The NCRC championed the campaign for the establishment of the third tier of radio broadcasting Praising the approval by the Federal Government, the coalition in a statement by its Executive Director, Institute for Media and Society (IMESO), Mr. Akin Akingbulu, said, “the NCRC is available and ready to work with the regulatory body, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to ensure the emergence of community radio stations which operate professionally, demonstrate global standards and help to achieve the development objectives of our great country.”
The statement reads further: “We congratulate the Federal Government, NBC, advocates in grassroots communities, civil society , academia, media and other development stakeholders, for this achievement.
“We recall that the advocacy for the licensing of Community Radio in the past 12 years, has recorded such milestones as the development of a National Policy Document on community radio development in 2006 and the 2010 pronouncement by President Goodluck Jonathan that community radio should become part of the Nigerian media landscape. The approval of licenses, now done, is a climax of milestones.
“As it is happening in other parts of the world, the introduction of community radio will bring positive developments to our country. It will, among other things, expand the pluralism of the media sector, cater to the large underserved sections of the population, and help to address the country’s development challenges at the grassroots.”
The Director-General, National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Mr. Emeka Mba disclosed the approval on Wednesday in Abuja at the press conference on Nigeria’s transition from analogue to digital broadcasting.
