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Oakfil Productions Limited, a movie company, has asked a Federal High Court in Lagos to nullify amendments by the National Broadcasting Commission, (NBC) to the sixth edition of the National Broadcasting Code
The NBC lacks the statutory powers to make amendments or sign the NBC Code, a deposition by the company is insisting.
Oakfil and many operators in the broadcast industry are alleging that the Broadcasting Code lacks stakeholders’ input as required by law.
In its deposition, Oakfil is asking the court to declare the amendment to the Broadcasting Code as illegal.
Also, it is asking that the NBC be made to adhere to the procedure as prescribed by the National Broadcasting Commission Act as it concerns any amendments to the code.
The company also wants “the court to declare that NBC acted ultra vires improperly, in bad faith, and in gross abuse of the powers vested in it by the National Broadcasting Commission Act when it allowed its management to make the sixth edition of the National Broadcasting Code.”
No date has been fixed for hearing of the suit.
The sixth Broadcasting Code has remained controversial with operators accusing the Ministry of Information and Culture of deliberately sidelining stakeholders and the industry regulator itself, NBC, in order to a create a code that could impact negatively on the sector.
It has remained a subject of contention between the NBC’s board and its management on one hand, and the ministry on the other hand.
