THE National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has condemned the use of children in political advertisements by broadcast stations.
Director-General of the NBC Balarabe Ilelah frowned at the practice during a stakeholders’ meeting on Saturday, February 11, in Abuja.
Ilelah said the NBC has observed that children are bring used by politicians in broadcast advertising contrary to the provisions of Section 7.7.1(d) of the Broadcast Code.
He also expressed concern at how sponsors, producers and broadcasters rely on foreign content for children’s programmes, especially cartoons.
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He said, “Instead of developing local content, some broadcasters still rely on foreign children’s content, particularly cartoons which often are laced with themes of violence and immorality.”
Ilelah further lamented that broadcast stations deliberately violate the provisions of Chapter Four of the NBC Code.
“NBC is deeply concerned about how some provisions under Chapter Four of the NBC Code are being ignored or deliberately violated by broadcast outfits.
“Let me refer you to Section 4.2.2 (k) which requires broadcasters to devote at least 10 per cent of their total airtime to children programmes.
“This provision is grossly violated as the Commission had clearly established this through programme audits it regularly undertakes,” he added.
The NBC director-general urged stakeholders to critically appraise the performance of broadcasters in children programming to come up with a holistic policy direction.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: [email protected]. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M