The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has reeled out eight guidelines for political broadcasts ahead of the forthcoming Edo and Ondo State elections.
The guidelines which came barely 24-hours after the commission fined a radio station with N5 million over alleged hate speech promotion, mandate broadcast stations not to commercialise political news.
In a statement issued on Friday, by its Director-General, Modibbo Kawu, the NBC said that it was disturbed with “the unprofessional conduct of Nigeria Info 99.3FM, Lagos, in the handling of the Programme, “Morning CrossFire” during an interview with former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Obadiah Mailaifa.
The NBC also used the medium to warn broadcasting stations against using their platforms to promote violence-inciting political jingles, in the wake of the fast-approaching governorship election in Edo and Ondo States.
Listed below are the guidelines issued by the NBC based on the Section 5.3.3 of the commission:
1. Ensure that the broadcast of a partisan politicians campaign, jingle, announcement, and any other form of partisan party identification or symbol ends not later than twenty- four hours before polling days;
2. Do not use any vote obtained at a polling station or from an exit poll, to project or speculate on the chances of a candidate;
3. Relay election results or declaration of the winner only as announced by the authorised electoral officer for the election;
4. Set up a Standing Electoral Complaints Committee to resolve all disputes within 24 hours of receipts of the Complaint;
5. Forward the Committee’s Report in Section 5.3.3 (m) to the Commission within 48 hours;
6. The Broadcaster shall implement the appropriate decisions, including the grant of a Right of Reply or demand for Apology, within 24 hours, and at the same level of prominence;
7. Do not commercialize Political News;
8. Do not broadcast political jingles exceeding 60 seconds.
