Oluwanifemi Ojo
A Federal High Court in Abuja has issued an order preventing the National Broadcasting Commission from imposing fines on Nigerian broadcast stations.
According to The Punch, the presiding judge Judge James Omotosho stated that NBC does not have the authority to impose penalties.
The judge issued a perpetual injunction restraining NBC from imposing such fines in the future and set aside the N500,000 fines that were levied on each of the 45 broadcast stations on March 1, 2019.
According to the report, NBC is not a court of law and therefore has no power to impose sanctions on broadcast stations. He further argued that the NBC Code, which grants the commission the authority to impose sanctions, is in conflict with Section 6 of the Constitution, which vests judicial power in the court of law.
The judge expressed concern that a body could arbitrarily impose fines without following legal procedures and stated that the court would not tolerate such actions.
He established that the Nigeria Broadcasting Code could not give the commission, NBC, the power to impose criminal sanctions. This is because the code is subsidiary legislation that only empowers an administrative body such as the NBC to enforce its provisions.
He also stressed that the commission did not have the authority to conduct criminal investigations or impose sanctions, as that would go against the doctrine of separation of powers. The judge explained that the doctrine aims to prevent tyranny by ensuring that power is not concentrated in one organ.
Omotosho emphasized the importance of the separation of powers and how giving too much power to one organ could lead to tyranny.
He said, “This will go against the doctrine of separation of powers. The action of the respondent qualifies as excessiveness” as it had given to itself the judicial and executive powers.
The News Agency of Nigeria stated that NBC fined 45 broadcast stations N500,000 each in March 2019 for allegedly violating its code. The Incorporated Trustees of Media Rights Agenda later filed a lawsuit against NBC for these fines.
In the lawsuit, the group argued that NBC’s sanctions procedure violated the rules of natural justice and the right to fair hearing under the Nigerian Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights. The group claimed that the code, which allowed the NBC to receive complaints, investigate and adjudicate them, impose sanctions, and collect fines for its own purposes, gave the commission too much power.
The group sought to have the N500,000 fines overturned and to prevent NBC from imposing fines on any other broadcast station in Nigeria for alleged violations of the code. Justice Omotosho agreed with the group’s argument, stating that NBC acted beyond its legal authority, or “ultra vires.”
