Wole Soyinka, playwright and Nobel laureate, has described
the amended 6th broadcasting code by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC)
as an “economic sabotage”.
In a statement on Tuesday, Soyinka said it is better for the
government to admit its war on “arts and its producers instead of its tactics
of slowly weakening the sector”.
The NBC had reviewed some parts of the broadcasting code
which affect content producers on web/online media.
This has generated different reactions, with the Independent
Broadcasters Association of Nigeria (IBAN) calling for the suspension of the
implementation of the amended code.
Some stakeholders, who have also called for the suspension
of the implementation of the code, said the new broadcasting code place unfair
and unrealistic burdens on the industry and would affect the development of the
sector.
In a statement on Tuesday, Soyinka said after reading
excerpts from the newly proposed NBC broadcasting code, he discovered some
“potentially dangerous aspects of the code”.
“I think it is about time the government come out openly and
admit that it has declared war against the Arts and its producers, instead of
its present tactics of piecemeal attrition,” Soyinka said.
“Just when we were reeling from the action of the Ministry
of Youth and Development in joining hands with book pirates by providing a
free-loading portal for the works of Nigerian authors, among others, along
comes a new regulatory hit against the cinema and video enterprise, and its
operators.
“Let me quickly utilise the opening of this new flank to
commend the Director-General of the Nigerian Copyright Commission for his
prompt attention to the complaint by Nigerian authors.”
He added that some of the regulations restrict intellectual
property rights with who they choose to work with.
Noting that the new code will place unfair burden on the
sector, he, therefore, asked the government to desists from stifling the
industry.
“And now it is the turn of a sister industry to be placed
under siege! I have just read excerpts of the newly proposed NBC broadcasting
code and become aware of some potentially dangerous aspects of the code. Whilst
one concedes that some of the regulations are well-intentioned, I shudder to
imagine unintended consequences such as backhanded censorship in the age of
digital media,” he said.
“These restrict intellectual property rights and their scope
of exploitation with whomsoever one chooses to collaborate. It is economic
sabotage writ large, directed against thousands of practitioners. Regulatory?
This is strangulatory in effect!
“Several practitioners’ voices have been raised in protest.
For one such insider’s detailed and passionate exposition on the deleterious
provisions of this Code, I shall draw particular attention of policymakers to
Chris Ihidero’s Why Does the NBC Want to Kill Local Content in Nigeria?
“If I may invoke a contemporary tragic image to render
graphically what Ihidero and others have pleaded on behalf of both creators and
consumers of this artistic productivity:
“Let government kindly take its knee off the neck of this
industry. Please – let it breathe!”
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