For NBC, a time to rise above the puddle, by Okoh Aihe

The bell for political campaigns for the 2027 Elections went off last week. Already cauldrons of political abracadabra are boiling over. Surrogates and infradigs down the political ladder have started throwing stones, giving clear but ominous signals that things could get a lot messier and the air more fouled up in the days and months ahead. The times we are in call for reasonable patriots to demand caution from politicians although such calls may be swallowed in political flatulence, overlooked by men with vaunting ambitions which threaten the peace of the generality. While it is the responsibility of the government to shield the people from harm and give them a reason to look at the future with hope, there are specific agencies charged with the very delicate responsibilities of conducting good elections and also ensuring that the political terrain is not unnecessarily charged up.

INEC has already jumped in the ring by releasing the 2027 Election timetable. Some would say this is expected. The more interesting one is that without any prompting, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has also sounded a warning to broadcast stations in the country to be very professional in handling and reporting political issues in the period leading to the elections. This is also expected. The NBC is the regulator of the broadcast industry and it is the responsibility of the regulator to ensure that some broadcasters who sometimes can be unnecessarily excitable are put on a leash to prevent them from polluting the political space with obtuse presentations. The NBC advisory contains thirteen sub-heads, all drawn from contents of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code and the NBC Act although no particular sections are referenced. Titled, NBC Advises Broadcasters on Strict Compliance with Broadcasting Code as 2027 Election Campaigns Commence, the regulator alerted that “the commencement of political campaigns does not suspend or dilute the obligations imposed on broadcasters by the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, the Electoral Act, regulations issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) or any other applicable law.”

Accordingly, the regulator listed the guardrails which are as follows: Political broadcasts must be fair, balanced and equitable; Accuracy and verifications are mandatory; Presenters and anchors must remain professional and impartial; Equal opportunity must be reflected in actual airtime; Political broadcasts must be clearly identified; Political advertising must comply strictly with the Code; and No inflammatory, hateful or divisive political content. Others include: No premature projection or declaration of election results; Strict compliance with campaign silence period; Political news must not be commercialised; Live programmes require heightened editorial control; Broadcasters must establish political broadcast complaints mechanisms; and Broadcasters must comply with INEC regulations. For instance, the statement signed by the NBC boss, Charles Ebuebu, states that “in accordance with the provisions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code on Political Coverage, broadcasters must provide fair and balanced coverage of political activities and ensure equal opportunity and appropriate access to airtime for political parties and political views during the election period. Stations must not use their platforms to promote or suppress particular political parties, candidates or viewpoints. Political coverage must be guided by professional judgment and not by partisan considerations.”

Furthermore, the regulator expects broadcasters not to allow on their platforms contents capable of inciting violence, promoting hatred, threatening public order or deepening ethnic, religious, regional or political division. “The Code,” according to the statement, “specifically requires stations to avoid broadcasting inflammatory and divisive political material in provocative form. Political competition must not be allowed to become a vehicle for the mobilisation of Nigerians against one another.” Nigerians have always been worried about elections in their country and how painfully those charged with electoral responsibilities at the zenith drop the ball. Coming from Osun elections where a particular lawmaker was accused of unaliving opposing political party members, there is every reason for a very small headache to grow into a migraine for political watchers. So, people worry and the fear and anxiety can resist a very sharp knife in their solid state. Concerning Osun, congratulations are in order for INEC as an organisation. However many would expect the election body to extend that off-season success to the main election coming up in 2027.

The fear persists and INEC knows that the task before it is not as attractive as a piece of cake. Speaking at the 81st Assembly of the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON) in April this year, the INEC Chairman, Prof Joash Amupitan, acknowledged the role of the broadcast regulator during elections, explaining that while the NBC retains primary responsibility for licensing and content regulation, INEC collaborates with the NBC to ensure that broadcast media comply with electoral standards, particularly with respect to equal access and balanced coverage. He observed ironically, that this institutional interaction reflects a shared regulatory space, albeit one that is sometimes characterised by ambiguity and weak coordination. He confessed that the effectiveness of his organisation in that shared responsibility is constrained by several factors which include: INEC’s enforcement powers over media-related violations are largely indirect as it relies on cooperation with other related bodies, and that the media terrain in Nigeria is so vast that his organisation would not have the needed resources to do much. He was most sincere in acknowledging that political pressures may affect the robustness of enforcement, particularly in highly competitive electoral environments.

This would seem to push the ball back to the NBC which should be most decisive in taking some hard decisions during elections. While the regulator’s handling of the case of Majority FM 89.5, a political radio station domiciled in the offices of Renewed Hope Ambassadors in Port Harcourt, leaves so much ash in the mouth, it is most gratifying that it has promised to intensify monitoring of political broadcasts throughout the electioneering period. Such monitoring, according to the regulator “will cover not only paid political advertisements but also news bulletins, current affairs programmes, interviews, commentaries, sponsored programmes, live broadcasts and other programming through which political content is disseminated.” This is clearly in order as every game has its own rules. So should political broadcasting which must operate according to the content of the Broadcasting Code. Quite a few people have raised concerns, arguing that such monitoring will hamstring the independence of broadcasters. I do not agree with them unless the regulator plays a fair game and deals decently.

In the journey ahead, NBC remains its own worst enemy. In the past, the regulator has been corralled into a corner by those who accuse it of not following its own rules. I won’t try to make a case for the regulator here. I am only praying that bruising experiences from the past will position it to perform much better in this political season. For once, let the NBC get out of the water and not be wet.

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