NBC Soft Pedals On Revocation Of Licences Of Media Houses

Following the intervention of stakeholders in the industry, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has temporarily suspended its order on the revocation of licenses to some media outfits.

This development was made known in a statement on Friday by the Director-General of the NBC, Balarabe Shehu.

He said the NBC has taken a decision to temporarily suspend the shutdown of the indebted broadcast stations all over the country after getting positive responses and the intervention of stakeholders.

It will be recalled that the commission had on Friday, August 19, announced its decision to revoke the broadcast licences of about 52 stations in the country.

It also directed NBC state offices to liaise with security agencies to ensure the shutdown of the operation of these stations within the next 24 hours.

The NBC boss noted that the affected stations were suspended over failure to pay federal licensing charges to the tune of N2.6 billion.

According to the NBC DG, the suspended stations were warned for several months to pay licensing costs for their operations but failed to comply.

However, Naija News reports after the uproar that followed the NBC decision, the commission has announced a fresh decision.

According to Shehu, ”The National Broadcasting Commission on Friday, August 19th, 2022, issued a shutdown notice to licensee that are indebted to the Commission.”

”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.”