MRA makes FOI request to NBC for details of stations under sanction

Media Rights Agenda (MRA), yesterday, asked National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to disclose, under Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2011, details of the 302 broadcasting stations reportedly sanctioned in four months after campaigns for 2023 elections began last September.

MRA said it was seeking information following announcement made by NBC’s Director General, Malam Balarabe Shehu Ilelah, at a recent media function in Abuja, where he reportedly said of the 740 functional stations in Nigeria, the Commission had sanctioned 302 stations between September 28, 2022 and January 31, 2023 for various offences.

In an FOI request addressed to the Commission’s Director-General and signed by Programme Officer, Maimuna Momoh, MRA asked NBC to provide it with a list of the stations, including details such as, names and locations of the stations.

It asked NBC to provide each of the stations on the list, names of individual or entity, which made the complaint leading to the sanction, the date and details of complaint or allegation made against each station.

According to MRA Communications Officer, Idowu Adewale, the organisation is also requesting NBC to provide it with copies of all correspondence by NBC to the stations against which the complaints were made, in which it informed them of the complaints or allegations made against them as well as copies of all correspondence from the stations against which complaints were made in response to allegations against them.

It asked NBC for a list of all broadcast stations, of which it received complaints of any type, pursuant to the provisions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, between September 28, 2022 and January 31, 2023 that the Commission investigated and absolved of any wrongdoing; details of the sanctions imposed by NBC on each of the 302 stations as well as a list of all the stations, which it imposed fines, including the amount of the fine imposed on each of the stations.