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Tag: NBC

  • Can NBC regulate state-owned radio and TV stations?

    Can NBC regulate state-owned radio and TV stations?

    Sir: State-owned radio and television stations in Nigeria are beholden to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) by virtue of Sections 2(1)(b)(ii), 9(1)(a)&(6) and 14(2)(a) of the National Broadcasting Commission Act 1992, Cap. N.11, LFN 204. The provisions empower the NBC to exercise regulatory control over such stations. A detailed review of the aforesaid provisions of the Act is as follows:

    Section 2(1)(b)(ii):

    “The Commission shall have the responsibility to receiving, processing and considering applications for the establishment, ownership or operation of radio and television stations, including radio and television stations owned, established or operated by the Federal, State or Local Government”.

     

                Section 2(2):

    “No person shall operate or use any apparatus or premises for the transmission of sound or vision by cable television, radio, satellite or any other medium of broadcast from anywhere in Nigeria except under and in accordance with the provisions of this Act”.

     

    Section 9(1)(a)

    “The Commission shall, in the consideration of an application for a license under this Act, be satisfied that the applicant is a body corporate registered under the Companies and Allied Matters Act or a station owned, established or operated by the Federal, State  or Local Government”.

     

    Section 9(6):

    “Any broadcast station transmitting from Nigeria before the commencement of this Act shall be deemed to have been licensed under this Act and accordingly shall be subjected to the provisions of this Act”.

     

    Section 14(2)(a):

    “There shall be paid and credited to the fund established pursuant to subsection (1) of this section such percentage of fees and levies to be charged by the Commission on the annual income of licensed broadcasting stations owned, established or operated by private individuals, Federal, State or Local Government”.

    Notwithstanding, the foregoing provisions of the Act, I believe that the commission is incompetent to regulate state government-owned radio and television stations in Nigeria. This is because by virtue of Section 40(3) and Item 66 of the Exclusive Legislative List of the 1999 Constitution, the National Assembly itself lacks the power to enact any legislation which purports to regulate such stations. For ease of reference, Item 66 of the Exclusive List provides that the National Assembly may legislate in respect of “wireless, broadcasting and television other than broadcasting and television provided by the Government of a State, allocation of wavelengths for wireless broadcasting and television transmission”.

    It is transparently clear from the foregoing that state government-owned radio and television stations are expressly excluded from the legislative powers of the National Assembly when it comes to regulating radio and television stations in Nigeria.

    The anomaly in the said provisions of the NBC Act vis-à-vis that of Section 4(3) and Item 66 of the Exclusive Legislative List of the Constitution is understandable when placed in historical context. This is because the Act preceded the Constitution, given that it was enacted in 1992, seven years before the 1999 Constitution. That said, however, by virtue of Section 315(1)(a) of the Constitution, the NBC Act – which the Constitution classifies as an existing law –  can only take effect as an Act of the National Assembly subject to two conditions: the first is that it’s subject matter is one in respect of which the National Assembly is empowered by the Constitution to make laws. Secondly, if there is any inconsistency between the Act and any provision of the Constitution, the Act needs to be modified by the appropriate authority (either the President or the National Law Reform Commission), in order to bring it into conformity with the Constitution.

    To the extent that the President (or the National Law Reform Commission) has not modified the said provisions of the NBC Act, 1992, to bring into conformity with Item 66 of the 1999 Constitution, they are ultra vires, invalid, null and void.

    It is imperative that effective action be taken to rectify the said inconsistency between the NBC Act and the 1999 Constitution. This can be achieved through an Executive Bill sponsored by either the President, the Minister of Information, or the National Law Reform Commission, seeking to amend Item 66 of the Exclusive Legislative List of the Constitution, in order to omit references to “State-owned radio and television stations” therein. Alternatively, the aforesaid provisions of the NBC Act may be amended to delete such references, i.e. to state-owned media, therein. Of the two options, I submit that – given our peculiar circumstances – first is preferable.

     

    • Barrister Abubakar D. Sani,

    Abuja.

  • Digital broadcasting: Dangers loom, warns NBC

    The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has warned that in spite of the limitless opportunities digital broadcasting will unleash on the nation, dangers lurk in the corner if the right contents are not developed and made available to the citizens.

