Reprieve came the way of radio and television owners in Nigeria as the federal government Monday announced a 60 percent slash in the outstanding N7.8billion debt owed government by the broadcast media organisations.
They are expected to honour this obligation within three months (July 10-October 6 ) after which the government would withdraw the privilege.
This is one of the measures put in place by the federal government to mitigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the broadcast industry.
Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed announced this at a media parley in Abuja, with Director-General National Broadcasting Commission(NBC) Prof. Armstrong Idachaba also in attendance.
The minister also said a similar gesture for the print media was underway, as engagement was still on with newspaper owners.
He said the respite followed his May 20 meeting with “the officials and other representatives of the Broadcasting Organizations of Nigeria (BON), who made a comprehensive presentation on the effects of the pandemic on the industry and sought critical interventions by Federal and State Governments.”
“Gentlemen, the Post-Covid-19 Initiatives Committee for the Creative Industry, which we set up to help mitigate the negative effects of the pandemic on the Creative Industry as a whole, has submitted its report, which contained recommendations that will benefit all component parts of the larger Creative Industry.
“However, without prejudice to those recommendations, I want to announce today a number of Broadcast Industry-specific measures aimed at giving a lifeline to the industry which, though largely a business, continues to function as a critical social service of sorts, which is relevant to the information and enlightenment needs of the people.
“These measures are in addition to the two-month licence-fee waiver granted to terrestrial broadcast stations in the country by NBC, as part of efforts to ease the negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Broadcast Industry,” the minister said.
Mohammed further said: “ According to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), many Nigerian radio and television stations remain indebted to the Federal government to the tune of 7 billion Naira in total. Also, many of the stations are faced with the reality that their licenses will not be renewed, in view of their indebtedness.
“Against this background, the management of the NBC has therefore recommended, and the Federal Government has accepted, the following measures to revamp the Broadcast Industry and to help reposition it for the challenges of business, post-Covid-19:-
a) – 60 percent debt forgiveness for all debtor broadcast stations in the country. b)The criterion for enjoying debt forgiveness is for debtor stations to pay 40 percent of their existing debt within the next 3 months. c)-Any station that is unable to pay the balance of 40 percent indebtedness within the 3 months window shall forfeit the opportunity to enjoy the stated debt forgiveness.
“d)-The existing license fee is further discounted by 30 per cent for all Open Terrestrial Radio and Television services effective July 10th, 2020. e) – The debt forgiveness shall apply to functional licensed Terrestrial Radio and Television stations only. f)-The debt forgiveness and discount shall not apply to pay TV service operators in Nigeria. g)-The effective date of the debt forgiveness shall be July 10th 2020 to October 6th, 2020.”
He further said the interventions were made with “a view to re-positioning the Broadcast Industry to play its critical role of promoting democracy and good governance in Nigeria. It is our expectation that the sector will cash in on this unique opportunity to make itself an effective catalyst for national development.
When asked why similar gesture had yet to be extended to the print media, the minister recalled his meeting with the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN, saying engagement was still on.
According to him, the presidential directive was not limited directive was not limited to the broadcast industry.
He said: “We are still engaging them (NPAN). We asked for certain documents to be submitted. I am waiting for certain information. I am still speaking to the CBN governor, but like I said, engagement is on. But let me say here that even at that, the situation is different because newspapers don’t pay renewal licence fee.”
Responding to questions on the operational code of the commission and whether it needed presidential approval to act, the NBC boss, Professor Idachaba said the Act setting up the agency gave the commission power to reform.
He said the NBC board was involved in the committee set up to revalidate the code, adding that the exercise went through all normal process and ended up with the validation done at the Lagos Town hall meeting.
“We have a document that has gone through the process and it should be allowed to work. We are now at the point of implementing the code. All that are contained in the code are things that will benefit both the operators and the nation,” Idachaba further explained.
