The Federal Government is being owed N5billion license renewal fees by radio stations across the country, a top official has said.

The Director General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Is’haq Modibbo Kawu, who disclosed this in Abuja yesterday at the Broadcasting Stakeholders’ Meeting, also said all the stations were expected to complete all payments owed to the commission by the 15th of March, 2017.

But the Chairman of Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON) Mr John Momoh, pleaded for more time for the members to renew their licenses because broadcast stations “are going through hard time.”

The NBC would be invoking the relevant laws against erring stations after the expiration of the deadline, Kawu said.

The NBC D-G also said many stations had failed to give six months prior information to the commission before the expiration of their licenses, adding that same stations had also failed to signify their intention to continue as a licensee or not.

“Our licensees carry on as if they have their licenses for keeps and the NBC cannot withdraw licenses. It is important to remind us all that all licenses are provisional, no matter how long you have held them”, he said.

Kawu also said the Commission was disturbed by the illegal and rampant use of transmission power by stations all over Nigeria.

The NBC boss also warned stations who have yet to install aviation warning lights on their masts to do so before February 28.

Momoh said radio and TV stations were increasingly finding it very difficult to pay salaries of staff, maintaining their stations because of rising operating costs.

He called on NBC to stop over issuing broadcast licenses because the market is almost over saturated.