LAST Friday, August 24, 2012, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) clocked 20. And expectedly, the occasion did not go unnoticed. Specifically, it flagged off the celebration of what the commission has tagged 'triple milestones' ' the launch of the fifth edition of the Nigerian Broadcasting Code, an update of regulatory mechanism through which the agency seeks to deliver on its mandate.At the 'special press briefing to mark the 20th anniversary of the NBC' earlier on Wednesday, August 22 in Abuja, the Director-General, Yomi Bolarinwa, an engineer, had told his guests that, 'the year 2012 is a year of triple milestones for the National Broadcasting Commission. The first, of course is the 20th anniversary of the commission, and the second is the 9th anniversary of our now, well-established biennial conference of Africa broadcasters, more popularly known as Africast. Another important epoch we are also celebrating today is the 5th era of self-regulation by the broadcast industry with the coming into force of the 5th edition of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code.'But last Friday outing was also a reunion as it attracted stakeholders in the broadcasting industry in addition to functionaries from the government circle. In the last two decades of its existence, the commission has produced three directors-general namely Dr. Tom Adaba; Mallam Nasir Danladi Bako; and Dr. Silas Babajiya Yisa, while the current Executive Secretary, Nigerian Press Council (NPC), Mr. Bayo Atoyebi had also presided over the affairs of the commission in acting capacity before the appointment of the current DG. Some of these personalities were around on Friday to felicitate with the commission.No doubt, the airwaves' regulatory agency, which began 'from very humble beginnings: a couple of stuffy offices in the Red Brick Building at Tafawa Balewa Square, in Lagos in 1992,' has grown in leap and bond spreading its tentacle all over the country. Today, as captured by Bolarinwa, the commission has a total number of 10 zonal offices and 17 state offices 'spread out in such a way that every broadcasting station in the nation is within on-air monitoring reach. So if it is broadcast in Nigeria, NBC monitors it,' he remarked with nostalgic feeling.And with 348 licensed broadcasters ' 13 DTH, 33 MMDS, 123 Private Radio and television, and 233 Radio and Television stations owned by the Federal and State governments including the FCTA ' in operation across the country, the crowd that witnessed the birth of new regulatory framework in Abuja on Friday were justifiable. The conference hall of Nicon Luxury Hotel was full to capacity.And Bolarinwa could not but acknowledge this show of love and affection that the commission has stimulated among broadcasters, public and privately owned alike. 'It is gratifying that today and in this very hall, there are several people who were not only witnesses to the emergence of the NBC, but also played key roles towards the actualization of a deregulated broadcast industry in Nigeria.'When the NBC was established via decree 38 of 1992 not many really gave it any hope of survival, many in the industry then thought it was an organization that was dead on arrival. The NBC's establishment in 1992 was because the people and government of Nigeria were responding to a global phenomenon, broadcasting all over the world had become a critical element of good governance, social responsibility and enterprise, therefore the National Mass Communication policy recognized that for the broadcast industry to play its role in the global community and to maximize its import and advantages for the Nigerian society, it must be deregulated to allow private participation to play side by side the already existing government stations, but to do so effectively government recognized the need for an independent regulator to midwife and institutionalize the process,' Bolarinwa reminisced.Dwelling on the accomplishments so far, he recounted, 'as we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the deregulation of the broadcast industry in Nigeria, let me state that the broadcast industry is indeed a very dynamic one. I should also point out that the regulator has responded to this dynamism with equal creativity and dynamism in order to keep pace with the ever-changing tempo of the industry.'The Commission has kept its focus on the aspirations of the National Mass Communication policy and its enabling Act. In all, the Commission has been guided by the general principles and policies enunciated in the nation's Mass Communication policy viz to use broadcasting to promote the wellbeing of Nigerians. This I must state we have done with zeal and sincerity of purpose over the years.'Thereafter, he provided an insight into the workings of the commission in the last 20 years.'From only a few government stations before 1992, there are about 450 broadcast stations in Nigeria today. In the area of promoting Nigerian indigenous culture, the Commission has remained committed and resolute over the years. By the 90s when the Commission came on board, Nigerian radio and television stations were depending heavily on imported foreign programming content. It took drastic implementation of the local content policy to get stations to begin to patronise Nigerian artistes and music.'Also recently in 2009, we began to witness again the predominance of foreign programmes on Nigerian television. This soon became a major worry for us as regulators when it became obvious that Nigerian audiences were now constantly tuned to foreign programmes at the expense of the local indigenous productions. It was such that the veritable family viewing belt was dedicated to foreign programmes on almost all Nigerian television stations including the national networks. To arrest the trend, the NBC directed all television stations in Nigeria to transmit and broadcast only Nigerian or local movies, drama, variety, musical and other entertainment programmes during the prime-time.'Economic dividends that deregulation had stimulated did not escape Bolarinwa's attention, saying, 'On the economic side, imagine the number of people employed by the industry, where you have about 400 broadcast stations some employing as high as 1000 staff on their payroll. The broadcast industry has also created employment opportunities for young Nigerians who are in other creative sectors of the entertainment industry-advertisers, crafts men, theatre artiste and a host of others. Also through our licensing policy, the Commission has licensed over 28 campus radios spread across the country.'The periodical review of the Code, he explained, was not only to respond to dynamism of the broadcast sector, but also to meet the aspirations of the people for quality broadcasts at all time.'As we mark our 20th anniversary, we have deliberately coincided this event with the release of the 6th edition of the broadcasting Code, in the recent review of the Code, provisions have been made to capture emerging trends in the industry, such as digitization, Internet broadcasting, hyping and others,' remarked he.While pledging the commission's resolve to continue 'to gauge what is good for our own country,' Bolarinwa disclosed that the agency, in the last two decades of its operations 'has enjoyed complete independence from either executive or legislative interference.' And as the commission begins to plot its graph for better performance in the years ahead, he solicits for continued support from the people of Nigeria, as well as government functionaries just as he attributes the success story of the past years to good working relationship between the regulators and the operators. He ended his speech with the assurance that NBC would continue 'to work assiduously for the right of Nigerians to quality broadcasting.
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