NBC says It did not Ban any song

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has said that it did not release any statement regarding the ban of any song.

The commission said it is not in their jurisdiction to ban songs, as the prerogative on whether or not to play songs lies with broadcast stations.

Speaking to The Cable, Idachaba Armstrong, the Director of the commission said the ban notice of “Wo” and “Wavy Level” by Olamide, “Fall” and “If: Remix” by Davido and “Living Things” by 9ice did not come from NBC. He said:

First of all, NBC is a commission, not a corporation. Nobody at NBC issued a statement to the effect. We can’t be issuing a statement on every album released in his country. The broadcaster has the responsibility to do the needful. NBC does not ban songs, we don’t have any business with the artistes. It is left for NBC to tell stations to ensure the songs and videos are fit for broadcast before putting them on air. The whole idea of offensive vulgar lyrics. It is the responsibility of broadcasters to ensure they don’t come on air. They are supposed to do what is called gate-keeping and they should have editorial control over their content but broadcasters now carelessly air songs without exercising that editorial discretion. They abdicate that responsibility and then expect us to start chasing them.

He continued that the songs are actually offensive and are meant for clubs. He added that broadcast stations are lazy and unprofessional in their conduct, and will be fined if found to contradict any NBC code. He said:

I have reliably gathered that some of those songs are actually offensive, regarding the lyrics. Some of these songs are for clubs. These stations that should practice self-regulation are lazy and unprofessional in their conduct. We will impose the necessary sanctions on the stations. If the stations contravene any of the broadcast code, they will be fined. Once NBC picks it up, we call the stations to order and impose the necessary fine. First, we caution you, then impose a fine afterward, which can be between N50-N100k. But if they are recalcitrant, it can rise to N500k.