MRA Asks NBC To Disclose Payments Of Licence Fees, Stations’ Debt

Media Rights Agenda (MRA) has asked the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to disclose the status of payment of license fees by all broadcasting stations and platforms operating in Nigeria and the amount of indebtedness of each station owing licence fees.

In a request made pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, 2011 and signed by MRA’s communications officer, Idowu Adewale, the organisation asked the NBC to provide them with a list of all broadcasting stations and platforms operating in Nigeria licensed by the commission and the amount that each of the licensed stations is required to pay as license fees.

The FOI request was addressed to the director-general of the commission,  Balarabe Ilelah.

MRA requested in the application the status of payment of each of the licensed broadcasting stations from the date of its licence to date of the request, adding that for those licensed broadcasting stations that are indebted to the Commission, it should disclose the amount of indebtedness of each of the stations and the period covered by the amount.

The organisation further said for broadcasting corporations that are owned by various state governments, which were included in the list of broadcasting stations whose broadcast licenses were announced in press briefing on Friday, August 19, 2022, the NBC should provide a breakdown of the amount of indebtedness by each of the radio stations and each of the television stations owned by the respective state-owned broadcasting corporations.