The National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, has denied issuing a statement banning the songs of Nigerian artistes, Olamide, Davido and 9ice from being broadcast.
The NBC in statement released noted that it is not in the business of banning songs adding that by virtue of the broadcasting law, media houses are compelled to ensure that songs containing vulgar lyrics and visuals are kept from airing.
Reacting to the alleged ban, the NBC director of broadcast monitoring, Idachaba Armstrong, said: “First of all, NBC is a commission, not a corporation. Nobody at NBC issued a statement to the effect. We can’t be issuing a statement on every album released in his country.
“The broadcaster has the responsibility to do the needful. NBC does not ban songs, we don’t have any business with the artistes. It is left for NBC to tell stations to ensure the songs and videos are fit for broadcast before putting them on air.
“The whole idea of offensive vulgar lyrics. It is the responsibility of broadcasters to ensure they don’t come on air. They are supposed to do what is called gate-keeping and they should have editorial control over their content but broadcasters now carelessly air songs without exercising that editorial discretion.
“They abdicate that responsibility and then expect us to start chasing them. I have reliably gathered that some of those songs are actually offensive, regarding the lyrics. Some of these songs are for clubs. These stations that should practice self-regulation are lazy and unprofessional in their conduct.”
Armstrong further stated that media houses are aware of the law which compels them not to air any song or lyrics which contain offensive contents.
He added that any station found erring the law will be properly sanctioned.
“We will impose the necessary sanctions on the stations. If the stations contravene any of the broadcast code, they will be fined.
“Once NBC picks it up, we call the stations to order and impose the necessary fine. First, we caution you, then impose a fine afterward, which can be between N50-N100k. But if they are recalcitrant, it can rise to N500k.”