The Federal Government of Nigeria has vowed to take stern measures against television and radio stations in Nigeria for alleged violations of broadcast ethics. Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture, stated this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday, September 1, in Sal Island, Cape Verde. The minister is reported to be in Cape Verde for the 64th Conference of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation Commission for Africa and the Second Edition of the UNWTO Global Tourism Investment Forum.
According to NAN, the minister stated that the National Broadcasting Commission and other authorities would guarantee that broadcast stations followed statutory laws and ethical standards. He said that any station that broke the broadcast code and ethics would be “given the red card,” he said.
He went on to say that the government “agrees that there are issues, but are doing everything to try combat insecurity, banditry, insurgencies, and the economy. At this difficult time, one would expect support and encouragement from these leaders. However, it is rather alarming that they have thrown prudence to the wind and are more concerned about who can say something that would break the country.”
“Words that we were once hesitant to use, such as genocide and ethnic cleansing, are now dominating the media. Therefore, making it vital to appeal to everyone’s patriotism, so that they recognise that they are leaders because there is a country called Nigeria.”
NAN further cited the minister as saying, “In the last few weeks, the country has been saturated with highly inflammatory speech, particularly from the broadcast media, which has caused a type of panic in Nigeria.”
