Government Approves Auction Of Broadcast Licence
The
Nigerian Government has approved the auction of
network licences for commercially-operated and
privately-owned broadcast stations in the country.
The Director-General of the National Broadcasting
Commission NBC, Mr Yomi Bolanrinwa, made this known
in Abuja at a news conference.
He said the move was within the framework of the
government’s economic reform programme aimed at
modernising the Nigerian economy and expanding the
role of the private sector in driving sustained
economic development.
The initiative would take the Nigerian broadcast
industry to a new height after more than
seventy-seven years of radio broadcasting and fifty
years of television in the country.
17 years after the broadcast industry was
deregulated, the Federal Government had kept a
monopoly of licensed radio and television networks
through the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria and
the Nigerian Television Authority.
Under the new initiative, prospective investors had
until November 6 to submit their offers as President
Umaru Yar'Adua was expected to announce the names of
successful bidders by December fourteen.
Only one radio and one television network licence
would be on offer, and the bid was open to local and
foreign investors. According to the NBC Boss, the
Nigerian economy could only support a limited number
of broadcast networks at the moment.
NAN/Qasim/ Ahaziah