Nigeria\u2019s broadcast regulator has barred radio and television presenters from airing personal opinions, intimidating guests or broadcasting divisive political content, warning of sanctions ahead of the 2027 general elections.<\/p>\n
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Africa\u2019s largest democracy goes to the \u200cpolls in January following past election cycles marred by misinformation and sporadic violence.<\/p>\n
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In a notice issued on Friday, the National Broadcasting Commission<\/em> (NBC) said it would strictly enforce provisions of the broadcasting code that prohibit presenters from passing personal views as fact, denying opposing perspectives a fair hearing or airing hateful or inflammatory material capable of inciting \u2060disorder or undermining constitutional authority and national cohesion.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n While comparable restrictions on broadcaster conduct exist in other democracies during campaigns, critics say enforcement in Nigeria has historically been uneven.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Some opposition figures and rights groups criticised the directive, saying it risked shrinking civic space. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who has signalled his intention to run in next year\u2019s presidential election, said the move amounted to an attempt to “muzzle the media and shrink the space for free expression”.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The NBC<\/em> said it had recorded a sustained rise in breaches of the broadcasting \u200ccode, \u2060particularly involving presenter conduct and the political use of airtime, warning that neutrality violations would be treated as serious offences.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Content containing unsubstantiated allegations, hate speech or material likely to inflame political or communal tensions would attract regulatory sanctions, it said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nigeria’s broadcast sector is dominated by a mix of government\u2011owned \u2060stations and privately held networks owned by domestic business and media entrepreneurs, often with political links, operating under a licensing and enforcement system overseen by the NBC<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Socio\u2011Economic Rights and Accountability Project criticised \u2060the regulator’s notice.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe NBC<\/em>\u2019s notice represents a dangerous attempt to impose prior censorship on the media and suppress legitimate journalistic expression,\u201d said Kolawole Oluwadare, the group\u2019s Deputy Director.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Amnesty International \u2060Nigeria also condemned the move, warning it could pressure journalists and media organisations into self\u2011censorship.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Analysts say enforcement may be difficult as political debate moves online beyond NBC<\/em> oversight, leaving broadcasters more constrained than digital actors.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n –Reuters–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":11943,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-32497","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Nigeria\u2019s broadcast regulator has barred radio and television presenters from airing personal opinions","published_date":"2026-04-20 12:39:40","news_description":"Nigeria\u2019s broadcast regulator has barred radio and television presenters from airing personal opinions","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32498,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32497\/revisions\/32498"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=32497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}