ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE, Yenagoa
The Bayelsa State Broadcasting Corporation, owners of Radio Bayelsa, says it had almost cleared the outstanding licence renewal fees before National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) announced the revocation of its licence.
Recall that NBC on Friday announced the revocation of the licences of more than 50 radio and television stations in the country, including Radio Bayelsa, over N2.6bn debt.
The Director-General of NBC, Mr Balarabe Ilelah, who announced the sanctions at a news conference on Friday in Abuja, ordered the affected stations to shut down in the next 24 hours.
The General Manager of the radio station, christened Glory FM, Mr Terrence Ekise, said in an interview on Saturday that the station had paid over N13m out of its N17m debt.
He explained that the station was surprised that despite the ongoing efforts at clearing the backlog of N17m, the station was listed among those affected.
Ekise said: “We have been working and making progress with the NBC under the tenure of the previous DG, but when the new DG came, he did not want to listen to anything, and our Commissioner was so disappointed in the NBC’s posture.
“At a time during the COVID-19 lockdown, there was a grace period and we had a series of negotiations and reconciliation of what we have paid so far and we showed good faith to offset the remaining N4 million, but they still listed us.”
He said that the Bayelsa government was paying greater attention to the station with the rebuilding of its office complex and ordered a new transmitter as well as studio equipment.
He said while the station was awaiting the arrival of the new transmitter, the installation of new studio equipment at the newly built office complex was ongoing.
Meanwhile, the directive by the broadcast regulator to affected stations to shut down within 24 hours of the revocation order was yet to be complied with by two FM stations affected in Yenagoa.
Rhythm FM and Glory FM are still on air running their regular programmes as of Saturday morning.