The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has given a fresh deadline for broadcast stations whose licenses were revoked on Friday to renew the licenses.
The NBC revoked had on Friday revoked the licenses of African Independent Television (AIT), Silverbird Television (STV), and 50 other state government and private owned television and radio stations over none renewal of their licenses.
The stations, according to the Director-General of the commission, Balarabe Shehu Ilelah, are indebted to the NBC to the tune of N2 billion.
In a statement on Saturday, the commission said it has extended the shutdown to Tuesday, August 23.
Ilelah said the decision was motivated by the intervention of concerned groups and efforts by some of the defaulting stations to clear their arrears.
The statement said, “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 the deadline to shut down to 6.00 PM on Tuesday, August 23, 2022.”
There had been widespread criticisms over the decision of NBC to shut down the stations, with the Media Rights Agenda (MRA) noting that the move will deprive many Nigerians of crucial information.
