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Armstrong’s strong arm tactics threaten Nigeria’s $1bn broadcasting industry
Jul 7, 2020
In October 2016, Information Minister Lai Mohammed stood before an audience at the Biennial Conference of African Broadcasters (Africast) in Abuja and declared proudly that policies governing Nigeria’s broadcast media space would shortly see it exceed $1bn in annual revenues. From the first entry of private capital into the space following deregulation in 1992, Nigeria now boasts almost 900 radio and television stations, a number the minister said would grow as the current administration’s digitisation policy bears fruit.
Less than four years after making this statement, a parastatal under Lai Mohammed’s supervision is pushing through a piece of regulation that promises to completely upend the basis of the Nigerian broadcast industry and destroy his projection of a thriving billion-dollar industry. The Acting Director General of the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Armstrong Idachaba recently announced a new set of amendments to its broadcasting code that will in one fell swoop demolish the intellectual property rights that underpin broadcasting and kill the business model of the Nigerian broadcast ecosystem, effectively turning it into an appendage of the government.
Notable amendment highlights
The new code prevents licensees from entering exclusive broadcast agreements with content providers, This means that TV and radio stations will no longer be able to utilise first mover advantage in identifying content and licensing it for their exclusive use, because their competitors will also by law be able to use said content.
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