The decision today by Industry Regulator , the National Broadcasting Commission – NBC, to revoke the licenses of 52 broadcast stations nationwide over indebtedness to the Commission was ill advised.
The affected stations, according to NBC are said to owe arrears
A statement by NBC on Friday noted that the move followed the publication of a list of stations yet to renew their licences.
A full-list of all the broadcast stations the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) revoked their broadcast licences has been made public.
NBC said the reason why their licences were revoked is because of the failure of the organisations to to renew their broadcast licences amounting to N2.66 billion.
According to the Commission, a two-week waiver was given to them in May to do so after which they risked the revocation of their broadcast licences.
In May 2022, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) published in the National Dailies, the list of licensees that are indebted to the Commission, and granted them two weeks to renew their licenses and pay their debts or consider their licenses revoked, frequencies withdrawn and the withdrawn frequencies reassigned to others who are ready to abide by the necessary requirements.
Three months after the publication, some licensees are yet to pay their outstanding debts, in contravention of the National Broadcasting Commission Act CAP N11, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, particularly section 10(a) of the third schedule of the Act
In view of this development, the continued operation of the debtor-stations is illegal and constitutes a threat to national security.
Therefore, after due consideration, the NBC hereby announces the revocation of the licenses of the under-listed stations and gives them 24 hours to shut down their operations. Our offices nationwide are hereby directed to collaborate with security agencies to ensure immediate compliance
Although the Director General of NBC, Malam Balarabe Shehu Ilelah claimed that this development had no political motives, yet we insist that the action was ill timed and reckless.
It should be noted that this wholesale revocation of licences at this critical time of insecurity in the Country appears to be a decision taken without careful prior deliberation, consultation or counsel.
While we regret the inability of these broadcast stations to fulfill their obligations to NBC, in-view of dwindling resources, we caution against such large scale clampdown of broadcast stations in disregard to security issues and the attendant consequence. We cannot afford the unpleasant outcome of such media blackout at this time.
We call on NBC to exercise more restraint on this issue in consideration of national security and allow for more dialogue and consultation to find a better way of dealing with the situation.
Chris Isiguzo,
Nationl President
19-08-2022