NBC raises alarm over Biafra Tv
by Biodun Oyeleye
The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) says it is facing a major hurdle regulating subversive broadcasting coming into Nigeria from outside the country.
Director General of the Commission, Alhaji Ishaq Modibo Kawu, while speaking with newsmen in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital after breaking his Rammadan fast with newsmen, cited the example of a television station being run by the pro-Biafra group, IPOB which is being broadcast from outside Nigeria and which the commission has so far been unable to trace and block.
The NBC boss also raised the alarm over the importation of mobile transmitters into the country which are often hidden in suitcases because of their sizes to deceive security operatives.
Kawu, who lamented the high rate of hate speech currently on several airwaves, traced the blame to the erosion of professional values among broadcasters and the removal of history from the curriculum of Nigerian schools which has raised a lot of young people who are ignorant about the past.
The NBC boss also lamented the huge debt owed the commission by broadcast organisations. He said as at March this year, the figure was about N5 billion and expressed the determination of his management to enforce the payment at the expiration of a grace period earlier given to the debtors.
His words: “We face a major difficulty in trying to regulate what people broadcast; most people on air think that the more outlandish claim they make on air the more popular they become. Radio is such a responsible medium that should not be abused.
“Another problem we face is the use of the airwaves of Nigeria for subversive activities. For instance, Biafra Radio they hop around, we were jamming some of the frequencies because we have the facilities to do so, but then there are a lot of mobile transmitters that are being brought into the country. Even people in government, even people in security might not understand that these are mobile transmitters because they can be inside a suitcase and people are using it to say all kinds of things.”
New telegraph
#spicydigest
The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) says it is facing a major hurdle regulating subversive broadcasting coming into Nigeria from outside the country.
Director General of the Commission, Alhaji Ishaq Modibo Kawu, while speaking with newsmen in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital after breaking his Rammadan fast with newsmen, cited the example of a television station being run by the pro-Biafra group, IPOB which is being broadcast from outside Nigeria and which the commission has so far been unable to trace and block.
The NBC boss also raised the alarm over the importation of mobile transmitters into the country which are often hidden in suitcases because of their sizes to deceive security operatives.
Kawu, who lamented the high rate of hate speech currently on several airwaves, traced the blame to the erosion of professional values among broadcasters and the removal of history from the curriculum of Nigerian schools which has raised a lot of young people who are ignorant about the past.
The NBC boss also lamented the huge debt owed the commission by broadcast organisations. He said as at March this year, the figure was about N5 billion and expressed the determination of his management to enforce the payment at the expiration of a grace period earlier given to the debtors.
His words: “We face a major difficulty in trying to regulate what people broadcast; most people on air think that the more outlandish claim they make on air the more popular they become. Radio is such a responsible medium that should not be abused.
“Another problem we face is the use of the airwaves of Nigeria for subversive activities. For instance, Biafra Radio they hop around, we were jamming some of the frequencies because we have the facilities to do so, but then there are a lot of mobile transmitters that are being brought into the country. Even people in government, even people in security might not understand that these are mobile transmitters because they can be inside a suitcase and people are using it to say all kinds of things.”
New telegraph
#spicydigest
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