Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has reiterated the need for the Federal Government to revisit the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) amendment of the broadcasting code.
He made this known during a session with the Vice-President of Facebook’s Policy and Communication, Nick Clegg, on Friday.
The code, which has stirred a lot of controversy, seeks to regulate content exclusivity, enforce content sharing and empower the NBC to determine prices at which content is sold to sub-licensees by rights holders.
Also, the fine for hate speech has been increased from N500,000 to N5m.
According to the report from The Cable, Osinbajo said there is need to take a second look at the code so as not to “stifle the work of hardworking, creative people”.
His words, “The NBC code is one where there is now activity around trying to take a second look at it. Those who say that it is pro-competition, it is one I think we should take a second look at,”
“Basically, it says if you have a licenced product for TV, you’re expected to share it with other platforms. It’s one which I understand the argument of those who say this is a violation of copyright and intellectual property which is a very strong point and this is why I think we have to take a second look at it and see whether there are ways of moderating it to be more acceptable so as not stifle the work of very very hardworking, creative people.”
It would be recalled that Ikra Aliyu Bilbis, chairman of the NBC board, had accused Lai Mohammed, Minister of information and culture, of amending the country’s broadcasting code “unilaterally” without involving relevant stakeholders.
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