Kazeem Owoseni
No fewer than 67 new broadcasting stations have been approved by the Nigerian President, Major, General, Muhammadu, Buhari (rtd).
The Director-General, National Broadcasting Corporation, Balarabe Ileha, stated this while briefing the scorecard of the commission, in Abuja on Thursday.
Mr Ilelah revealed that, no fewer than 473 broadcast licences have been granted under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to him, “President Buhari has approved hundreds of broadcast licences; it is a demonstration of his intrinsic values.”
“The breakdown of the licences approved by Buhari, showed that 210, were granted in 2018, 159 in 2021, 37 in 2022, while 67 have been granted in 2023.
“This gesture has shown that Buhari is actually a democrat and media-friendly; he is a leader who upholds media freedom and pluralism.
“It is important to note that we currently have 740 functional broadcast stations in Nigeria. The number is expected to grow with the anticipatory approval of additional licences by the President soon.”
The NBC Boss who commenɠed the president for granting total independence against any interference, to allow NBC perform Its regulatory functions, most especially, with the respect to the issuance and whthdrawal of broadcasting licences.
He further revealed that, the measure being put in place by the government, reduces Violation of broadcasters.
Mr Ilelah who advised broadcasters to practice in line, wthe the laid down rules, guiding broadcast in nigeria.
While speaking further, Ileaha revealed that the commission has gifted its some latest monitoring equipment, he noted that the delivery of those equipment will commence soon.
According to him “the acquisition of the equipment is in progress; when they all arrive, the commission will get to have ultra-modern artificial intelligence-driven central monitoring infrastructure.
The Director, however reassured the commission’s readiness to give quality and balanced broadcast, during the forthcoming elections.