    Its Director-General, Is’haq Modibbo Kawu, who gave the warning in Lagos during a summit on Broadcast Content and National Security, said broadcasting regulatory institution such as NBC must be at the cutting edge of developments in the challenging world of 21st Century broadcasting. He expressed the hope that Digital Switch Over (DSO) will be achieved by June, 2017, though it will immediately confront newer challenges that will task institutional abilities.

    He said: “Reflect on a broadcasting scenario with tens upon tens of new television stations (will open services); they will purvey all manners of content, challenging our sensibilities, in ways that we probably cannot even begin to imagine today. Yet, broadcasting in general is not just about the technical realities of studios, transmitters or even the personnel; at its heart is content.

    “But there are potentially negative implications too. In the extreme, there are anti-state forces willing to take advantage of the openings becoming increasingly available to all of us, to subvert national security. “Can broadcast content become an avenue to subvert national security? The possibilities are real, especially with what we have seen of secessionist groups in some parts of the country; they have set up radio stations broadcasting inciting and subversive content. There is also the terrorism of Boko Haram, and its recent efforts to even launch a radio station on the border between Nigeria and Cameroun, as reported in the past month, in the media. These groups are using the internet to post chauvinistic, unpatriotic and often subversive, content. They are contesting the spaces of our national history and seeking to win the minds of the young, with narratives and discourses that challenge our nationhood and wellbeing. As I said, these are the extreme ends of the broadcast content debacle.”

    According to him, the lower end of the stratum is how good old Not to be Broadcast (NTBB) materials have continued to shift in directions that will give the pause to old school broadcasters, adding that in the past content was everything because practitioners then were cultured into a tradition of respect for the ethos of broadcasting; values which seemed to have become increasingly eroded, sadly, as most values have given way at several levels in the country.

    Kawu said the NBC management realised the historic importance of the new phase of DSO; its exciting possibilities and the dangers that might be lurking in the process for national security stressing that the Commission is thinking of resourcefulness and insight that would deal with issues such as religion and ethnicity; family, the home and social well-being; the variety of cultures that waters the streams of national cultures. Others are diversity and mutual respect between individual citizens and people and communities; peaceful conduct; conflicts management; separatist agitations and insurgencies; the straining relations between sedentary farming communities and nomadic communities; problems of education of the young and the exposure to imperialist media content, to mention a few.

  • NBC reiterates commitment to CSR

    The Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) has re-affirmed its commitment to social investment in the host communities through its Back-To-School initiative.

    It said during a media tour of its Ikeja plant in Lagos that over 8,000 pupils in the public primary schools have benefited from the initiative in the last five years.

    Its Director, Legal, Public Affairs and Communication, Mrs Sade Morgan, said the initiative is an indication of one of the ways of partnering with its business environments on shared values.

    Besides, Morgan said NBC under its Water Stewardship Scheme,  was able to achieve a 54 per cent reduction in process water use between 2004 and last year, while it had provided water to over 8,000 households in 14 communities.

    She also said NBC had continued to support the Federal Government’s local content policies, affirming that the company’s products are produced locally.

    Morgan said NBC has also demonstrated its ability to ease the labour market from saturation by engaging 950 suppliers, saying 90 per cent are from the local Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs).

  • Learning from NBC

    Last Thursday, the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) graduated 32 engineers and technicians from its Technical Training Centre (TTC) after undergoing 15-18-month training in mechanical, electrical, pneumatics, and other aspects of engineering.

    It was my third time covering the programme, and as usual, the centre showcased projects the trainees embarked on in the course of the training that had directly impacted the company in terms of cost savings worth millions, and innovations that enhanced productivity.

    I interacted with a trainee, Erakpoweri Ogaga, who informed me that in emergencies, they usually produce parts to replace damaged ones in the equipment used in producing and bottling the soft drinks and juices.

    Instead of experiencing down-time while waiting for the Original Equipment Manufacturing companies to replace damaged parts, the company tasks the trainees to source for materials locally, design and produce the parts for a small fraction of the cost. The trainees deliver and the company remains productive.

    I was impressed when Ogaga told me that they have even produced a part that worked better than the original such that the manufacturer changed its design.

    Ben Langat, NBC Managing Director, said he was impressed by the centre’s contribution to the company’s success. He said this informed the firm’s decision to review the minimum entry qualification into the programme from National Diploma (ND) to Higher National Diploma (HND).

