Nigeria To Sanction BBC And Daily Trust For Documentaries On Terrorism 

“The Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) are aware and are looking at which part of the broadcasting codes have been violated by both the BBC and the Daily Trust,” the minister said.

By Omotayo Olutekunbi

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Daily Trust will face punishment, according to the federal government, for their films on terrorism and banditry in Nigeria.

Lai Mohammad, the minister of media and culture, said this, On July 27, 2022, in Abuja.

The Bandit Warlords of Zamfara, a 50-minute documentary by the BBC Africa Eye, was released on Monday, July 25, 2022. It gave viewers an inside look at the mindset of bandit kingpins, the booming kidnap-for-ransom business, and how Zamfara’s insecurity may have been a result of the ethnic conflict between the Hausa and Fulani groups.

A special report and documentary about banditry in Nigeria were published in March by Daily Trust TV, a division of Daily Trust Newspaper. In the documentary, non-state actors like Bello Turji were interviewed.

Turji, also known as Bello Kachalla, is a prominent bandit chief who operates in northern Nigeria, mainly in the states of Zamfara, Sokoto, and Niger.

“All I can say is that there is a regulatory body, the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and they are also aware of these incidents and are looking at which part of the broadcasting codes have been violated by both the BBC and the Daily Trust,” the minister said.

“But I can assure you that there will be consequences. For those who will argue that BBC is a foreign broadcaster and as such, it is not licensed by NBC, let me assure you, they will not get away with this naked glorification of terrorism and banditry in Nigeria.

“I have said it many times here that the media is the oxygen that the terrorists and bandits need to breathe. When other reputable platforms like BBC now give their platform to terrorists, showing their faces as if they are Nollywood stars, what does that means? I want to assure them they won’t get away with it. There are sanctions to be meted on both the BBC and the Daily Trust.”