News

Court Declines MultiChoice’s Plea To Stop NBC From Auditing Company’s Account

Published

1 year ago

May 24, 2024

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday, refused to grant an application filed by MultiChoice Nigeria Ltd, seeking an interim order restraining the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) from requesting any financial, accounting, or tax documents from them.

Justice James Omotosho, in a ruling on the ex-parte motion moved by the applicant’s counsel, Moyosore Onigbanjo, SAN, rather directed all parties, in the interest of justice, not to take any step that could make the outcome of the suit nugatory.

Although the ruling was delivered on Wednesday, its certified true copy was sighted on Friday.

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“The ex-parte order for Interim Injunction dated 8th day of May 2024 and filed 16th day of May, 2024 is hereby refused,” he declared.

Justice Omotosho then adjourned the matter until May 30 for a hearing of the motion on notice.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that MultiChoice Nigeria Limited and Details Nigeria Limited, a provider of the subscription-based digital terrestrial television service, known as GOtv, are 1st and 2nd applicants.

In the ex-parte motion marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/652/2024 dated May 8 and filed May 16 by their lawyer, they sued NBC as sole respondent.

The applicants sought three reliefs, including an order of interim injunction, restraining NBC from carrying out any investigations of the companies for the purposes of determining their annual income or NBC levy for the years between 2014 and 2024 pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.

They sought an order of interim injunction restraining the NBC from requesting, demanding and or receiving any financial, accounting or tax documents from the companies other than the annual audited accounts of the companies already submitted to the commission.

They said this was in pursuant to Section 2 (10) (b) of the NBC Code 6th Edition for the purposes of determining her remittance of NBC levy for the 2014 to 2024 years of account pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.

They equally prayed an order of interim injunction restraining the commission from sanctioning, fining or suspending the companies’ license pursuant to the threats contained in its letter dated April 29 to them, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.

In the affidavit deposed to by the companies’ Head of Compliance, Gozie Onumonu, he averred that the firms were mandated under the various NBC Codes to pay a certain percentage of their income as annual NBC levy to the respondent.

He said that the current code; NBC Code 6th Edition, provides for 2.5% of the income of a broadcaster to be paid to the respondent yearly as annual NBC levy while the erstwhile code which was amended in 2019 provides for 1.5% of the income of a broadcaster to be paid to the defendant yearly as annual levy.

He claimed that the companies had never defaulted in paying their annual levy to the commission.

“Income as provided by the NBC Code 6th Edition is not defined neither is it defined in any other previous editions nor in the NBC Act 2004.

“As a result of the lack of definition of what an income is, there was a dispute between the applicants and the respondent in the year 2014 whether income should be turnover or revenue minus cost of production.

“After due negotiations, meetings, etc., between the applicants and the respondent, it was agreed by the applicants and respondent that income should be revenue minus cost of production.

“In the year 2014, when the applicants subtracted the cost of production from their revenue in order to arrive at the then 1.5 per cent required of the applicants under the NBC Code 5th Edition, what was left for the applicants to pay to the defendant in compliance with the 1.5% requirement of the NBC Code 5th Edition was negligible.

“The amount the respondent would have been entitled to, from the applicants as annual NBC levy between 2014 to 2019 if the applicants were to strictly pay the 1.5% annual NBC levy provided by the 5th Edition of the Code was small and the respondent might not be able to carry out its administrative functions in view of its financial needs.

“Specifically, in the year 2014 and 2015, the amount that would have been due to the defendant as 1.5% of the annual income of the 1st applicant was N2.1 million (N2,167,254)

“As a result, the respondent beseeched the applicants to consent to the payment of a fixed sum of N500 million (N500,000,000) as annual levy for the applicants’ licence period of 2014 to 2019 the sum of which was far more than what the plaintiffs were supposed to be paying to the respondent if the applicants were to pay only the 1.5 per cent of their annual income as provided by the NBC Code.

“For the years 2014 to 2019 that the respondent wants to carry out the investigation to verify whether the applicants paid up to 2.5% of their annual incomes as annual NBC levy, the operational NBC Code then was the NBC Code, 5th Edition and it requires broadcaster to pay 1.5% of their annual incomes as annual levy,” he said.

Onumonu, who said the companies had already submitted a certified true copy of their audited account for the previous year(s) to NBC, said the commission was paid over N12 billion (N12, 490, 000, 0000) as annual levy from 2014 to date.