    What the NBC story demonstrates is that we have the capacity to enhance local production and productivity if only we would challenge our youths to do so. The NBC invested in a centre that started out training entry-level technicians at inception in 1996 but found out that these people do so well that they progress to management positions. If they are not absorbed by NBC, which is hardly the case, there are usually other manufacturing concerns ready to grab these well-trained technicians.

    With a dearth of technical expertise among many of our graduates, I believe more private companies in Nigeria should invest in this kind of training. Employers always moan about poor quality of graduates and how much they have to invest in training before they are useful. But NBC is showing us that the investment can be worthwhile and translate into wealth for the company. The TTC trainees don’t just spend the 15-18 months learning theories or case studies; they are given real-life problems to solve for the company. They are almost like a unit of researchers or innovators whose core business is to think and test solutions. As a result, they come up with projects that reduce cost and help the company make more money. Perhaps companies need to learn from NBC on how to design a training programme that achieves both the training objective and help their businesses grow while the trainees are still being trained.

    A second lesson from NBC’s success story is that more than ever before educational training needs to move closer to what obtains in the industry. The drive for profit, impact and larger market share fuels innovations in the business space. These innovations should begin happening on campuses. Consul-General of Germany, Ingo Herbert, said at a function in Lagos that the secret behind his country’s technological success is in the close collaboration between industry and the universities. He said companies give their researches to universities. This is what we want to see happening in Nigeria. If NBC can record success challenging a small set of Nigerian youths yearly, then replicating such template on a larger scale in schools would even birth more innovations.

  • NBC training centre as good as varsity, says MD

    Managing Director of the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC), Mr Ben Langat, has described the training provided by the firm’s Technical Training Centre (TTC) as good as that of a university.

    Langat spoke last Thursday at the 25th graduation of the centre during which 14 Graduate Engineers and 18 technicians graduated after completing 15 and 18 months intensive training programme.

    Langat said the centre was an integral part of the firm’s success, which he said is doing better than some bottlers of the coca cola products even in Europe.

    He said: “Our Technical Training Centre is fundamental to our current business improvement initiatives and a step-change in our processes with an underlying emphasis on efficiency, preserving our quality commitment and mitigating cost drivers in core operational areas,” he said.

    “I remember my first day of coming here, and I said this is a university in the future. When you look at the impact the graduate of this centre has had on our business since they left the centre over the last four years that I have been heading this organisation – you’ve heard from the manufacturing director – that in the lines that we have put in into this business – and it is a lot because we have gone far in this business- all the lines are run by people from this Technical Training Centre only. Nobody else has come from outside this technical training centre.

    “We have had performances that are equal or even above some in Europe in our businesses.  So, which other university do we need?”

    Langat said the success recorded by the centre informed an upgrade of the entry requirement from National Diploma (ND) to HND and the introduction of a separate training for graduate engineers in 2014.

    During the event, the graduate engineers, represented by Tolu Mogaji, presented projects they executed within their training that saved the company millions of naira and expanded its production capacity.

    Head of the TTC, Mr Tope Dada, led Langat and other special guests on a tour of the centre, showcasing various machine parts the technical trainees successfully produced that made the plant run smoothly.

    Erakpoweri Ogaga, a technical trainee, told the visitors how they are regularly challenged to design and fabricate damaged parts of equipment as stop gap measures pending when they are replaced by the manufacturers.

    “Sometimes on the lines, some parts might get damaged.  You don’t need to wait for two weeks for the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) to bring these products.  And you know here, time is money.  So what they do is bring the parts here, we source for the materials locally and we make them.  We do a lot of parts that have been used on the lines.  Like the Styro is the first of its kind.  The design we had initially was too big and expensive.  It was here we derived that if we make it smaller, it is better and it serves the same purpose.  That even gave the OEM a thought.  The new ones they now did are smaller,” he said.

    Corroborating Ogaga, Mr Oyegun Oyetunde, Lighting System Engineer, said: ‘’There are a lot of things they manufacture that help to keep the lines running.  To buy some of these parts from the OEM will run into millions. They are trained to be multi-skilled.”

