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The plan by the National Broadcasting Commission to licence one private radio and one private television network in Nigeria moved to the next stage on Friday, November 06, 2009, with the opening of the bids at precisely 4.00 pm. As part of the process, the submission of the bids had closed at 3:00 pm just an hour earlier.
In a very transparent operation, the Commission opened bids from seven companies in the presence of the bidders and an army of reporters from Nigerian print and electronic media.
Interested bidders purchased nineteen bid forms from the Commission since the beginning of the sale of forms on the 7th of September 2009.
In a statement heralding the opening of the bids, the Director General, National Broadcasting Commission, Engr Yomi Bolarinwa said the Commission expects the introduction of private networks to inject some fresh capital into the broadcast industry, which will have wider impact on the society in the area of new jobs and wider variety in programming.
Engr Bolarinwa declared that the new networks “will further enhance plurality of views, ideas and opinions as required in a participatory democracy.” “New Networks”, he said, would “encourage healthy competition and give viewers wider choice by enhancing the development of Nigerian content.”
He then thanked the Honourable Minister of Information and Communications, Professor Dora Akunyili for her support and encouragement to the Commission to be an effective regulator, and the new board of the Commission under the leadership of Alhaji Ibrahim Najume, for giving the management of the Commission adequate support and direction.
Commenting, the Chairman of the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria, BON, Alhaji Abubakar Jijiwa, who also witnessed the event, commended the Commission for such a phenomenal stride. The Chairman, who is also the Director General, Voice of Nigeria, stressed that with 150 million people, the number of broadcasting stations in the country were still too few, and looked forward to the commencement of the licensing of Community radio.
It would be recalled that with the issuance of a public notice on September 3rd 2009, the Commission set off the process of licensing one private radio and one private television network for Nigeria through the open bidding option.
The next milestone in the bidding process is the opening of the Financial Proposals by the 24th of November, after which the Commission will then negotiate with the preferred bidder or bidders between November 25 and December 4th, 2009, followed by the announcement of successful bidders on December 14th, 2009. |
