Terrorism Report: NBC Slams Trust TV with N5 Million Fine

By Uche Mbah

Trust Television, a Station owned by the Daily Trust Group, has been slammed with a fine of five million Naira by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) for airing a documentary on banditry and terrorism in North west of the country.

Though the documentary, titled ‘Nigeria’s Banditry: The Inside Story’,was aired in March, Government appeared to have acted following a recent documentary  by the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC. BBC African Eye, which aired its own documentary on Zamfara state recently.

The BBC documentary was titled ‘The Bandit Warlords of Zamfara’

Trust Television was punished retroactively with the BBC for what the National Broadcating Commission, NBC, called “glorifying terrorism”.

The TV station in a statement Wednesday, said the the punitive measure was conveyed in a letter dated August 3.

“The NBC, in a letter to our company dated August 3, 2022, which was signed by its Director General, Balarabe Shehu Illela, said the fine was imposed on Trust TV because its broadcast of the said documentary contravened sections of the National Broadcasting Code,” the statement reads.

“While we are currently studying the Commission’s action and weighing our options, we wish to state unequivocally that as a television station, we believe we were acting in the public interest by shedding light on the thorny issue of banditry and how it is affecting millions of citizens of our country.

“The documentary traces the root of the communal tensions and systemic inadequacies which led to the armed conflict that is setting the stage for another grand humanitarian crisis in Nigeria.

“It presents insights into the intersection of injustice, ethnicity and bad governance as drivers of the conflict.

“It also aggregates voices of experts and key actors towards finding solutions, including those of the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Senator Saidu Mohammed Dansadau, who hails from one the worst hit communities in Zamfara state.”

The Minister for Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed had said a few days ago that the FG would punish both Trust TV and the BBC for airing the documentaries.