    The graduates got counsel from various members of the NBC management team, urging them to be determined, hardworking, and adopt the right attitude to work and learning.

    Manufacturing Manager, Mr Anthony Njenga, urged the graduands to go the extra mile in all they do.

    “Never take the easy way out; always find a way to get a learning experience out of every situation,” said Anthony, who also shared how such attitude benefited him as a management trainee.

    Michael Lutz, Manager, Capacity Development, counseled them to continue the legacy set by previous sets of the centre.

    In his speech, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, represented by Dr Ifeoma Igweze-Anyawutaku, underscored the importance of technical and vocational education to economic growth and praised NBC for investing in it.

    “This is indeed a clear demonstration of the company’s firm commitment to manpower development, particularly with regard to local expertise in beverage bottling operations.  By so doing, the company is investing in technical education and training and contributing towards national development,” he said.

    In an interview, Executive Secretary, Lagos State Technical and Vocational Education Board (LASTVEB), Mr Olawumi Gasper, praised NBC for designing a training that improves its business directly.

    “They are doing very well.  This is a project-based, challenge based training,” he said.

    Those among the graduands who distinguished themselves during the programme got prizes.  Adikwu Umoru, was the best graduating trainee engineer (male), while Christian Ipuole was the best graduating trainee technician (male).  Mobola Tubi, who already had a masters before coming to TTC, was the best technical trainee graduate (female), while Ogundele David, won an award for the best behaved as Class Representative for the Technical Trainee Set 30.

     

  • NBC supports health awareness for women

    Nigerian Bottling Company Limited (NBC) has supported two non-governmental organisations, Run for Cure Africa and Endometriosis Support Group Nigeria, in awareness walks against breast cancer and endometriosis.

    The walks, which took place in Lagos, hosted various stakeholders to support women in the community’s fight against these life threatening diseases.

    NBC and Run for a Cure Africa embarked on the walk to raise awareness against breast cancer at the Palms Shopping Mall, Lekki, Lagos.

    NBC’s Managing Director Ben Langat, said: “Women empowerment remains a major factor in economic development in Nigeria and globally. Breast cancer is one of the diseases that negatively impact women, their families, businesses and the nation. This is therefore a major concern and of importance to NBC, as it’s a potential threat to health of women across our value chain.”

    He added that NBC has continuously partnered with communities, identifying women and supporting their socio-economic well-being, who in turn support their families and communities, as one of the ways to make our business sustainable.

    Also, NBC supported the Endometriosis Support Group Nigeria on a walk to create awareness about endometriosis, a condition which affects about 15 per cent of women of reproductive age and can cause infertility among 30-40 per cent of couples in Nigeria.

    Speaking on the health awareness walks, NBC Legal, Public Affairs and Communication Director, Mrs. Sade Morgan, said, ‘NBC is passionate about women empowerment and development. Breast cancer and endometriosis are health issues that affect the socio-economic well-being of women in our society, hence the Company’s support for Run For a Cure Africa and Endometriosis Support Group Nigeria. The message is clear, that early detection is key for survival, and the need to create massive awareness for these two diseases that are preventable and at the same time curable’.

     

  • NBC bans Olamide, Wizkid, Lil Kesh, others

    THE Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, as the body vested with the responsibility of vetting the quality of songs aired on Nigerian media since its establishment in 1991 by the 1992 Act 38, and Act 55 of 1991 as amended, has again placed a ban on some songs from being played on Nigerian media.

    Citing lewdness and debauchery as reasons for censoring the works in question, the organization has put its ‘Not to be broadcast’ label on the following songs by popular Nigerian music acts; Olamide’s Don’t stop, Reminisce’s Tesojue, Naeto C’s Tony Montana featuring D’banj, Phyno’s Yayo ,Wizkid’s In My Bed , Iyanya’s Gift featuring Don Jazzy, Lil Kesh’s Gbese, May D’s Ibadi, Olamide’s Bobo, and Falila Ketan.

    Even though the songs in question are the rave right now, they will not be played on Nigerian television and radio stations, but will continue to air on websites, and cable channels like Sound City, MTV Base, and Hip TV, in addition to clubs, and places f entertainment.

    The Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, in its memos to heads of stations clarified that their labeling reveals how the parastatal rates content.  And says that free to air channels could not therefore air songs that contain profanity, violence, and vulgarity. Furthermore, like the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NBC avers that songs like Davido’s Fans Mi promote ostentatious living, indecent exposure, and drug trafficking.

