16th June, 2017
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
The National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, has failed again in its bid to get terrestrial television stations in the country switch over to digital broadcasting.
The NBC had fixed 17 June, 2017 as the deadline for all television broadcast stations to switch to digital broadcasting.
But at a news conference on Friday, the NBC admitted that it could not meet up with the deadline, but reiterated its commitment to the country’s digital switch, insisting that by the end of 2017, about 12 states would have fully completed the process.
The Director General of NBC, Mallam Ishaq Modibo Kawu disclosed this on Friday at a joint press conference in Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria with the Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria (BON), ahead of the June 17 deadline for the country’s digital switch over.
The DG, who noted that Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory and Jos the Plateau state capital, have fully attained the DSO status, said Osun, Kwara, Gombe and Kaduna states would soon join the league.
Kawu, who further explained that 30 channels were already being transmitted by states which had switched over, said the first phase of the digital switch over in the country would cover six states across the six geopolitical zones.
The DG also expressed confidence in the digital switch over process to create jobs and impact local manufacturing of set-top boxes, adding that Nigeria has gone many steps ahead of its peers in Africa on the switch over to digital television broadcasting.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Lai Mohammed had said in December 2016 that the Nigerian television industry is expected to generate one billion dollars annually after the completion of the Digital Switch Over in June 2017.