Hate Speech: FG Sets Up Committee To Reform Broadcast Industry

Information Minister, Lai Mohammed says broadcast stations which encourage hate speeches will now be fined N5 million.

Speaking while inaugurating a seven-man implementation reforms committee of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to reposition the broadcast industry, Mohammed noted that the reforms were recommended by an earlier committee set up by President Muhammadu Buhari.



The minister said the fines were reviewed from N500,000 to N5 million for issues relating hate speeches, inciting comments and indecency and others. According to the minister, the recommendations also include the independence of the NBC from political interference as it carries out its legal duties.

Members of the implementation committee are Godfrey Ohuabunwa, acting chairman of the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON); J K Ehicheoya, director, legal services at the federal ministry of information and culture; and Hajia Binta Adamu Bello, secretary general of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON). Others are Ibrahim Jimoh, director of administration at the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN); Hon Agbo Kingsley Ndubuisi, a board member at the NBC.