  • Ex-DG Mba, Udotai deny N10b fraud in NBC

    Ex-DG Mba, Udotai deny N10b fraud in NBC

    A former Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission(NBC), Mr. Emeka Mba and Managing Director, Technology Advisor, Mr. Basil Udotai yesterday denied any N10 billion fraud in the agency.

    They faulted a report of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alleging inflation of collateral funds meant for Digital Set-Top–Boxes.

    Udotai specifically said he offered legitimate legal service to NBC and even paid N500 million as taxes to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

    Mba and Udotai made the clarifications in separate letters to The Nation by their counsel, O.J. Onoja (SAN) ,insisting that no money was missing in NBC.

    The letters reads: “We are the retained solicitors to Mr. Emeka Mba, the erstwhile Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission, (hereinafter referred to as “our client”) and on whose behalf we write to you in respect of the above subject matter.

    Our client’s attention has been drawn to your reckless and malicious publication headlined on the front page of The Nation of Friday, March 4, and also on your online publication of same date with our client’s photograph and titled “EFCC recovers N10b from ex-NBC DG, agency set to arraign Mba, others.

    “The news was also headlined on page 8 of the said publication as “Fraud in NBC: EFCC recovers N10b, set to prosecute ex-DG Mba, three others” in both the print and online publication of the same day under reference. You published or caused to be published the following false and libellous statement against our client as follows:

    ”Our client has noted with disgust and utter disbelief the fact that a widely circulated newspaper of your standing would in the most unprofessional and unethical manner print and circulate the above false statement just to scandalise and malign his reputation without first seeking to hear his side of the story in order to balance the report. The above publication is full of half truth, misleading and utter misrepresentation of facts and our clients believe that the only reason for this quack and sharp journalistic practices and resort to rumour mongering is for selling your papers for commercial ends.

    “The truth is that during the tenure of our client as DG of NBC, no money was missing, lost or stolen by one at the NBC.

    “The NBC in all its transaction followed due processes and acquired appropriate approvals from the its Board of Directors, the then Minister of Information, former minister of Communication Technology and former President Goodluck Jonathan to accelerate the NBC to successfully transit Nigeria to digital broadcasting.

    “Contrary to your false story, there was no  N10billion recovered by the EFCC. The said money was deposited with the Zenith Bank as collateral for letters of guarantee issued by the Bank to manufacturers of set-up-boxes.

    “It was agreed with EFCC that the deposit be terminated and money transferred to EFCC account thereby terminating the contract.

    “Our client is an outstanding public servant with over 25 years experience in the communication and entertainment industries. He is also an administrator and marketing consultants of international repute. The false statement/story cited herein in their natural, ordinary and or inferential meaning or by innuendoes meant and were understood to mean and portray our client as:(a) very corrupt Administrator (b)an undisciplined and disobedient professional; (c) a  criminal not to be trusted; (d) a person unfit to occupy public office; (e) a person investigated, found wanting and to be arraigned for trial.

    “The above publication was widely circulated throughout Nigeria and beyond and read by right thinking members of the public especially our client’s colleagues in the media and entertainment industries, his family and friends who hitherto held him as good father, husband and professional in his field.

    “Some of these people are now distancing themselves from him because of your ill-motivated publication which has exposed him to public ridicule, hatred, contempt, opprobrium and disparagement as they have no means of hearing his own side of the story.”

    On his part, Udotai who explained in addition that he is a legal practitioner of high repute, said the contract for Digital Set-Top –Boxes. was transparent.

    He added: “The entire proposal and the procedure adopted in this transaction by the board of NBC in dealing with our client were approved by the then board of NBC and the former President.

    “Our client from the legal fees it received paid more than N500million to FIRS as taxes. We are therefore amazed as to how an open transaction could be described as a fraud.”

    The EFCC was yet to react to the claims of the two people yesterday.

