On Monday, the Media Rights Agenda requested information from the National Broadcasting Commission under the Freedom of Information Act of 2011 regarding the 302 broadcasting stations that the Commission allegedly sanctioned in the four months following the start of the 2023 election campaign in September 2022.
MRA stated that it was seeking the information in response to the statement made by the NBC Director General, Balarabe Ilelah, at a press conference he held in Abuja on February 9, 2023, where he was alleged to have stated that the Commission had sanctioned 302 stations between September 28, 2022, and January 31, 2023, for a variety of offences, out of the 740 currently operational stations in Nigeria.
In the FOI request addressed to the Commission’s Director-General and signed by a Programme Officer at MRA, Ms Maimuna Momoh, asked the NBC to provide it with a list of the 302 stations sanctioned by the NBC, including details such as the names and locations of the stations.
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According to MRA in the statement, it asked NBC to provide for each of the 302 stations on the list, the name of the individual or entity which made the complaint against the station leading to the sanction, the date of the complaint and details of the complaint or allegation made against each station.
Momoh said, “MRA also requested the NBC to provide it with copies of all correspondence by the NBC to the stations against which the complaints were made, in which it informed them of the complaints or allegations made against them as well as copies of all correspondence from all the stations against which complaints were made in response to the allegations against them.
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“It asked the NBC for a list of all the broadcast stations against which the NBC received complaints of any type, pursuant to the provisions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, between September 28, 2022, and January 31, 2023, which the Commission investigated and absolved of any wrongdoing; details of the sanctions imposed by the NBC on each of the 302 stations sanctioned by the Commission between September 28, 2022, and January 31, 2023, as well as a list of all the stations upon which the NBC imposed fines, including the amount of the fine imposed on each of the stations.”
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