Government has declared war against the arts - Soyinka reacts to amended NBC code

Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka has reacted to the amended 6th broadcasting code by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) which has ignited a controversy in the last few weeks.

Soyinka described the amended code as an “economic sabotage” and also accused the government of declaring war on arts and its producers.

The Nobel Laureate who said he discovered some “potentially dangerous aspects” while reading excerpts from the newly proposed NBC broadcasting code, said the new code will place unfair burden on the sector and also restrict intellectual property rights.

He said in the statement;

“I think it is about time the government come out openly and admit that it has declared war against the Arts and its producers, instead of its present tactics of piecemeal attrition.

“Just when we were reeling from the action of the Ministry of Youth and Development in joining hands with book pirates by providing a free-loading portal for the works of Nigerian authors, among others, along comes a new regulatory hit against the cinema and video enterprise, and its operators.

“Let me quickly utilise the opening of this new flank to commend the Director-General of the Nigerian Copyright Commission for his prompt attention to the complaint by Nigerian authors.”

He added that some of the regulations restrict intellectual property rights with who they choose to work with.

Noting that the new code will place unfair burden on the sector, he, therefore, asked the government to desists from stifling the industry.

“And now it is the turn of a sister industry to be placed under siege! I have just read excerpts of the newly proposed NBC broadcasting code and become aware of some potentially dangerous aspects of the code. Whilst one concedes that some of the regulations are well-intentioned, I shudder to imagine unintended consequences such as backhanded censorship in the age of digital media.

“These restrict intellectual property rights and their scope of exploitation with whomsoever one chooses to collaborate. It is economic sabotage writ large, directed against thousands of practitioners. Regulatory? This is strangulatory in effect!

“Several practitioners’ voices have been raised in protest. For one such insider’s detailed and passionate exposition on the deleterious provisions of this Code, I shall draw particular attention of policymakers to Chris Ihidero’s Why Does the NBC Want to Kill Local Content in Nigeria?

“If I may invoke a contemporary tragic image to render graphically what Ihidero and others have pleaded on behalf of both creators and consumers of this artistic productivity:

“Let government kindly take its knee off the neck of this industry. Please – let it breathe!”