     

  • Matters arising over sale of spectrum

    Matters arising over sale of spectrum

    The sale of the country’s 700MHz telecommunication spectrum for N34 billion to MTN Nigeria by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has set off a chain of reactions with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) calling for a review of the sale, among others, reports Bukola Aroloye

    Crux of the matter

    NBC had in September sold 700 MHz spectrum to mobile telecommunication outfit, MTN for N34 billion. The NBC is being accused of failing to follow due process in the sale of the high valued spectrum to MTN Nigeria, as well as selling the band far below its true market value.

    According to industry watchers, the N34 billion, which the spectrum was sold to MTN is considered a paltry amount as its true value is said to be in excess of N200 billion, even as it was alleged that Nigeria may have lost N162 billion because of the gross undervaluing of the spectrum.

    The industry watchers further revealed that by law, the NBC as the only regulator for broadcasting companies is also responsible for assigning broadcast frequencies it receives from National Frequency Management Board, NFMB, for private and TV stations.

    The only authority mandated under the Nigerian constitution to allocate spectrum to telephone carriers is the NCC, which is claiming not to be aware of the controversial N34 billion deals.

    The Director-General of National Broadcasting Commission, Mr. Emeka Mba, had at that time clarified why NBC sold the spectrum to MTN.

    He explained that the NBC needed money to finance the country’s Digital Switchover (DSO) project of migrating Nigeria from analogue television broadcasting to digital broadcasting by June 2017, hence the sale to MTN.

    However, the Nigerian Communication Commission, NCC, claimed ignorance of the deal, stressing that the value at which the spectrum was sold was far below what it ought to have been sold.

    The Nation learnt that the NBC is allegedly awash with reports of sharp practices, especially following the sale of the frequency spectrum for broadcast to the MTN.

     

    NCC’s studied silence

    Executive Vice Chairman, Professor Umar Dambatta, of the Nigeria Communication Commission, has informed that the NCC will not publicly engage NBC. While acknowledging the fact that there is an issue, he argues matter-of-factly that that approach may not be right.

    “NCC will not publicly engage NBC, even though it is under a different ministry, because we don’t think it is the right approach. The Frequency Management Council, which is a very important organ of government that has a representation from the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology as well as the Communication Technology Ministry, will look into the matter,” Danbatta said in a statement released by the NCC.

    “The Frequency Management Council, which is a very important organ of government that has a representation from the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology as well as the Communication Technology Ministry, will look into the matter,” he said.

    Danbatta said the Commission was considering seeking new ways of moving MTN to the upper range of that frequency, which is not up to 700MHz.

    “The upper range for broadcasting is 694MHz that will free the 700MHz spectrum for use to facilitate communication services. That is the approach we intend to adopt to resolve the matter and I have spoken with the NBC on this and they have expressed readiness to come to the Commission to talk about it so that we can together be able to fashion out a way forward that will be devoid of any acrimony or rancour which normal Nigerians are used to when issues of this nature come up,” Danbatta said.

    Commenting on the NCC disapproval of the N34 billion MTN spectrum deal at a press conference, Chief Abel Danladi, one of the stakeholders, urged the Federal Government to ensure that the NBC complied with the spectrum policy on 700 mgHz and procurement guideline.

    He said the NCC reaction to the N34 billion MTN-NBC deal provided additional indication of the undue influence and interference of the South African telecom and broadcast monopolists in the nation’s digital broadcast industry in order to acquire domineering leverage comparable to their ownership and control of the GSM and cable TV sector in Nigeria.

    Danladi observed that the unfolding intransigence of the MTN over the brazen violation of the NCC policy on deactivation of pre-registered and unregistered lines which earned it a hefty fine necessitates national security concerns and measures to reserve the commanding heights of all strategic business operations for Nigerian investors.

    Investigation by The Nation revealed that there had been silence at the telecoms regulator office over the sales of 700 megahertz spectrum by the broadcasting regulator.

    But it was learnt that NCC was worried that the decision by NBC to monopolise the spectrum band would have negative implication in the telecoms sector.

    Nigeria missed the transition in June last  year, with the NBC citing lack of fund from the Federal Government as reason for its inability to join the countries that were able to effect the digital switch as stipulated by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

     

    NBC’s defence

    Reacting to the development, Emeka Mba, Director General of the NBC said the corporation actually got permission from the right authority before embarking on the transactions.

    Mba, who said the 700MHz is for broadcast added that NBC does not advertise and the issue in contention” was given to the highest bidder after due process was taken.”

