Monitoring

DIRECTORATE OF BROADCAST MONITORING 

The Directorate of Broadcast Monitoring can be referred to as the engine room that works with other directorates to deliver the Commission’s mandate of broadcast regulation in Nigeria.

The Directorate is made up of 10 Zonal Offices and 24 state offices:

The Commission plans to open up state offices in all states of the federation and particularly large areas where there is no NBC presence.

ZONES	STATE OFFICES
ABUJA	ILORIN, LOKOJA, MINNA, LAFIA
BENIN	AKURE, SAPELE, AUCHI
ENUGU	ONITSHA, UMUAHIA, OWERRI
IBADAN	OSHOGBO, ABEOKUTA
JOS	BAUCHI, JALINGO, MAKURDI
KADUNA	KANO, KATSINA, JIGAWA
LAGOS	-
MAIDUGURI	YOLA, GOMBE
SOKOTO	GUSAU, BIRNIN KEBBI
UYO	PORT HARCOURT, CALABAR, YENAGOA

 

As at January 2018, we have 260 Monitoring Officers saddled with the responsibility of monitoring 524 terrestrial (free to air) broadcast stations, 7 DTH,( Direct to Home) 2 pay Subscription Terrestrial and of course, Digital Terrestrial free to air stations in States that have gone digital such as Plateau, FCT, Enugu, Kaduna, Kwara and Osun States.

The following are distribution of monitoring officers across the country and shown as follows:-

S/N	LOCATION	NO. OF MONITORING OFFICERS	NO. OF STATIONS
1	Headquarters	8	-
2	Abuja Zone	38	70
3	Benin Zone	22	62
4	Enugu Zone	34	72
5	Ibadan Zone	22	67
6	Jos Zone	29	30
7	Kaduna Zone	32	79
8	Lagos Zone	16	41
9	Maiduguri Zone	17	29
10	Sokoto Zone	16	17
11	Uyo Zone	29	57
	GRAND TOTAL	263	524

 

At the headquarters, the Directorate staff-strength is 20.

In order to ensure quality broadcasts that comply with the provisions of the Nigeria Broadcast Code, the Directorate carries out the following broad functions:

CORE FUNCTIONS OF THE DIRECTORATE

 

Section 2(d):        of the Act regulating and controlling the

                           Broadcasting industry.

 

Section 2(h):        establish and dissemination of a national

Broadcast Code and setting standards with regards to contents and quality of materials for broadcast.

 

Section 2(m):       Monitoring for harmful emission.

1       Monitoring: the Directorate monitors broadcasts through the ten Zonal Offices established by the Commission. Actions taken on erring stations includes, letters of admonition and warnings and/or sanctions imposed on stations that fail to comply with the provisions of the broadcast code. Further actions are sometimes taken by the Directorate from the Headquarters on recalcitrant stations.

2       Analysis of Monitoring Reports: Monitoring Reports from Zones are further analyzed to ensure that the right actions care taken or for further action. From these analysis, breach profiles of stations are usually compiled and published for data, information gathering and to ensure compliance of the rules.  The directorate meets every week to analyse reports from the ten zones and also interacts with Zonal directors.

3       Training of Broadcast stations: In order to sensitize broadcasters and sanitize the broadcast industry, the directorate organizes trainings for broadcast stations on important areas in broadcasts. For instance, in 2017, the directorate organized political workshops in states where elections were held few months to election and the Commission yielded positive results from such programmes.

 

This year, the directorate has in its work plan several workshops on political broadcasts to sensitize stations operatives to eschew the use of hateful comments, uphold fairness and balance in their broadcast. The directorate also plans to organise workshops for Pay-TV operators, Summit on Musical Works for broadcasts, Workshops on trado-medical advertisements, and workshop on children programming.

For 2019 General Elections, the Directorate organized series of National Workshop on Political Broadcasts, in Enugu, Sokoto, Lagos and Abuja.

 A Zonal workshop on political broadcast was also held in Ekiti State on 7^th June, 2018 and Osun was held on the 24^th July, 2018.

4       Training for Monitoring Officers: The Directorate organizes training for Monitoring Officers to equip them in their duties. The directorate also plans to train her staff in the directorate cadre on comparative broadcast regulation by exposing them to other broadcast regulatory agencies as the nation matches into the digital era.

5       Meeting with Zonal Directors: In a bid to communicate effectively and to understand the yearnings of stations under the purview of the Zones, the directorate holds quarterly meetings with Zonal directors. New trends in broadcast regulations and constraints faced by Zonal staff are usually discussed at such meetings.

6       Publication of Breach Profile:  The directorate publishes breach profiles of stations that contravene the provisions of the code, quarterly.  These profiles are published on the NBC Social Media Accounts, the Commission’s website and other relevant platforms in collaboration with Public Affairs.

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