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By Chukwuma Umeorah
Media Rights Agenda (MRA) has requested the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to disclose to it under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, 2011 details of the 302 broadcasting stations reportedly sanctioned by the Commission in four months after campaigns for the 2023 elections began in September 2022.
In a statement signed by MRA’s Communications Officer, Idowu Adewale on Monday, MRA said it was seeking the information following the announcement made by the Director General of NBC, Balarabe Shehu, at a media briefing held in Abuja on February 9, 2023, where he was reported to have said that out of the 740 currently functional stations in Nigeria, the Commission had sanctioned 302 stations between September 28, 2022 and January 31, 2023 for various offences.
MRA asked the NBC to provide it with a list of the 302 stations sanctioned, including details such as the names and locations of the stations. Also, to provide 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.
It further asked that the NBC provided copies of all correspondence to the stations against which the complaints were made, where it informed them of the complaints or allegations, as well as copies of all correspondence from all the stations against which complaints were made in response to the allegations.
The statement also contained a request 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 between September 28, 2022 and January 31, 2023. As well as a list of stations upon which NBC imposed fines, including the amount of the fine imposed on each.
