I am truly saddened that in 2019 that Nigeria is still in the business of suspending TV and radio licenses. I do not watch AIT or listen to Ray Power to know what they broadcast therein. Personally, it is always painful whenever I read of suspension of transmission. As an undergraduate student in Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), I was Director of Research when we built a campus radio station which transmitted and served only the university community.
An opposition presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, Thursday condemned the closure of AIT and Ray Power FM, two of the country’s largest private broadcasters.
The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) suspended the broadcast licences for both AIT and Ray Power FM on Thursday afternoon, citing a frequent breach of the broadcasting code.
The NBC, which regulates radio and television stations, said the AIT’s conduct had become “a bad example of how a professional broadcast outfit should not be run.”
The agency’s head, Modibbo Kawu, said AIT had been warned several times about breaches of broadcasting regulations but did not flinch.
The AIT and Ray Power FM, both owned by Raymond Dokpesi’s Daar Communications, strongly denied all allegations of wrongdoing, saying the Buhari administration was out to victimise them over of their perceived allegiance to the opposition.
Our Director of Social engineered a wonderful program schedule that even the Vice Chancellor liked to tune it. I recalled my Head of Department negotiating how we could host him live. Then, one afternoon, the VC said that dictator Sani Abacha had sent signals that we must be off-air. Yes, we could use the harmless radio station to take over Nigeria. Just like that – everything folded!
Government, if you have problem with AIT and Ray Power, find better ways than this draconian suspension. It is very offensive to imagine that in our democracy that we are still at that level.
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Sure – this does not mean that people should be broadcasting harmful content.
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Our primitive and crude mentality have gone on full display once again, strange land run by funny creatures.
Just go through the reasons cited by NBC for the ridiculous suspension, they are as laughable as they come. You now begin to wonder if Nigeria has become another North Korea, where virtually every news that gets to the public is only what the government wants to hear. Everyday our supposed educated class keep giving us more reasons to question the institutions that certified them fit for purpose, to even give them paper certificates. At least they managed to include non payment of license fee as one of the reasons…
At our stage of development, we do not really need angry or mean men near power, because we still lack the strong institutions that could keep them in check. If you criticise a president here it’s because you are either corrupt or unpatriotic, I do not see how any country can rise above sea level with such crude mentality.
I understand that our headmasters who shout about democracy have no clue on what it entails, so they are always trigger-happy, hypersensitive or hyperactive. So much to do in our educational sector.
Maybe WashPost, MSNBC and CNN should be shutdown, because they are ‘nasty’ to Trump!
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