The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has dismissed an appeal filed by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), challenging a Federal High Court judgment that restricted the commission from imposing fines on broadcast stations.
In its ruling, Justice Jane Esienanwan Inyang held that the appeal was “fundamentally defective” and therefore incompetent, leading the court to strike it out without considering the substantive issues raised.
The case stems from a January 17, 2024 judgment delivered by Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which restrained the NBC from enforcing N5 million fines imposed on several broadcast stations in 2022. The sanctions were issued over allegations that the affected media organisations undermined national security by airing documentaries on banditry and insecurity in Nigeria.
The broadcasters involved in the dispute included Multichoice Nigeria Limited, owners of DStv, TelCom Satellite Limited (TSTV), Trust TV Network Limited, and NTA StarTimes Limited. The case was filed by Media Rights Agenda (MRA), a media rights organisation that challenged the legality of the fines.
Delivering judgment at the appellate court, Justice Inyang noted a key inconsistency in the appeal documents. She observed that while the respondent in the Federal High Court proceedings was listed as the “National Broadcasting Commission,” the notice of appeal referred to the appellant as the “Nigerian Broadcasting Commission.”
The court held that this discrepancy was not a mere technical error but a fundamental defect that affected jurisdiction.
“The notice of appeal is the foundation of an appeal and a condition precedent to the exercise of appellate jurisdiction by this court,” Justice Inyang stated.
On that basis, the court dismissed the appeal.
The decision represents another setback for the NBC in its ongoing legal battles over its authority to sanction broadcast stations. In April 2026, the Court of Appeal had also dismissed a separate appeal by the commission in a related case restricting its power to impose fines.
Earlier, in May 2023, the Federal High Court in Abuja ruled that the NBC lacked the legal authority to directly impose monetary penalties on media organisations without judicial oversight.
The controversy over the commission’s sanctioning powers dates back several years, including a March 2019 decision in which the NBC fined 45 broadcast stations N500,000 each for alleged violations of the Nigerian Broadcasting Code during general elections.
At the time, former NBC Director-General Is’haq Kawu defended the sanctions, saying they were issued for ethical breaches and regulatory violations.
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