NBC to set up tribunal for broadcast violations

The National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, says it will establish an independent tribunal, comprising retired judges and other impartial officials, to hear broadcast violation cases.

The commission also disclosed that it will appeal the court judgment on its powers to impose financial sanctions on erring broadcast stations.

The Director-General of NBC, Dr Charles Ebuebu, made these known in an exclusive interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday in Abuja.

Mr Ebuebu clarified that the court did not prohibit the commission from imposing sanctions on erring broadcasters.

“The court didn’t say NBC cannot sanction. It only said you cannot be a judge and jury in your own case,” he said.

He explained that the judgment specifically addressed financial sanctions, which the court viewed as akin to criminal penalties imposed without an independent adjudicatory process.

According to him, NBC disagrees with the interpretation, insisting administrative fines differ from criminal fines, hence its decision to challenge the ruling on appeal.

“There’s a difference between a criminal fine and an administrative fine.

“That is why we have appealed the court’s decisions,” Ebuebu said.

He said the commission was designing an independent tribunal within the regulatory framework but separate from NBC to determine broadcast violation cases.

Ebuebu said retired judges and other independent officials would serve on the tribunal to ensure fairness and transparency in adjudicating violations.

He likened the arrangement to the Federal Road Safety Commission’s mobile court system, where traffic offenders appear before an independent tribunal before sanctions are imposed.

“If you’re caught, you go before a tribunal or a mobile court.

“You don’t really have to go before a fully-fledged magistrate court,” he said.

The NBC boss warned that removing sanctioning powers would weaken broadcast regulation, as some operators ignore warning letters until penalties are imposed.

“We don’t want to go from warning letters to withdrawing a licence. That’s arbitrary.

There must be a process, and we are going back to court to appeal that decisions” he said.

NAN recalled that in May 2023, the Federal High Court in Abuja ruled that the NBC lacked the power to unilaterally impose financial sanctions on broadcast stations without judicial intervention.

The court held that imposing monetary fines without an independent adjudicatory process breached the principles of fair hearing, and consequently nullified fines earlier imposed on affected broadcasters.

The NBC appealed the decisions of the high court in the case institute against the commission by the Incorporated Trustees of Media Rights Agenda.

On April 2, 2026, the Court of Appeal in Abuja dismissed the NBC’s appeal and affirmed the Federal High Court’s judgment, holding that the commission’s appeal lacked merit.

The appellate court upheld the nullification of the fines imposed on affected broadcasters, reinforcing that the NBC cannot unilaterally impose financial penalties under the existing legal framework.

NAN