with the broadcast code and in the public interest,” the article reads.

Relying on the provision, the Justice Maha held, “The law is settled that a regulator imposing fines under its enabling law in the discharge of its functions could not have acted unconstitutionally.

“In Moses Ediru v Federal Road Safety Commission and 20 ors(supra) the court held that the FRSC Act gives the Commission the right to impose and enforce sanctions and such right does not derogate from the judicial powers of the court as provided in the constitution.

“In essence, there is no confluence point where the powers of FRSC and that of the court meet.

“In that Moses Ediru case, the court further observed that FRSC and the court are mutually exclusive such that the FRSC powers of enforcement of sanctions is not an usurpation of the judicial powers of the court.”

Speaking on the two cases, Orji said there existed conflicting decisions of the same court of coordinate jurisdiction on the same issue of whether NBC can impose sanctions.

He said by the convention of the law, “where there is conflicting decision of courts of coordinate jurisdiction a party can choose which of them to obey and it will not be held in contempt of any court.

“It is worthy of note that the judgement of Justice Maha is first in time and still subsisting as it has not been set aside by any appellate court.

“In this light, NBC is still well within its right to continue to impose sanctions on broadcast organisations which run fowl of the NBC code.”

Orji further said the case against the 45 erring stations were strict liability offences and they had all complied by paying their fines.