…Minister to brief on new roll out time table
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed is expected to announce the new roll out time table for the crountry Switch Over from analogue to digital transmission.
This is as Nigeria Broadcsting Commission (NBC) has set 2022 deadline for nationwide roll out of the Digital Switch Over.
Already, six states have been hooked on though on Dual-Illumination, that is side by side analogue contents and the digital contents.
The country had missed two previous dates; 2012 and 2020.
Briefing newsmeen on efforts put in place to actualise the new date, NBC Acting DG, Prof. Armstrong Idachaba said the country has taken good steps towards actualising the new date.
Besides, he said the basic elements for transition are on ground.
He said: “Have decided to go into the big cities and the strategy and this will be elaborated on when the minister will brief on Thursday on Roll out timetable which will contain time and cities we will be going.
“We are going to Lagos shortly and before the third quarter of this year we would have covered a least five more states and by the plans we have, by the middle of 2022 we would have completed the digital switch over in Nigeria, God willing.
“There is a big ambition to achieve this national assignment and the good news is that all the component players within the ecology are ready to go. The signal distributors are ready and as we speak, they are setting up their infrastructure in Lagos Port-Harcourt and Kano preparatory to the roll out. The box manufacturers are also working to ensure the availability of boxes needed per city.”
NBC boss also added, “We have taken good steps, we are in six states as we speak and we have done what are critical to the process such as delivery of platforms, we have two signal distributors operating side by side in the six states and FCT , We have setup companies that engage in production of Set-Top Boxes, that is the decoders which is very critical to the transition. We have also INVIEW which is in charge of content production. Nigeria being a hub for content production if not in the whole world but the leading in Africa with the Nollywood, music and other creative sources of artistic expression.
“All the basic elements for transition are on ground and we have already set out the template which will be replicated across the country.”
He commended the minister of finance for the support and also Minister of Information and Culture for his vision in the implementation of the process.
He added, “the Task Force he set up also have as part of the members, a representative of the Minister of finance and I must put on record the huge support we have enjoyed from the minister of finance in trying to push through the idea of making available the fund approved for the roll out
“If I get the body language well, I think there are obvious signs that money will be released on time and the usual bottlenecks will not happen this time.”