The officer described NBC’s action as an abuse of power, urging the court to grant their plea in the interest of justice.
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News

How Sound Sultan’s Death Affected My Music Career – Seyi Shay

Published

2 hours ago

September 15, 2025

Editor

Nigerian singer and songwriter, Seyi Shay has opened up about the impact of her mentor, Sound Sultan’s death on her career.

She revealed that after Sound Sultan passed away in 2021, she lost the zeal to continue music.

Shay further explained that she became pregnant with her daughter around the same period, which also encouraged her to embark on a break due to the “toxic” nature of the music industry.

“During the filming of Nigerian Idol, my mentor, also my best friend, who is like a father figure to me, and also the person who brought me to the Nigerian music industry, died. He passed away; Sound Sultan,” Seyi Shay recalls in an interview with TVC.

“When I first came to Nigeria, I was living with him and his wife in FESTAC for a year. He was the one who co-signed me and introduced me to everybody in the industry to make sure that those who were his people look out for me.

“So, when he passed away, it was really hard for me to complete the filming but I made it to the end. What hurt the most is that I didn’t get to see him before he passed away. I was supposed to fly to see him in New York that weekend when we had a break. He asked me to bring him something specifically. It just torn me apart. I felt like I didn’t have the will to continue to do music without Sound Sultan, my peace of mind, and my mental health. So, I decided to go on a little break.

“Also, during that period, I got pregnant and I told myself there’s no way I’m going to have my child in the toxic music industry that I’m in and under the scrutiny that I was constantly under. So, I just thought I should take a break.”

News

Ondo Govt Suspends Three Senior Officials Over Recruitment Scam

Published

2 hours ago

September 15, 2025

Editor

Ondo State Government has suspended three senior officials for their alleged involvement in a recruitment scam tied to the recent employment of teachers in the state.

The affected officials, two directors and a deputy director, were suspended on the directive of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, pending the conclusion of an ongoing investigation into the job racketeering scandal.

Reports indicated that the officials allegedly collected between N500,000 and N700,000 from unsuspecting applicants, depending on their academic qualifications, in exchange for fraudulent appointment letters.

The matter came to public attention after several individuals staged a protest over their exclusion from the ongoing biometric verification exercise for newly recruited teachers. Investigations later revealed that many of the protesters had presented forged appointment documents.

In a statement issued by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Prince Ebenezer Adeniyan, the government clarified that the aggrieved protesters were not among the over 2,000 teachers legitimately recruited and already deployed across the state.

Adeniyan disclosed that internal investigations confirmed that the three officials at the State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, had colluded with external collaborators to issue counterfeit appointment and posting letters to unsuspecting applicants in exchange for money.

“The attention of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa has been drawn to reports of a protest by individuals claiming they were unjustly excluded from the SUBEB recruitment process.

“To be clear, those protesters were not genuine employees but victims of fraud who were issued fake letters after paying money to scammers. They were exposed during biometric verification and informed that their documents were invalid.

“Disciplinary action has already been taken against the three SUBEB insiders found to have conspired with outsiders in defrauding applicants,” Adeniyan stated.

News

Unjust To Demand More Tax From Nigerians Amid Waste, Corruption — Moghalu

Published

2 hours ago

September 15, 2025

Editor

Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Kingsley Moghalu, has described as unfair the demand for more taxes from Nigerians amid the profligacy and corruption by leaders.

Moghalu questioned how oil revenues and billions of dollars in borrowed funds had been spent, stressing that accountability must precede any fresh tax demands.

In a post on X on Sunday, the former CBN governor described Nigeria’s political class as “self-entitled elites” who lack transparency.

While acknowledging that tax reforms are broadly in the right direction, Moghalu insisted that without addressing corruption and waste in governance, the burden on ordinary Nigerians would remain unjust.

He said: “The profligacy and corruption in what passes for governance in our country, Nigeria, makes it unfair to expect citizens to pay any additional taxes. While taxes are an important part of the social contract, the question must first be asked: what have the revenues from oil and the numerous loans we have borrowed been spent on?

“Accountability is a core principle of governance. It does not exist with our self-entitled political elites. While the tax reform laws are broadly in a good direction, the core questions of accountability and transparency must be addressed. They haven’t.”