The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has suffered another legal setback after the Court of Appeal in Abuja struck out its appeal challenging a judgment that barred it from imposing fines on radio and television stations.
In a unanimous decision delivered on Wednesday, the appellate court dismissed the appeal after discovering an error in the appeal documents. The court noted that the appellant was incorrectly listed as the “Nigerian Broadcasting Commission” instead of the “National Broadcasting Commission,” describing the mistake as a fundamental defect that invalidated the appeal and stripped the court of jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
The case originated from a Federal High Court ruling which declared unlawful the N5 million fines imposed by the NBC on MultiChoice Nigeria Limited, TelCom Satellite Limited, Trust TV Network Limited, and NTA StarTimes Limited over documentaries focusing on banditry and insecurity in Zamfara State.
The latest judgment represents another blow to the NBC’s efforts to defend its authority to sanction broadcasters, following previous court rulings that limited the commission’s power to impose monetary penalties on media organisations without first obtaining a court order.
