This was made known by the Director General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Malam Balarabe Shehu Ilelah on Thursday at a briefing in Abuja.
No fewer than 67 new broadcast licenses have been approved by the President Muhammadu Buhari government.
This was made known by the Director General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Malam Balarabe Shehu Ilelah on Thursday at a briefing in Abuja.
He explained that the total number of approved broadcast licenses by Buhari were 473, with the number of functional broadcast stations in Nigeria now 740.
Ilelah also said the monitoring of broadcast stations was on, adding that Central Monitoring Committee had been set up to provide a rapid response to unethical practices.
Meanwhile, he appealed to broadcast stations yet to settle their outstanding dues to do so.
The Buhari government has also been notorious for clamping down on broadcast stations in the discharge of their lawful duties.
SaharaReporters had in August 2022 reported how the NBC threatened to revoke the operating licenses of 53 broadcast stations, making claims that they owed various sums in licensing fees.
The commission had earlier revoked the broadcast licences of Silverbird TV, AIT, Raypower FM, and Rhythm FM amongst others over alleged failure to renew their license amounting to N2.66billion.
Meanwhile, in a circular through Balarabe Shehu Ilelah, NBC Director-General, the commission said the decision was rescinded, due to positive responses and reactions from the affected stations.
It said, for example, the Kwara Government had settled the N22.5million outstanding Licence Fee to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), which accumulated since 2006.
The statement reads, “The National Broadcasting Commission on Friday, August 19, 2022, issued a shutdown notice to licensees that are indebted to the Commission.
"Following the ultimatum, the Commission received positive responses from the debtor Licensees, including big players in the broadcast industry.
"Sequel to a follow-up meeting held with Executives of the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON), and other critical Stakeholders in the industry, the Commission has decided to temporarily suspend the shutdown of the indebted Broadcast stations all over the Country.
"We express our profound appreciation to the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria, the affected licensees and Broadcast Stakeholders for their responses and interventions. We, specifically, thank DAAR Communications Ltd and Silverbird TV/Rhythm FM for their responses.
"The Commission is not unaware of the difficulties this shutdown must have caused the operators and other stakeholders, but must state that the Commission will always operate within the National Broadcasting Commission Act, Cap. N11, Laws of the Federation, 2004."