Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) says it has suspended the revocation of licences of African Independent Television (AIT), Silverbird TV, and broadcast stations that have failed to renew them.
Recall that NBC had last week, announced the withdrawal of the licenses of the stations due to a debt of about N2.66 billion.
In the latest development, Mr Balarabe Shehu Ilelah, the Director-General of the NBC, said on Friday that the withdrawal has been put on hold.
”The National Broadcasting Commission on Friday, August 19th, 2022, issued a shutdown notice to licensee that are indebted to the Commission,” the statement said.
“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.”
