Business
NBC Suspends Licences of AIT, Silverbird TV, 50 Other Stations

By Tolulope Oke
The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has suspended the licences of AIT, Silverbird TV, and fifty other stations due to debt payments and renewal of licences.
Malam Balarabe Ilelah, the director general of NBC, announced this during a news conference on Friday in Abuja stating that the debt has surged to over N2.6 billion.
Ilelah instructed all NBC offices to work with the security organizations to guarantee prompt compliance with the closure of the stations within 24 hours.
The D-G said that the other stations affected were Zuma FM, Suleja, Niger State, Bomay Broadcasting Service L.td., Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Gombe, Lagos, Osun, Ogun, Ondo and Rivers States Broadcasting Corporations and Stations.
Other stations on his list were the Katsina Broadcasting Corporation, the Kaduna State Broadcasting Corporation, the Jigawa Broadcasting Corporation, the Kebbi State Broadcasting Corporation, the Zamfara State Broadcasting Corporation, and the Yobe State Broadcasting Corporation.
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Ilelah explained that in May 2022, the commission published a list of licensees who owed money to NBC in the national daily and gave them two weeks to pay up or risk having their licenses and frequencies canceled.
” Three months after the publication, some licensees are yet to pay their outstanding debts, in contravention of the NBC Act CAP N11, laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, particularly section 10 (a) of the third schedule of the Act.
” In view of this development, the continued operation of the debtor stations is illegal and constitutes a threat to national security.
“Therefore, after due consideration, the NBC hereby announces the revocation of the licences of the under-listed stations and gives them 24 hours to shut down their operations.”