Media Justice Nigeria (MJN) views with alarm the revocation of the licenses of 52 public and private radio and TV stations across the country by government’s regulatory agency, the Nigerian Broadcast Commission (NBC) on August 19, 2022. MJN views the sad and unfortunate development as ill-timed and ill-advised and in bad faith.
While MJN is not happy that the stations are yet to meet up their statutory obligation of renewing their licenses that amount to N2.26 billion, we at MJN believe that the NBC should have devised other ways of addressing the situation rather than total revocation of licenses at a critical time like this. Not even the one week grace given is good enough.
While the NBC claimed that the license revocation action has no political motive, MJN sees the action differently. It is no news that open political campaigns will commence in less than two weeks, in September. Revoking radio and TV licenses when political campaigns are about to open is in bad faith. The action will consequently deny the stations avenues of making money from campaign advertorials that would have positioned them financially to pay whatever was being owed the NBC. MJN therefore believes the NBC’s action is needlessly punitive and should be rescinded at once.
The NBC should be reminded of the dire economic situation and unfavourable business operating environment the All Progressives Congress (APC) government that appointed the current board and management of the NBC plunged Nigerians since its inception over seven years ago. The attendant results of APC’s poor governance are massive job losses, all-time high inflation, high cost of business operations, high cost of fuel to power businesses and many other unfavourable indexes of poor governance that may have made it impossible for the stations to meet their payment obligations.
The NBC must not be seen as an extension of the Muhammadu Buhari administration that appointed its board and management that failed to create jobs for Nigerians but instead made millions who had jobs to be thrown into the labour market. The NBC should therefore be mindful of not denying hundreds of Nigerians who work in these stations the jobs that feed thousands of their dependants while carrying out its statutory duty. The NBC should also be humane in its duty.
MJN therefore urges the NBC to rescind its license revocation action on these stations and reschedule the debts in such a manner that the stations are not unnecessarily shut down. The NBC should look at the high cost of owning a TV or radio license and review it downwards. The NBC owes Nigerians the democratic duty of liberalising information that these stations stand for and not just behave as a revenue-generating agency of government. Nigerians cannot afford the information blackout that the NBC’s action will create especially at a time of high insecurity like these where citizens need timely information that can save lives and property.