Court Stops NBC From Imposing Fines On Broadcast Stations

A Federal High Court in Abuja has stopped the Nigerian Broadcast Commission from imposing fines on broadcast stations.

In his ruling on Wednesday, James Omotosho, the presiding judge, said the NBC does not have judicial powers to impose penalties.

The judge set aside the fines imposed on 45 broadcast stations by NBC on March 1, 2019.Justice Omotosho was of the view that the NBC, not being a court of law, lacked power to impose sanctions as punishment on alleged erring broadcast stations.

The judge held that the NBC Code, on which the commission relies to impose sanction, is in conflict with Section 6 of the Constitution that vested judicial power in the court of law.

He said the court would not sit idle and watch a body imposing fine arbitrarily without recourse to the law, adding that the commission did not comply with the law when it sat as a complainant and at the same time, a court and a judge on its own case.

The judgment was on a suit marked:FHC/ABJ/CS/1386/2021 filed by a group, the Incorporated Trustees of Media Rights Agenda.