The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), has soft-pedaled its order for the shutdown of 52 broadcast stations, after it revoked their licenses over N2.6 billion indebtedness, as it has announced the extension of the deadline until August 23.
The Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON), the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), had called for the immediate reversal of the order, announced yesterday by the Director-General of the organisation, Malam Balarabe Shehu Ilelah.
It affected some private television and radio stations, including the Africa Independent Television (AIT) and Silverbird Television as well as 22 state government-owned stations, spread across the country, which the NBC boss, at a press conference in Abuja, gave 24 hours to shut down, pending the payment of their debt, to prevent total disconnection.
However, Ilelah, in a statement today, said that “following intervention of concerned groups and visible concerted efforts by some defaulting Licensees, to offset their debts, the National Broadcasting Commission hereby serves this Notice of an Extension of Deadline to Shutdown to 6.00 PM on Tuesday, August 23, 2022.
While announcing the revocation of the licenses, he insisted that it was not politically motivated, adding that the commission had been in talks with the affected media houses over the indebtedness for more than a year, but they refused to revert.
According to him, the NBC, in May 2022, published the list of the licensees indebted in the national dailies, giving them a grace of two weeks to renew their licenses and pay their debts or consider their licenses revoked.
He regretted that three months after the notice, some of them have refused to offset their debts, an action he said is 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.”
Declaring the defaulters as operating illegally and constituting a threat to national security, Ilelah stated; “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, advising all broadcast stations, yet to renew their licenses for the current duration, to do so in the next 30 days to avoid sanctions.”
Noting that it was also necessary that all IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) and all other broadcast stations that are streaming online to register with the commission to avoid disconnection, he said, “broadcasters should note that having a DTT or FM license does not warrant a broadcaster to stream online; they are two different licenses.”
The BON, in a letter, addressed to NBC DG and signed by its Executive Secretary, Dr. Yemisi Bamgbose, appealed to the commission to withdraw the shutdown and revocation orders to allow the implementation of the debt recovery template already submitted to it.
While saying that BON was not unmindful of the fact that it was statutory for the affected stations to pay license fees, he pointed out that “it is a known fact that media income has seriously nosedived as a result of the global impact of COVID-19 on the general economy, which had negative consequences on the income of broadcast media houses.”
The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), in a press statement signed by its President, Mustapha Isah and the General Secretary, Iyobosa Uwugiaren, said it believed that if not reversed, the action would lead to the loss of thousands of jobs in a country where jobs are scarce.
It also called for a review of the NBC Act, to increase the lifespan of a broadcast license from five to at least 10 years as well as a reduction of the license fees, because several broadcast stations now operate in the country. It cited the case of the Lagos zone, where close to 50 radio stations function.
The NGE expressed worry “because media houses, which played and continue to play a key role in the nurturing and development of democracy can’t just be off air, no matter the reasons.
“While the Guild is not against broadcast stations fulfilling their financial obligations to the NBC, we note that the current harsh operating environment that has crippled every sector in our nation was not taken into account by the NBC before its action.
“Currently, it is difficult for private stations to import broadcast equipment, due to the high exchange rate. We are all aware of the high operational cost, including the cost of diesel to power their generating sets,” the NGE added.
It wants NBC to enter into dialogue with the affected stations to restructure the debts owed and work out a convenient payment period to ensure their survival.
On its part, the NUJ, in a statement signed by its National Chairman, Chris Isiguzo, said, “the wholesale revocation of licenses 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 consequences.
“We cannot afford the unpleasant outcome of such a 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,” the NUJ stated.
