Exclusive: Kawu Modibbo opens up on alleged 16 illegal radio licenses approval for self, others

By Mumini AbdulKareem

The Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and former gubernatorial aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State, Mallam Is-haq Modibbo Kawu last night opened up on his role in the alleged illegal approval of 16 radio licenses to self and cronies against the rules of the commission.
Last week, a civil rights movement under the aegis of Coalition Against Corruption and Bad Governance (CACOBAG) accused the NBC boss of allegedly approving six of the radio slots to his private company, Word, Sound and Vision Multimedia (WSV) Limited and another 10 approved for companies which neither applied nor appeared on the list approved by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Chairman of CACOBAG, Alhaji Toyin Raheem, in a statement issued in Abuja, alleged that independent findings revealed that Alhaji Babagana Kingibe, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and his family were among the 10 beneficiaries of the radio licenses recently doled out by NBC.
He demanded that the Federal Government direct anti-graft agencies, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other-Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the allegation or else it would be left with no option than to approach the court to seek an order of mandamus to compel them to do their duty as conferred on them by the laws of the land.
But Modibbo in a comprehensive e-mail response on the issue to this reporter exonerated himself from any wrongdoing even as he detailed the genesis of his travail.
According to him, the NBC does not have power to influence who is either denied or granted radio licenses but the sole prerogative of Mr President.
His reply read thus: “According to the Act which sets up the NBC, in 1(b) of powers of the commission, it is given the power of “receiving, processing and considering applications for the establishment, ownership or operation of Radio and television stations.
“And in 1(c) we have the power of “recommending applications …to the President, for the grant of radio and television licenses”. These are very broad powers, but at the end of the process: application; verifications of status of the company; structures of ownership, NBC compiles those eligible, and the list is transmitted to the Presidency for approval. At that point, NBC or its DG, do not have the powers to influence who is given a license or who is denied”.
“All licenses are approved by the President and because it is his sole prerogative, he approves licenses for whomsoever he chooses and denies licenses too. The company in question WORD, SOUND & VISION MULTIMEDIA LTD applied for its license in 2008! That is eight years before I was appointed NBC DG in 2016. It met all the set criteria and was eventually shortlisted for the approval, but it was denied by the PDP administrations of Yar’adua and Goodluck Jonathan.
“The company made representations to top members of the PDP administrations, and they frankly explained that they would never give the company a license for certain but obvious political reasons. The effort was abandoned, while the application was still in the books of the NBC.
“I was appointed DG of the NBC in May 2016, and the first step taken was to remove me completely from the directorship of the company. You can check with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), to verify the fact. Other people run the company and I have not visited the company in three years; I don’t know anything about their operations.
“But as a bona fide Nigerian company, their application was re-examined and added to the list sent to the President for approval. This time it was approved”, he noted.
On the allegation that he approved 10 radio licenses to Kingibe and children, Modibbo said there is no law in Nigeria that precludes them from being given a radio license adding that getting approval for radio licences mean “You have the go ahead in principle to operate radio/tv stations. However, that is merely a piece of paper, until and unless you have paid the requisite license fees to the NBC and you’re allocated frequencies to operate.
“As of today, the company being talked about has not paid a kobo for any of the locations and has therefore not been issued with frequencies to operate anywhere in the locations for which it got approval. These are the facts, so those making allegations are either ignorant of the processes or are being mischievous or both”.
He said all presidents before Buhari have similarly approved licenses for several companies adding that, “What then happens is that such companies regularise the processes with the NBC.
“The truth is that radio and television licenses have become very popular and many Nigerians want to participate in the broadcasting industry. When NBC submits the list to the Presidency, the next level is to get the Nigerian security services to do background checks on all the applicants to determine their suitability to be licensed for radio and television ownership in Nigeria. Again, that is a process that the NBC or its DG do not participate in and cannot therefore influence. It is after the completion of the background checks that the Presidency then selects those that get the presidential approval. The list is returned to the NBC and we begin notifying the successful companies to pick their letters and the payments are made, and frequencies are consequently allocated to the new stations. So a company might actually be approved for licenses by the President, but if that company hasn’t paid the statutory license fees, it merely holds pieces of paper”.
“That is the situation with the company they have raised allegations against. Sometimes, companies might even be willing to pay their license fees, but the NBC is unable to collect such payment, if there’s no availability of frequencies in such locations. That is the problem with Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt today. We don’t have frequencies to allocate in the three cities. As for those that allegedly got licensed even when they didn’t apply, it was the President exercising his prerogative as the approval authority”, he submitted.
Modibbo is presently in court facing a N2.5billion fraud allegation leveled against him by the ICPC.
Also charged with Modibbo are; Pinnacle Communications Limited; its founder, Lucky Omonuwa; and its Managing Director, Dipo Onifade.