By Friday Obande
Barely 24 hours after shutting down about 52 broadcasting stations, National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, has reversed its earlier decision, extending its deadline to August 20, 2022.
In a press statement by the commission’s Director General, Mallam Balarabe Shehu Ilelah, the commission notified that it has extended the period for shutting down stations across the country.
This is coming on the heels of appeals from stakeholders and members of the public, who have solicited for the consideration, based on the economic hardship and the hurdles being faced by the broadcasters.
“All affected broadcast stations who fail to defray their debts on or before August 23, 2022, are directed to shutdown by 12: am on August 24, 2022,” it said.
The NBC, Friday August 2022, ordered the shutdown of several stations, including radio and television across the country, following their failure to offset their debts being owed to the media regulator. The warnings began in 2021, when the NBC started reeling warnings at various intervals.
The commission said after three months of notification, 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.
