Globally, Artists say their biggest fear is usually the tampering of their creative process but for Artists in Nigeria is usually censorship or ban after their songs have been released.
Songs get banned for different reasons including explicit lyrics, explicit visuals, or political reasons, amongst others and this is usually done by NBC who is fond of banning Naija songs that are guilty of the crimes mentioned above.
The National Broadcasting Commission is the broadcast regulator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Commission was set up on August 24, 1992, by Decree 38 0f 1992 later amended as an Act of the National assembly by Act 55 of 1999 and now known as National Broadcasting Commission Laws of the Federation 2004, CAP N11 to among other responsibilities, regulate and control the broadcasting industry in Nigeria.
Here are the 5 Naija hit songs that got banned by NBC
Wo – Olamide
This Olamide 2017 hit song, “Wo” was banned by the National Broadcasting Commission a few days after the video was released.
This move came after the Federal Ministry of Health had tweeted that the video violated the ban on Tobacco Advertising, promotion, and sponsorship provision of the act and was a clear violation of Nigeria’s Tobacco Control Act 2015 as it shows ghetto scenes of youths smoking which could encourage second-hand smoking.
Fall – Davido
Davido’s 2017 hit song, “fall” was banned by NBC. The reason for the ban wasn’t clearly stated. The song however is said to one of Davido’s most successful songs as it has raked in millions of streams and International certifications in the US and Canada.
This is Nigeria – Falz
Falz did a cover of Childish Gambino hit song, “This is America” called “This is Nigeria” in 2018. The song received mixed reactions especially the Music video.
In the song, Falz threw shades at every Institution he could think of, from Religious Institutions to Political, Education, no one was safe from his jabs.
The song was banned by the NBC because a scene in the music video had girls dressed in hijabs dancing Zanku. Falz was slammed by the Muslim rights Commission (MURIC) for the scene and the organization demanded he takes down the video.
NBC probably banned the song because of the message Falz was passing through the song.
Living Things – 9ice
9ice dropped “Living Things” in 2017 which was seen as his redemption into the spotlight again but it didn’t take too long for critics to slam the singer for glorifying Internet fraud lifestyle on his song.
While 9ice however denied that fact, it didn’t save him from having his song getting banned by NBC.
Iskaba – DJ Tunez X Wande Coal
“Iskaba” was an instant hit when DJ Tunez and Wande Coal released this song in 2016. However, it was banned for its very vulgar lyrics by NBC.
While this wasn’t clear to most people at first why the song would be banned but it became clear once people began to listen carefully to the lyrics and called it out for objectifying women.