The National Broadcasting Commission on Friday suspended the threatened shutdown of allegedly indebted broadcast stations in the country, numbering over 50 media houses.
Clariform recalls that Balarabe Ilelah, the Director-General of NBC had on August 19 directed the African Independent Television, Silverbird Television and over 40 other electronic media outfits as well as broadcasting corporations run by various state governments to shut down operations within 24 hours over debts amounting to N2.6bn.
The NBC DG had noted that some of the affected stations have failed to renew their licences since 2015 and warned them to do so in 30 days to avoid further sanctions.
However, the decision got a serious backlash from stakeholders in the media sector as well as other organisations such as the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Guild of Editors.
In reaction to NBC’s decision to shut down defaulting stations, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project(SERAP) instituted a suit against the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and the NBC over the alleged arbitrary use of the NBC Act and broadcasting code to threaten, revoke, and shut down broadcast stations in the country.
In a swift turn around, NBC, in a statement titled, “Temporary Suspension” and signed by the DG on Friday made it known that it has decided to suspend the shutdown following the positive responses it received from the debtor licensees.
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According to the statement:
“Sequel to a follow-up meeting held with executives of the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria 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.”
NBC while commending relevant stakeholders for their responses stated that it would always act in line with extant laws.
According to the NBC:
“We express our profound appreciation to the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria, the affected licensees and broadcast stakeholders in the industry 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 with the National Broadcasting Commission Act, Cap N11, Laws of the Federation, 2004.”
