NBC AND THE CONTROVERSIAL DIRECTIVE

The directive on Broadcast Journalists is unnecessary

While democracy entitles citizens to freedom of expression and association, it is also true that authorities in every country have an obligation to mediate and modulate the freedom in order to ensure the survival of the nation itself. But how they do without abusing power is always the issue. In a formal notice issued on 17th April 2026, the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) warned broadcast journalists from expressing “personal opinions,” allegedly intimidating guests, or failing to maintain neutrality. The commission also warned that as Nigeria enters a critical electoral period, the airwaves must not be used to propagate misinformation. While we subscribe to the idea that journalists must be professional in their work, what the NBC seeks to do is not in public interest.

From the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) to the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) to Amnesty International, the directive has drawn the ire of several critical stakeholders. According to Amnesty International, targeting anchors of current affairs and political programmes imposes “unduly restrictive and invasive controls” on the media landscape. “Nigeria’s vibrant broadcast media, which editorial content is independent, enable people to freely seek, debate, receive and impart information and ideas as envisaged by the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” said Isa Sanusi, Executive Director of Amnesty International Nigeria.

We agree with Sanusi. By cynically taking away rights that are already guaranteed in our constitution, the NBC’s directive seeks to take Nigerians back to the military era and its arbitrariness. And by seeking to suffocate broadcast media operations, the ultimate aim of the NBC directive and its sponsors is to coerce the civic space and destroy dissenting voices. To the NGE, the NBC directive amounts to “a direct assault on the principles of press freedom, editorial independence and democratic accountability,” while warning that it is open to multiple interpretations. “Journalism is not designed to place public officials or interviewees in a comfort zone, but to hold power accountable.”

Pertinent questions remain: Why is the NBC obsessed with regulating how broadcast journalists should frame their questions in an environment where there is little accountability? Why should anybody be afraid of scrutiny in the discharge of their public conduct?

To be sure, there are obvious excesses by some media professionals not only in Nigeria but across the world. But the good news is that there are laws to tackle this problem. The laws of libel, slander, and others are there for anyone injured to take advantage of. The Cybercrime Act of 2015 also provides jail terms, stiff fines or both, for purveyors of fake news and libelous information. The NBC directive is therefore a clear and deliberate departure from the liberal democratic foundations of our constitution and it must be resisted.

At a period when the Nigerian Press Organisation (NPO) is pushing authorities in the country to protect our information ecosystem from the growing influence of global digital platforms, we find it disturbing that what concerns the NBC is how broadcast journalists should be ‘friendly’ with invited guests. But then, we recall that the NBC code, launched with fanfare in August 2020 by then Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed, has always been seen as an agenda-driven document by industry players who were not carried along in its conception. Meanwhile, several of its provisions have been tested in court and found wanting.

This latest directive which has embedded aspects of the failed government move in the past to enact anti-free press laws will also fail. Democracy, according to the NGE, “does not thrive on timid journalism, but on bold, responsible, and fact-driven interrogation of issues and personalities.” We hope the NBC can understand that.