NBC Has No Business With Banning Songs – Modibbo-Kawu

Music Should Provide Positive Message To Listeners

The Director-General of the National Broadcasting Corporation, Ishaq Modibbo-Kawu, has revealed that the commission does not ban songs.

He also further clarified that Nigerians must understand the statutory mandate of the NBC.

Naija News gathered he spoke against the backdrop of the recent ban on lyrics of “This is Nigeria” song by Falz and the controversies the action has been generating.

“It is important to let Nigerians understand that NBC does not ban any song. “I read on social media platforms all the time that NBC banned a song;  the commission never bans any song. “What NBC does all the time is to remind our licensees that there are certain categorisation of music that are important in broadcasting. “If a song is categorised, “Not To Be Broadcast” (NTBB) because of the lyrics of the song, then, we will remind the broadcasters that they cannot be broadcast.

“This is what it is misinterpreted in the social media that we banned the song,” he said.

The director general also refuted claims that NBC against certain songs based on a petition by a faith-based human rights organisation, Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), stating that the commission would not infringe on any artistic right, liberty or licence.

“Last week,  I issued a press release to urge Nigerian artistes to have different versions of their songs.

“They should do a version that can be used for public broadcast space and another version for club usage which can carry all kinds of lyrics that they want. “If they want their songs to be broadcast on radio and television in Nigeria, these songs must conform to rules and must be songs that young people can listen to,” he said.

“The truth of the matter is that 75 per cent of our population is under the age of 35 while 63 per cent is under the age of 25, so we have a younger population.”If you go on Youtube, Olamide song, “Wo” has over 10 million hits.” That tells  you the kind of influence these young artistes have on all our children in the country.

“They should help to orientate the young people on the right values.

“If their songs celebrate sex, violence, the use of drugs, alcohol and fraud, then they are not helping in the moulding of young people

“We believe that the young generation who listen to them can be guided through the use of their artistic works to play functional social purposes in the society.”