PART A: THE GOVERNANCE ENVIRONMENT
The absence of an official policy, one that is openly known and understood by all, is the major huddle in the development of community radio in the country. Community radio stations rely on a series of legal, political and economic conditions to flourish. The absence of some or all of these conditions often renders them less effective at engaging their communities in development initiatives. Since community radio stations necessarily collaborate with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the work of seeking and affecting social and political changes at the grassroot, legislative and policy frameworks that provide citizens incentives to contribute to these entities can contribute greatly to a radio station's financial and institutional sustainability.
This is why attention to evolving the right and most progressive policies are of the utmost concern. In its preliminary study of the phenomenon of community radio stations around the globe, the World Bank found out that stations almost always struggle to gain legal recognition from governments that monopolized media ownership and forced them to choose between shutting down or operating illegally, many of whom then chose to operate clandestinely. Sadly however, their "underground" status impinges on their capacity to provide services to the community, access donor funds, or develop their capacities particularly in the area of training.
Governments all over the region respond to community radio stations in different forms. Currently, Nigeria is the only example where no policies exist at all in support of their development. In others, like in Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Benin, Ghana and Niger, the policies are relatively liberal with narrowly defined restrictions only in the direction of operations rather than on conditions of entry. In some countries too, the concern for religious harmony in the community tend to attract language in the policy that sets specific benchmarks on how the stations must operate. Sometimes the language is rendered so appropriately that it can lead to social benefits at the community level but, depending on the sensibilities of the authors, the language can also mystify reality. In Niger for instance, over zealous officials inserted into an earlier version of the radio policy that community stations must not broadcast sports programs!
How governments also handle deregulation philosophies often pose legal challenges for community-based institutions. The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) Acts are classic examples of this challenge where the issuance of licences is based on pure market considerations. The current process of issuance of broadcasting licences gives community radio stations little chance to compete against wealthy commercial media companies. In fact the existing policy framework provides no room for the licensing or establishment of community radio. In section 2 (2) the National Broadcasting Commission Act states that “no person shall use or operate any apparatus or premises for the transmission of sound or vision by cable, television or cable satellite or any other medium of Broadcast from anywhere in Nigeria except under and in accordance with the provision of this Decree,” but the Act makes no room for community radio. Under the same current legal regime, any person intending to apply for a radio license in any category must first incorporate a limited liability company, with Nigerians holding majority of shares. An applicant for a license is also required to submit to the NBC certified true copies of its articles and Memorandum of Association.
Lessons from sister nations like the Republic of Benin and the Republic of South Africa will be useful guides in charting a way out of the situation. Both countries have essentially shown how to overcome the problem by separating access to licenses from economic power in their regulatory policies. They have also shown example in defining specific places for the community broadcaster in the national media environment, and reserving spectrum frequencies for them in the electromagnetic corridor.
The current Nigerian licensing requirements present an impossible situation for any community, non-governmental organization or community-based organization seeking license to own community radio station. Usually, communities or community-based organizations (CBOs) and other non-profit organization which desire a legal incorporation are registered under a trusteeship with the corporate affairs commission and do not have Articles or Memorandum of Association. In effect, therefore, communities and non-governmental organizations which are not – for - profit cannot apply for licenses to own and operate community radio stations or any other type of radio station since they are not incorporated as limited liability companies.
A prospective applicant must fill in and return an application form, which is purchased for 50,000 Naira ($373) to the Secretary to the commission. The applicant should provide in the form how the license is to be utilized, for example whether for radio, television, opened or scrambled broadcast, or cable/satellite retransmission. The application is then processed by the Commission’s staff and who make a recommendation to the board of the commission. The Board then sends its recommendation through the Minister of Information to the President who gives the final approval.
In setting out the criteria for allocation of licences, Section 9(1) of Act No. 38 set require that the applicant should be a Corporate Body registered by the corporate Affairs Commission in accordance with the provision of the Companies Allied Matters Act, unless its is a station owned by the Federal or State Government. Other matters which the commission may take into account in determining whether an applicant should be granted a license are the structure of shareholding in the broadcasting organization, the number of share holding in the broadcasting organization, the number of share holding that the applicant has in other media establishment, and the distribution of those stations and establishments as between urban, rural, commercial or other categorization.
In addition, the applicant must be able to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Commission that he is not applying on behalf of any foreign interest, that he can comply with the objectives of the National Mass Commission Policy as applicable to radio and television and that he would ensure that the licensed station” shall not be used to offend the religious sensibilities or promote ethnicity, sectionalism, hatred and disaffection among the people of Nigeria”.
Once a license application is approved by the President, the successful applicant pays for the license before an appropriate frequency is allocated. The NBC has three categories of license fees: Category one is applicable in key urban locations; Category 2 applies to semi-urban locations while Category 3 applies in rural locations. For radio licenses, the fee for category 1 is 20 million Naira (about $150,000); for category 2 the fee is 15 million Naira (about $112,000); and for category 3 the fee is 10 million Naira (about $75,000).
This fee structure does not take into account the fact that broadcasters may use transmitters with varying strength and capacity. In effect therefore, a small community radio in an area classified as urban will be required to pay 20 million naira (about $150,000) just for the license alone. Ironically, these rates apply only to privately owned stations, while stations owned by the government pay a flat fee of 50,000 naira (about $373) regardless of location or type of station.
The main problem with the rates for privately owned stations, which is the category that community radio would fall into, is that they make it extremely difficult for such small and non-profit entities to stand a chance to win their bids. As if all these are not enough, all licenses are issued for five years in the first instance and if unused in two years they are revoked. The license renewal process too is like a journey to heaven, a journey that requires a team of highly sophisticated accountants, lawyers and engineers, the very capacities that community stations cannot afford.
For instance, this is how the requirements go: station must clear all its outstanding financial and administrative obligations to the NBC, including a requirement that each station pays 2.5 percent of their gross turnover to the commission as annual charges. Stations would have demonstrated strict compliance with the provision of the National Broadcasting code. This Code imposes stern rules on the content of what may be broadcast, regarding national cohesion and security, respect for human dignity and values, accuracy, objectivity and fairness, the right of reply, good taste and decency and so on. A renewal applicant is also required to submit to the NBC its statement of account from the period covered by its previous licence, along with 15 copies of its licence renewal application form and a feasibility report of the period for which the renewal is sought. In addition, the applicant must submit a detailed report on its compliance with its statement of intent in its original licence application, as well as a report on its compliance with the relevant provisions of the Third Schedule to Act No 38.
To all these, the stations are also required to submit to the NBC in advance a quarterly programme schedules accompanied by a synopsis of the programmes listed. This will obviously be a difficult requirement for a typical community radio. The stations are also required to submit a description of their compliance with local programme content rules and daily station log books of transmitted programmes, transmitter output power and radiating frequencies. Broadcasters must also make available for inspection by the Commission staff, their broadcast facilities including equipment, facilities, financial records and station log books. This requires a high level of professionalism, which will unreasonably raise the cost of operation of community radio stations.
Given this legal environment, it is clear that the present situation in Nigeria is not conducive for the establishment of community radio stations and would require substantial reform.
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