The closing of all of the nation’s indebted broadcast stations has been put on hold indefinitely by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).
The disclosure was made in a statement released on Friday, August 26, 2022 in Abuja by Malam Balarabe Ilelah, Director-General of NBC.
AIT/Ray Power FM (DAAR Communication L.td., Silverbird TV Network, and 50 other stations’ licences were revoked by NBC on August 19 due to N2.6 billion in indebtedness.
The commission instructed NBC offices nationwide to work with the security authorities to ensure prompt compliance and ordered the concerned stations to stop down within the next 24 hours.
As a result, the commission decided to extend the deadline for paying off any outstanding debts from 24 hours to Wednesday on August 20.
The difficulties the shutdown would have caused the operators and other parties, he claimed, were known to the commission.
According to the D-G, the National Broadcasting Commission Act, Cap. N11, Laws of the Federation, 2004, would always be followed by the commission.
” 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, ” Ilelah said.
