NBC to appeal judgment barring it from imposing fines

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) says it will appeal the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja nullifying its powers to impose fines on erring broadcast stations.

The Director-General of NBC, Mallam Balarabe Ilelah, made this known in a statement on Friday in Abuja.

He said; “The attention of the National Broadcasting Commission has been drawn to a ruling by the Federal High Court, Abuja nullifying its powers to impose fines on broadcast stations that violate the provisions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code.

“In view of the foregoing, the commission has applied for a Certified Copy of the judgment.

”It is global best practice and the ethics of the legal profession, that no party to a suit can freely comment on a judgment it has not seen and read.

“The commission will appeal against the judgment when found to be in conflict with previous judgments of the court, which empowers the commission to regulate broadcasting in Nigeria.”

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a Federal High Court Abuja, on Wednesday, gave an order of perpetual injunction restraining NBC from imposing fines, henceforth, on broadcast stations in the country.

Justice James Omotosho, in a judgment, also set aside the N500,000 fines imposed, on March 1, 2019, on each of the 45 broadcast stations.

Omotosho held that the NBC, not being a court of law, had no power to impose sanctions as punishment on broadcast stations.

He further held that the NBC Code, which gives the commission the power to impose sanction, is in conflict with Section 6 of the Constitution that vested judicial power in the court of law.

The judge said that the court would not sit idle and watch a body imposing fine arbitrarily without recourse to the law.

He said that the commission did not comply with the law when it sat as a complainant and at the same time, the court and the judge on its own matter.

The judge agreed that the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, being a subsidiary legislation that empowers an administrative body such as the NBC to enforce its provisions cannot confer judicial powers on the commission to impose criminal sanctions or penalties such as fines.