In a bid to ameliorate the impact of coronavirus, the Federal Government has offered 60 per cent debt forgiveness to the tune of N7.8 billion to TV and radio stations.
As it stands, all the stations have a time-line of three months for the debt waiver.
This was announced by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alh. Lai Mohammed at a briefing in Abuja, the nation’s capital in company of the Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission, Prof. Armstrong Idachaba.
Mohammed said: “According to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), many Nigerian radio and television stations remain indebted to the Federal Government to the tune of N7.8 billion in total.
” Also, many of the stations are faced with the reality that their licenses will not be
renewed, in view of their indebtedness.
” Against this background, the management of the NBC has therefore recommended, and the Federal Government has accepted, the following measures to revamp the Broadcast Industry and to help reposition it
for 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 three 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.”
As regards the print media, the minister said “we are already discussing with the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN)
