NBC and the challenge of pirate broadcasters

She added that the commission was working with security operatives to get those behind the radio, “because it is an illegal radio, and not licensed by anybody to be on the airwaves in Nigeria”.  Hours after her briefing, operators of the radio station pooh-poohed the statement, just as listeners in the South-East claimed that the […]

She added that the commission was working with security operatives to get those behind the radio, “because it is an illegal radio, and not licensed by anybody to be on the airwaves in Nigeria”. 

Hours after her briefing, operators of the radio station pooh-poohed the statement, just as listeners in the South-East claimed that the station had not gone off air.  Days later, NBC’s Director General, Mr Emeka Mba, said the commission had stopped the transmission of signals of ‘radio Biafra’. Mr Mba also said the station’s operators had been arrested.

“Working with security operatives, the commission has also tracked down, neutralized and confiscated transmitter equipment from several locations in the region. Some suspects involved in the illicit broadcasts have also been arrested and taken to Abuja for questioning and prosecution. The commission also worked with other agencies to remove the transmissions of the illegal station from the satellite, and this has put paid to the divisive and disruptive transmissions,” he said.

In a statement, Mba also acknowledged concerns that “the seditious activities of the illegal ‘Biafra radio’ transmitting hate-messages that are unfortunately designed to create disunity among Nigerians and mislead young people are a deliberate act of subversion.”

Again, hours after Mba spoke, people in some parts of the country said they heard the radio still broadcasting with the head of the channel, one Nnamdi Kanu, said to be receiving calls from listeners and mocking the government. He said the ‘antics of the government’ were making the station even more popular. “Nothing can stop us and we are moving higher,” he bragged.

Now, it is time for the NBC and the government to get their acts together and nip this embarrassing problem in the bud before it escalates. 

It calls to question whether the NBC has the technical competence and dedicated personnel to do the work of tracing broadcast signals to their location. Jamming radio signals may not be such a big deal; but locating the broadcast equipment and destroying them, which could solve the problem, might require a more technical surveillance and then interdiction. If indeed it is true that the station is still broadcasting, like it claims, then there is a major gap in the electronic security broadcasting system, just as it is a huge indictment on the NBC. It shows that it is ill-equipped for its task as a regulator.  

 This episode is a timely reminder for the NBC to be properly funded to acquire the monitoring equipment it requires in performing its functions properly.   The corporation must understand its huge responsibility and take it seriously. 

There also appears to be some tolerance for the seditious conduct of the pirate radio operators among some government officials in the region, as some reports suggested that last year some of them produced car number plates and composed what they said was their ‘national anthem’ and even, brazenly, hoisted their ‘country’s flag’ at the Enugu Government House. Following that development, security agents ought to have been alerted to a more serious threat brewing, and the subversive activities of a few people would have been curtailed.

The country is already battling with one problem in the North East, and another in the Niger delta; it cannot afford another in any part of the country. A decisive action must be taken now.   This was how the misguided secessionist movement began in 1967, and only ended with its bloody consequences and a terrible toll. Never again must this generation go through another of such cataclysmic episodes.   

Political, community and religious leaders in the region should hold town hall meetings where the agitation of the youths for empowerment and sustenance will be put on the table and discussed and a resolution found. The many unemployed youths, most unable to attend school and facing an uncertain future, are prey to people like operators of the pirate station on the lookout for idle hands. Governments of states in the region must find an alternative focus for this raw but untapped talent and channel it to productive endeavours.