The Federal Government on Thursday said it will penalize BBC and Trust TV for allegedly promoting bandits in their reports.
Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed disclosed this in a briefing in Abuja on Thursday.
The BBC Africa Eye, in a documentary aired at the weekend, exposed the activities of the bandits operating in Zamfara forests.
Earlier, Trust TV had broadcast documentaries revealing the heinous crimes committed by the bandits operating in Northwest and parts of North central.
The minister said the documentaries promoted terrorism in the country, adding that relevant federal regulatory body was already looking at the infractions and appropriate sanctions would be meted to both platforms.
Mr Mohammed said, “There is a regulatory body regulating broadcasting which is the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and they are also aware of these two incident.
“They are looking at which part of the Broadcasting Code that has been violated by the BBC and Trust TV. Media is the oxygen that terrorists and bandits use to breathe.
“When otherwise reputable platforms like BBC can give their platform to terrorists showing their faces as if they are Nollywood stars, it is unfortunate.
“I want to assure them that they will not get away with it, appropriate sanctions will be meted to both the BBC and the Trust TV.”
He said though BBC is a foreign medium and not under NBC regulations, sanctions will be meted to the medium.
“Let me assure you that they will not get away with the naked glorification of terrorism and banditry in Nigeria. If they are not registered in Nigeria and they are only sending their signals to Nigeria, we will ask them to stop sending the signals.
“I know that during the IRA days, the BBC will not dare do what they are doing now in Nigeria. It is because there is a country called Nigeria that they are operating here,” he said.
