The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has temporarily suspended its earlier planned shutdown of some broadcast stations over their indebtedness to the commission.
The action by NBC may not be unconnected to interventions by some stakeholders and the responses from some of the affected licensees.
The suspension, it said was sequel to a follow-up meeting held with Executives of the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON) and other critical Stakeholders in the industry.
This disclosure is contained in a communique issued and signed on Friday by the Director-General of NBC, Balarabe Shehu Ilelah, where he confirmed the decision of the commission to stop the revocation of licenses of the defaulting media organizations over their failure to pay renewal fees for their licences.
What the Director-General of NBC is saying
The statement partly reads, “Following the ultimatum, the Commission received positive responses from the debtor Licensees, including big players in the broadcast industry.
“Sequel to a follow-up meeting held with Executives of the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON), and other critical Stakeholders in the industry, the Commission has decided to temporarily suspend the shutdown of the indebted Broadcast stations all over the Country.
“We express our profound appreciation to the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria, the affected licensees and Broadcast Stakeholders for their responses and interventions. We, specifically, thank DAAR Communications Ltd and Silverbird TV/Rhythm FM for their responses.
“The Commission is not unaware of the difficulties this shutdown must have caused the operators and other stakeholders, but must state that the Commission will always operate within the National Broadcasting Commission Act, Cap. N11, Laws of the Federation, 2004.”
In case you missed it
- Recall that on August 26, NBC came hard on 52 broadcast stations across the country as it issued a shutdown notice with a planned revocation of their licenses over their N2.6 billion indebtedness in licensing fees since 2015.
- The NBC Director General in his statement explained that in May 2022, the commission published in the national dailies, the list of licensees that are indebted to NBC and granted them 2 weeks to renew their licenses as well as pay their debts or consider their licenses revoked and frequencies withdrawn.
- Some of the big players affected by the revocation notice include Silverbird TV, AIT, Raypower FM, and Rhythm FM amongst others.