Content aggregation company Cable Channels Nigeria (CCNL) has filed a N15bn (US$41m) lawsuit against Nigeria’s National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) over the revocation of its broadcasting licence.

The court hearing has began at the Federal High Court in Abuja. CCNL claims the NBC should pay special damages for revoking its licence without following due process.

Also being sued as part of the lawsuit is the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami (SAN).

The final sitting was meant to take place on October 30 but none of the defendants or their representatives showed up, so the case was adjourned until November 19 by Justice Ahmed Mohammed.

CCNL points out its licence had been in use for over two years and is requesting the NBC pay almost US$5m to cover additional costs incurred, since its claims the revocation was unjustified, unknown to law and liable to be nullified.

CCNL, a consortium of Nigerian cable TV operators, also wants the court to recover its licence fee of N150m which it had initially paid. In addition, the plaintiff is requesting N15bn in damages as well as N20m for its legal fees.

The content aggregation licence issued to the plaintiff in May 28, 2015 for the transition from analogue to digital was said to have been revoked on June 22, 2018 by the NBC via a letter.

tagged in: Cable Channels Nigeria, CCNL, NBC