According to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), 302 stations received sanctions and 67 licenses for new broadcast stations had been approved over the previous four months.
Malam Balarabe Shehu Ilelah, the director general of the commission, made this announcement during a media briefing yesterday in Abuja.
Ilelah claimed that out of the 740 currently operational stations, 302 were sanctioned by the commission between September 28, 2022, and January 31, 2023, for a variety of offenses.
The analysis shows that 17 broadcast stations received fines for breaking the broadcast codes, 196 stations got warnings, 93 stations got reprimands, and 67 stations got cautions.
Ilelah stated that the approvals brought the total number of licenses issued during President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to 473.
The president of NBC stated that the most recent approval is a wonderful milestone in fostering pluralism and freedom of expression.
According to him, there are currently 740 operational broadcast stations in Nigeria.
A Central Monitoring Committee (CMC) has been established, according to the NBC president, to quickly address unethical behavior.
He claimed that as a result, the commission received presidential authority to hire new personnel to aid in the execution of its responsibilities.
He added that the commission has been permitted to purchase cutting-edge, artificial intelligence-equipped national broadcast monitoring technology to observe broadcasters in action.
He said that the commission had found a brand-new structure for its training center.
He stated that all broadcasters, beginning with the recently licensed stations, will be required to attend the broadcasting institute.
Ilelah said that the new building would act as a center for training for all broadcasters.
He emphasized how free of political involvement NBC has become and counseled the media to steer clear of any political group bias as well.
