NBC restricts airplay of hit song by Lil Kesh

The song by Lil Kesh, which has always been on the radar of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) with an earlier issue last year, has been restricted by the regulatory body for regular playing time on radio.

Gather up Nigerians, one of the hit songs of last year, Shoki (remix) will no longer be played during the daylight hours in Lagos State.

The song by Lil Kesh, which has always been on the radar of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) with an earlier issue last year, has been restricted by the regulatory body for regular playing time on radio. The song will now be limited to airplay during ‘watershed’ time, that is, between 10pm and 5am.

This was communicated in a release by the NBC dating Wednesday, January 7, 2014, and signed by the Director of Lagos Zone, Ifeoma Theo-Obodo.

“I have been directed to involve all radio stations under Lagos zone that the above named musical, “Shoki” by Lil Kesh featuring Davido and Olamide contains some connotations of foul impressions.” The letter read. “This makes it highly suggestive of obscene representation and could corrupt the sensibilities of the impressionable and underaged.”

“In view of the above, the musical in question can only be allowed on air during watershed period, that is between 10.00pm and 5.00am. Stations are advised to adhere strictly to this provision of the Code and ensure strict compliance please.”

It can be recalled that towards the end of last year, this particular song was reported to have been banned by NBC for lewdness. This led to widespread protests especially across social media.

The media adviser of the NBC who spoke at a press briefing then, said, “the song ‘Shoki’ which is a Yoruba slang for ‘quickie’ has spread to other African countries and everybody is singing what they don’t understand, even my two year old daughter came to my room and just started muttering ‘ahh shoki’, it’s a scary experience, so we banned it”.

However, hours after, NBC released a press statement, denying placing a ban on the song, and stressing that they only sanctioned a radio station for playing the song during “family time”.

 “We at the National Broadcasting Commission can confirm there was no such ban. A club version of the song cannot be played on radio. The club version contains vulgar lyrics, which was played around 9am, which is considered as ‘family time’. There is a broadcast code to follow by every broadcast station and this station failed to comply. This said station has been sanctioned for playing a club version during family time. We at the NBC did not ban ‘Shoki’- by Lil Kesh. We simply asked the suitable broadcast version to be played on the radio.…”