THE Nigerian government has ordered 20 privately owned television and radio stations to stop broadcasting because they have failed to pay their licence fees, officials said Tuesday. The stations which include Africa Independent Television (AIT), Raypower FM, and Minaj television, were shut down on Tuesday morning, the acting director-general of the National Broadcasting Commission said. Danladi Bako said the instruction followed 15 months of requests to the stations to pay their broadcasting fees. He said his office will use both staff visits and electronic jamming if necessary to prevent affected stations broadcasting. The unpaid broadcasting licence fees range from $4500 to $100000 and are renewable every five years, he said. The National Broadcasting Commission is owed around $720000. The shutdown of the 20 stations, if it goes ahead, will leave all state-run radio stations operating.