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.
