The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has warned broadcast stations in the country to pay up over N5 billion license fees they owe the commission on or before March 15, 2017.
The warning was issued by the Director-General of the Commission, Is’haq Modibbo Kawu, at a stakeholders’ meeting of broadcasters on Wednesday in Abuja.
He said erring broadcasting station will lose their provisional license if they refuse to pay.
“The licensees carry on as if they have their licences for keeps and act as if the NBC cannot withdraw their licences.
“It is important to remind them that all licences are provisional, no matter how long you have held them,”
He further frowned at the illegal and rampant use of transmission power higher than stipulated 2KW by stations across the country.
“henceforth, broadcasters would not be allowed to import a transmitter beyond the power allotted in the licences issued while stations must ensure that their broadcasts are limited to assigned areas only; and where these areas require less than 2KW power, they must tune their transmitters below 2KW.
“This had resulted to frequency clashes occurring all over Nigeria and that the NBC had compiled a list of 69 stations around Nigeria that have installed transmitters beyond the transmitter power stipulated in their licences.
“NBC would decommission stations that procure transmitters without respecting the stipulated and recommended transmitter power in city-based frequency modulated (FM) stations after the expiration of the grace period.
“We have also seen that there are stations that have refused to install Off-Air recording facilities. We all know that this is also an imperative.
“NBC monitoring officers around Nigeria will check every station to ensure compliance. These must be in place latest by March 31, 2017. Thereafter, all stations that have not installed these recording facilities would be closed down,” he added.
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