THE Senate may compel the National Broadcasting Commission to lift the ban on miracle broadcasts on local television stations and put focus on filtering out the negative effect of juju and the developing Hollywood culture on the Nigerian airwaves.Responding to the persisting controversy over the ban by the NBC on the broadcast of miracles on local television stations, Senator Tawar Wada, chairman of the Senate Committee on Information in an interview, expressed regrets that the regulatory commission was shifting its focus from things of primary concern to mundane and unnecessary issues.
Wada said that following his Committee's parley's with the NBC, the Committee was contemplating a public hearing on the issue to forestall public anxieties over the issue.The NBC had earlier in the year placed a ban against the broadcast of miracles on national television on the allegation that such miracles offended the sensibilities of the public.
Disclosing the extent of dialogue between his Committee and the NBC on the issue, Senator Wada said:"We had a very, very instructive interaction session with them, they gave us their views and what they meant by the ban on miracle broadcasting and the Senate is considering the situation right away and there is the possibility, of us calling for a public hearing on the matter because we feel that this is a very sensitive issue."Affirming his charge to the regulatory bodies not to fritter away their powers on mundane issues, the Committee chair said:
"I also raised the issue that both the NBC and the Video and Film Censorship Board should try as much as possible to dissipate their energies towards some much more serious issues like the contents being paraded as Nollywood products."
"Most of them are not scientific, most of them bother on juju and juju belongs to the stone age, rather than the current twenty first century. So, I think those are areas we should channel our energies in terms of control, not miracle or religion."We are still trying to find out the rationale and moral behind the ban," Senator Wada explained as he disclosed the Committee's consideration on the possibility of hosting a public hearing to discuss the issue.