FG Moves To Regulate Online Media In Nigeria

The Federal Government on Thursday , said the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) will soon publish new regulations to guide online broadcasters in Nigeria.

The minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, disclosed this while inaugurating a seven-member committee on the Implementation of Reforms in the NBC

The Minister who also urged the committee to submit its report in six weeks .

He noted that the reforms to be implemented are recommendations of a committee he earlier set up on the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari “over the unprofessional and unethical conduct of some broadcast stations.”

The committee is chaired by the Director, Broadcast Monitoring of the NBC, Armstrong Idachaba, while the Chief Press Secretary, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Joe Mutah, will serve as secretary.

Other members are Godfrey Ohuabunwa, Acting Chairman of the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON); Joseph Ehicheoya, Director, Legal Services, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture; Binta Bello, Secretary General, Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON); Ibrahim Jimoh, Director of Administration, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria; Agbo Kingsley Ndubuisi, Board Member, NBC.

Speaking further , Mohammed said the approved recommendations also include the independence of NBC from political interference in the exercise of its regulatory powers, particularly with respect to the issuance and withdrawal of broadcasting licences.

He said the terms of reference include to establish and publish a new regulation for the licencing of web and internet broadcasters/international broadcasters in Nigeria,

“To immediately commence work on all statutory, legal and regulatory framework for further legislative action on the review of the NBC act by the National Assembly.