NBC Bans ‘This is Nigeria’; Falz, Other Celebrities React
Written by MaxFM on August 10, 2018
The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has banned Falz’s ‘This is Nigeria’ and a host of other songs from being played on Nigerian airwaves with claims that the song contains vulgar lyrics and unfit to air on radio.
This was made known on Twitter by broadcaster, Folaranmi Folayan, who shared the picture of a letter the NBC sent to a radio station for airing the song. She shared the letter yesterday, August 9, saying:
“Apparently Falz’s line “this is Nigeria; look how we living now. everybody be criminal” has been flagged “vulgar” and the song is now declared “unfit for radio”. See why sometimes I can’t blame our musicians if they choose to give social commentary a wide berth?”
Here is an excerpt of the letter dated August 6, 2018 which issues a N100,000 fine to the Jos based radio station; a fine they are to pay within 2 weeks to avoid stiffer sanctions.
“The Commission has observed with great concern the continuous airing of vulgar and indecent music lyrics inspite of our warnings both verbal and written to the station. On 30th July, 2018 at about 9:56am, your station aired a song by Falz titled “This is Nigeria” laced with vulgar lyrics: “this is Nigeria, look how we are living now, everybody be criminal”.
“Also, on 1st August, 2018 at about 3:50pm you aired a song by Wande Coal titled “Iskaba” With vulgar lyrics: “Girl you dey make me kolo, shaking the ass like kolo”, in contravention of Section 3.6.1 and 3.13.2.2c.”
“Furthermore, on 3rd August, 2018 at 2:25pm, you aired a song by Olamide titled “See Mary, See Jesus” laced with casual use of “Mary” and “Jesus” regarded as sacred by the Christian faith which contravenes Section 4.3.1e.”
Reacting to this development, Falz went ahead to post an image of the letter on his Instagram page insinuating that there is plenty of what they referred to as ‘vulgar’ on the way. He responded to NBC’s ban on his song with the caption:
“This is Nigeria. Look how we living now, everybody be criminal” is apparently a vulgar line 😂🤣”
Following Falz’ post, celebrities including filmmaker Kemi Adetiba, actress Abimbola Craig, singers Simi and Yemi Alade, and rapper Vector, among others took to the comment section to express their disappointment in the ban. See below:
Recall that this is not the first attack coming for this single by Falz, which is a representation of the vices going on in Nigeria. Back in June, the Muslim rights Concern group, MURIC ordered him to withdraw the video alleging that it is a hate video with the potential to cause religious crisis of unprecedented dimension. And Falz had released a statement through his manager that they had no plans to take down the video.
