The Federal Government is pursuing legal support for the regulation of social media in the country .
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, disclosed this in Abuja Wednesday at a public hearing on a bill to amend the National Broadcasting Commission Act, organised by the House Committee on Information, National Orientation, Ethics and Values.
He emphasized the necessity to exempt the NBC from the Treasury Single Account to boost its operation and the need for the National Assembly to alter the current NBC law to include internet broadcast and all online media broadcast in the country.
However, the International Press Council (IPC), the Institute for Media and Society as well as the Radio Television and Theatre Arts Workers’ Union of Nigeria (RATTAWU) frowned against inclusion of internet broadcast and online media IN the category of broadcast service licenses, saying it would be detrimental to the civic space, freedom of expression and media freedom.
They called for full independence for the NBC to operate as a full regulator rather than being handicapped by the executive arm.
Executive Director, Institute for Media and Society, Dr Akin Akingbulu, said the ‘most prominent gap’ in the NBC Act was its failure to provide for independence as a regulatory body for the commission, thus giving room for political interference in its activities.
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