Nigeria Targets New Digital Switchover Date
Thu Mar 17, 2016 02:26:pm National
2.6K By sosa hills
In a bid to avoid missing the new deadline set for the Digital Switch-Over (DSO), the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has set up an Inter-Ministerial Committee on the matter with a commitment to meeting the deadline by June 2017.
At the inauguration in Abuja on Tuesday, Alhaji Mohammed stated that Nigeria, along with all ECOWAS member countries, will be transiting from analogue to digital broadcasting by 2017.
Although Nigeria had failed twice to meet the DSO deadline, the immediate past Director General of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Mr. Emeka Mba, had hoped he would eventually lead the country to achieve migration by June 20, 2017, which is the new deadline. But his hope was dashed following his sudden removal from office, along with other 26 DGs of federal government parastatals.
'We don't have an option; we must meet the 2017 deadline. Otherwise our TV sets will be useless to us. We cannot afford to be left behind'', he told the committee that comprises representatives of the Federal Ministry of Information as well as that of Trade and Investment, Central Bank of Nigeria, and the Nigeria Customs Service.
"The significant thing about this deadline is that as of today, we have agreed with all other ECOWAS member states that June 2017 will be the cut-off line for all of us to move to Digital. To that effect, uniform equipment and transmission channels have been agreed for all the member states", he said.
The minister reminded the committee that failure to meet the deadline would amount to violating an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) treaty which Nigeria and other ECOWAS nations have ratified.
He said that already, Nigeria has recorded some progress towards meeting the deadline, having licensed signal distributors and 13 Set-Top-Box Manufacturers, in addition to reaching agreement with the Content Aggregators as well as software companies.
Alhaji Mohammed further revealed that Jos has been selected for the pilot project, noting that Plateau State capital was selected because of its historical role in the transition from black and white to colour television in Nigeria, its mix of local, regional and national television stations as well as its cosmopolitan nature.
At the inauguration in Abuja on Tuesday, Alhaji Mohammed stated that Nigeria, along with all ECOWAS member countries, will be transiting from analogue to digital broadcasting by 2017.
Although Nigeria had failed twice to meet the DSO deadline, the immediate past Director General of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Mr. Emeka Mba, had hoped he would eventually lead the country to achieve migration by June 20, 2017, which is the new deadline. But his hope was dashed following his sudden removal from office, along with other 26 DGs of federal government parastatals.
'We don't have an option; we must meet the 2017 deadline. Otherwise our TV sets will be useless to us. We cannot afford to be left behind'', he told the committee that comprises representatives of the Federal Ministry of Information as well as that of Trade and Investment, Central Bank of Nigeria, and the Nigeria Customs Service.
"The significant thing about this deadline is that as of today, we have agreed with all other ECOWAS member states that June 2017 will be the cut-off line for all of us to move to Digital. To that effect, uniform equipment and transmission channels have been agreed for all the member states", he said.
The minister reminded the committee that failure to meet the deadline would amount to violating an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) treaty which Nigeria and other ECOWAS nations have ratified.
He said that already, Nigeria has recorded some progress towards meeting the deadline, having licensed signal distributors and 13 Set-Top-Box Manufacturers, in addition to reaching agreement with the Content Aggregators as well as software companies.
Alhaji Mohammed further revealed that Jos has been selected for the pilot project, noting that Plateau State capital was selected because of its historical role in the transition from black and white to colour television in Nigeria, its mix of local, regional and national television stations as well as its cosmopolitan nature.
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