The NBC, last Friday, closed down Radio Kwara FM 99.1, AM and Kwara Television stations and 49 other broadcast stations across the country.
By Jeffrey Agbo
Kwara State Government has paid the ₦22.5million outstanding licence fees to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) for the smooth running of the state-owned radio and TV stations.
The debts are said to have accumulated since 2006.
The NBC, last Friday, closed down Radio Kwara FM 99.1, AM and Kwara Television stations and 49 other broadcast stations across the country over backlog of debt owed by the media stations.
In a statement, however, by the Kwara State Commissioner for Communications, Olabode Towoju, on Wednesday night, the government said N10 million was paid to the NBC last September out of a total debt of N32.5 million.
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According to Towoju, in the statement signed by the Press Secretary in the Ministry of Communications, Ayobami Ashaolu, “Kwara State is blessed with a responsible and highly responsive governor. This debt was passed down from the previous administrations in the state since 2006.
“As someone who puts Kwara first, the governor is committed to meeting people’s expectations and exceeding such, and this can also be likened to the way he promptly paid off the UBEC counterpart funds that the administration before him did not pay.”
Following intervention from some stakeholders last week, the NBC announced a three-day grace period for broadcast stations to pay up their debts or face shut down. The grace period elapsed on Wednesday.