By Ayo Kehinde
Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed on Monday disclosed that the Federal Government would extend debt waiver to the broadcast industry as part of measures aimed at instituting financial sustainability among radio and television stations in the country.
Noting that the broadcast Industry has been particularly hard-hit due to falling revenues occasioned by the dwindling adverts and sponsored programmes, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Minister who addressed a press conference in Abuja on Monday, said the government made the decision based on comprehensive representations by the Broadcasting Organizations of Nigeria (BON), on the effects of the pandemic on the industry and sought critical interventions by federal and state governments.
He said: “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 the NBC, as part of efforts to ease the negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Broadcast Industry.
” According to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), many Nigerian radio and television stations remain indebted to the Federal government to the tune of 7. 8 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.
He said that based of the recommendation of the NBC, the management of the NBC, ” the Federal Government has accepted, the following measures to revamp the Broadcast Industry and to help reposition itfor 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 the 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
