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Nigeria: NBC And Big Brother 3

Sonnie Ekwowusi

5 August 2008

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opinion

Lagos — The ominous silence of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), on Big Brother Africa 111 (BB3) is very disturbing. Disturbing because BB3 ought to start running from 24 August, 2008 for 91 days, yet the NBC, the statutory body regulating the ethical standards and technical excellence in the entire broadcast industry in Nigeria, including Dstv and other cable television services, appears to be dragging its feet on the vexed issue of whether BB3 should be aired or not. In the last few months BB3 has been roundly been condemned by the public as pure pornography, bastardization of African values and sheer celebration of stone-age barbarism, yet the NBC has continues to keep a sealed lip on the matter. Even the House of Representatives Committee on Information and National Orientation has said that BB3 is mere bunkum and must not be aired come August 24. In her column last July 12 in this paper, Nwabuikwu Onoshe quarreled why the NBC had been hesitating in banning Big Brother Africa. And Nwachukwu Egbunike, Ibadan writer and book reviewer, asks: should the NBC's studied silence be construed as consent or disagreement to the airing of BB3?

You will recall that when Big Brother Africa first hit our screens in 2003 or so, it was met with stiff opposition especially by parents guarding the character of their children. Just last year BB2 was also heavily condemned as pure pornography. Even the NBC belatedly imposed a N10 million fine on Multi-choice Nigeria for partaking in the airing of BB3. In fact the executives of Multi-choice dramatically went down in ashes in repentance and proceeded to pay the fine. Earlier Multi-choice had been dragged before the House of Representatives' Committee on Information and National Orientation. After deliberating on the pornographic content of BBA 2, members of the Committee unanimously agreed to punish Multi-choice for violating the NBC laws. Multi-choice also apologized to Nigerians for identifying with BB2. Not only that, many heads rolled: some staffers of MNET were fired. Mr. Joseph Hunda, MNET operations director, was quoted as saying that he regretted the pornography called BB2 because MNET was supposed to be protecting the image of Nigeria . Maureen, one of the female BB2 housemates, complained about the moral perversity in the house. Bertha, another housemate, regretted that lesbianism was practised in the house. Ofuneka or what regretted offending her family on TV screen. In The Monitor Newspaper, Kampala , 1st September, 2007, Kevin O'Connor lamented that BB2 might be contributing to the spread of AIDS in Africa as it revolved around sex. To Wenger, Arsenal Team Manager, BB2 was nothing but exercise in idleness.

Now we are talking about airing BB3. Are we so headstrong in this country that we hardly respect the law? First, Big Brother Nigeria is a corrupted Big Brother TV Reality Show. The idea of Big Brother TV Reality was conceived on Thursday, 4 September 1997 at the production house of John de mol produkties by Endernol, a Dutch, after contemplating the 1991 Biosphere 11 experiment in Arizona in which 8 men and 8 women had tried to live together inside an airtight glass. In fact, Endernol's refusal to acknowledge that he copied his idea from George Orwell's book: Nineteen Eighty-Four, has resulted in several law suits. At the start of the original Big Brother Reality show, debate arose about its ethical acceptability. Then the "shower hour"- one hour dedicated by the housemates to showering naked before the astonishing gaze of TV viewers- was not a part of Big Brother tradition.

But in the Big Brother Nigeria , showering naked is the exciting thing. Watching the housemates in Big Brother Nigeria is like watching a bunch of baboons in a zoo celebrating nudity and pornography. When BB2 was aired last year, medical students of the Lagos University teaching Hospital (LUTH) and students in other campuses hardly slept at night as their eyes were glued to the TV watching "American wonder". Little kids were also watching the nonsense. The argument that parents who do not want their kids to watch BB3 should either not subscribe to Dstv or turn off their TV when BB3 is on is faulty. Nowadays access to Dstv and other cable networks are easier and faster. Many kids are exposed to all sorts of bad things via their mobile phones. So their parents do not even know what they do with their phones.

Some are even bringing in the same pedestrian reasoning that we cannot legislate morality: that what is indecent on TV is subjective; that every human being is free to use his/her eyes the way he/she likes; that critics of BB3 should close their eyes or turn off their TV at night when BB3 is being aired. Agreed, law is not morality, but for any law to qualify as true law, it must have a minimum of moral content, and I would add maximum content. Our Criminal Code is replete with many laws which verge on moral principles. For example, laws prohibiting stealing, murder, obscene publication, suicide, pornography etc are moral laws. Even the EFCC's laws are rooted in moral principles. The NBC Code could pass for a moral Code. Article 3.7.0 of the NBC Code states that: "the sanctity of marriage and family life shall be promoted and strictly upheld". Articles 3.7.0 to 3.8.10 prohibit any program that promotes obscenity, nudity, sexual scenes, pornography, lewd or profane expressions, prostitution, homosexuality, lesbianism from being aired on TV. Article 3.9.1 of the NBC Code stipulates that womanhood shall be presented on TV with respect and dignity. Sections 2(1) (n) and 9(3) of the NBC Decree require the NBC to apply sanctions, including revocation of licenses of defaulting stations which do not operate in accordance with the NBC broadcast Code and in the public interest.

But unfortunately the NBC, with the greatest respect, has failed to live up to its bidding. The impression one gets is that the NBC does not know what it was set up to do. Another impression is that many staffers of the NBC are not ready to do the work which they are employed and paid to do. Another impression is that all those profiting from the airing of Big Brother Africa are dangling so much money in front of the NBC that it can hardly refuse it. I hope these are wrong impressions. The NBC shouldn't give the public the impression that Nigeria is a lawless a society where the law can be flatly flouted with impunity without any sanctions. Abroad TV stations cannot just air anything and get away with it. For example, in the United States , the Parents Television Council (PTC) has now prevailed on the American government to set up the Decency Police for the tracking down the indecencies shown on TV. Under the cover: Has TV gone too far? TIME Magazine (March 28, 2005), went to town with that story. In that story the magazine revealed that the PTC and Decency Police have devised ways of tracking down the TV stations showing nudity, violence, profanity, disrespect for authorities in America. For example, in response to viewers' complaint, Fox TV was fined $1.2 million in 2004 for airing the Reality show called: Married by America , which featured strippers covered in whipped cream; the CBS was fined $550,000 for airing Nipple gate. Spielberg's WW 11 epic which had previously appeared on American TV was stopped in 2004 because it contained obscene language.

In sum, the NBC should summon the courage and stop the airing of BB3. Last year the NBC waited for BB2 to run its full course before imposing a feeble fine against Multi-choice. That was like medicine after death because the harm had been done. The central harm of Big Brother Africa is harm to character. Character is everything. We cannot allow the character of our citizens to be destroyed. The House of Representatives Committee on Information and National Orientation should invite the NBC for discussion. Concerned parents should visit the NBC to lodge their complaints. The only option open to the NBC is to ban the airing of BB3. BB3 is a complete antithesis of a TV Reality show. Therefore it cannot be sanitized or corrected. The whole nonsense should be banned. Public good dictates that programs shown on our TV conform to the standards for the broadcasting industry.

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