Renowned communication scholar, Professor Ralph Akinfeleye, has called for an urgent review of the National Broadcasting Code, describing the extant edition, issued last year by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), as inconsistent with democracy.
Akinfeleye, a former head of the Mass Communication Department of the University of Lagos, made the call yesterday at the public presentation of “Question Marks on the 6th NBC Code Amendments”, a publication by Consortium of Independent Broadcasters and Free Press Advocates.
At the event, which held at the Lagos office of the Independent Press Centre (IPC), Akinfeleye stated that the code is an attempt by the government to over-regulate the broadcast space, adding that many of the provisions in the 6th NBC Code are unnecessary as they had already been addressed by previous laws.
“The first thing is that we have existing laws that address the concerns of the NBC. The NBC is trying to over-regulate the media in a way that is inconsistent with democracy, which is oiled by free press. A free press is required to make the government accountable at all times, not sometimes. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a revision of the NBC Code,” he said.