    According to the NBC boss,”700MHZ is not telecoms spectrum. It’s still broadcast spectrum until after Digital Switch Over,” he said, adding that approval was sought and received to raise revenue to pursue DSO by licensing commercially a portion of the digital dividend spectrum for converged broadcast services.

    Speaking in an in an interview in Lagos, Mba said in the long run, the Federal Government would also receive N100 billion income from spectrum sales.

    He said: “When it became obvious that government could not spare the money, and in order to avoid missing another deadline, we began to consider other options. Our broadcast frequency, which is to eventually form part of the digital dividend after the Digital Switch-over (DSO), had portions of it laying fallow while our broadcasters were still using part of it.

    “We, therefore, proposed and got proper permission from government to license part of our spectrum lying fallow and to use the proceeds to finance the DSO,” he stressed.

     

    EFCC to the rescue

    The Federal Government may review the 700MHz spectrum license sale following the ongoing probe into the activities of the NBC.

    As a sign of things to come, Mba was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly operating a secret account into which about N17billion out of N34bn paid by MTN Nigeria for the 700MHz license was kept.

    Part of the reasons for his arrest was a petition written by some aggrieved broadcast and telecoms industries players to EFCC alleging that Mba contravened due process in the spectrum sale to MTN, according to a source.

    Already, the Frequency Management Council (FMC) is reviewing the spectrum sale and the ongoing probe of NBC may provide the ground for its cancellation, the source, who is a top government official.

    The FMC which has a representation from the ministries of science and technology and communication was said to have given NBC the nod to sale the spectrum to MTN during twilight of Goodluck Jonathan administration.

    But some telecoms and broadcast firms who felt the deal was not transparent later kicked against the sale when the President Muhammadu Buhari administration came on board.

    Many troubles for NCC

    Just as the dust over the sale of the spectrum is yet to settle, a communication company, Pinnacle Communications Limited, has dragged the NBC and five other defendants before a Federal High Court in Abuja for issuing the same license it claimed to have won to a foreign competitor.

    In the suit marked, FHC/ABJ/2014 the plaintiff named the NBC, Mba, Attorney General of the Federation, AGF; MTS Communications; Details Nigeria Limited and NTA-Star Network Ltd as first to sixth defendants.

    The firm’s counsel, Joseph Daudu (SAN) complained that after the plaintiff won the sole bid for the distribution of broadcast signals, the NBC allegedly issued licences to other companies in that regard.

    According to Daudu, “Pinnacle had been given a licenses and the license has been compromised by the NBC who issued multiple licenses, thereby making the licence to Pinnacle unprofitable.

    “The court is to decide whether the action of the NBC is right or wrong. We have an injunction to stop the NBC from going forward with issuing license to other companies.’’

  • NBC restates commitment to investment, facility upgrade

    NBC restates commitment to investment, facility upgrade

    Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) Limited has stated its commitment to focused investments and upgrade of its manufacturing facilities in Nigeria. In a recent company statement during an engagement session with its major stakeholders, the Acting Head, Public Affairs and Communication, NBC Limited, Mrs. Sade Morgan, said that the Company is upgrading its manufacturing operations, and the Ilorin facility is being transformed to become a world class material handling and logistics hub.

    “The restreaming of NBC’s operations in Ilorin is part of an on-going Accelerated Investment Plan, aimed at doubling production capacity by 2020, to better satisfy our customers and markets. Whilst manufacturing activities have ceased within the facility, the Company will continue to carry out logistics and commercial operations from that location, making it a major and expanded full-fledged depot and material handling facility,” Morgan stated.

    She said that the demand for Coca-Cola products is high and growing, and in a bid to meet up with the sales projection trajectory in a competitive environment, more production lines are being installed in some of our existing manufacturing facilities, most of which will be new. The new Ilorin depot facility, when completed, is expected to support new and upgraded production lines in the region to deliver our products more efficiently and effectively to yearning customers and dealers within the South-West Region and beyond, in an environmentally sustainable way.

    NBC Limited is partnering with communities on its shared values of water stewardship, youth development and women empowerment. Collaborating with state governments, supporting female entrepreneurs with trade asset financing and business training for women entrepreneurs in the Coca-Cola value chain remains a top priority and a strategic part of the company annual business plan.