I am a radio host. Jonathan Ugbal and I host a weekly political talk show, "The Dialogue With Agba Jalingo" on Hit 95.9fm, in the ancient city of Calabar. The program airs every Sunday 6-7pm, and can be joined by listeners from anywhere.

The implication of Thursday’s invitation of Channels TV anchors who interviewed Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue state and Commodore Kunle Olawunmi, by the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) is that, each time I am on air and I ask my guest a question, I must also censor or determine what the guest should say, else I’ll be punished by the NBC. Or maybe, we will need a rehearsal room in the station where our production team will have to coach every guest on what to say on air and how to say it so that we’ll avoid the wrath of NBC.

Now, that's arrant nonsense. I think the NBC has outlived its usefulness and should understand that there are enough laws in Nigeria to prosecute erring media organizations should they infringe any. There is practically nothing the NBC is regulating that doesn't have an enabling law to prosecute. The courts should be allowed to judge activities of media organizations without the interference of a politically-oriented organization which is essentially a relic of military despotism and lacking in technical capacity to understand the broader and crucial roles of the media in a democracy.

This errand-boy velocity of the NBC is becoming nauseating, despicable and lampoonable. But whether the NBC necessarily folds itself up or not, the reality is that the new phase of media engagement and the new tools that technology is availing citizens, will definitely take broadcasting to heights that NBC won't be able to do anything about. Their uselessness will be revealed in the years ahead as new technology continues to empower the consciousness of more citizens and deliver them novel tools of interaction.

I know that the Nigerian media is stronger than those who seek to emasculate it and will remain even stronger, moving forward.