By DEJI ABDULWAHAB

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, says the Federal Government’s Digital Switchover (DSO) project is ready for commissioning on June 17.

Idris disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja while speaking with newsmen after assessing DSO facilities put in place by the Nigerian Communications Satellite Ltd. (NIGCOMSAT) in partnership with National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the DSO project, managed by the NBC, is Nigeria’s nationwide transition from analog to digital terrestrial television broadcasting.

The project aims to improve broadcast quality, boost the digital economy, and free up spectrum for broadband.

The minister described the completion of the DSO project as an indication that President Bola Tinubu had fulfilled his promise in carrying out reforms across the sectors, especially the broadcast industry.

“I think this is a new dawn for our country. The promise that President Bola Tinubu made that he is going to reform all sectors and we are seeing this reform in action in the broadcast industry.

“You recall that for many years, Nigerians have been grappling with this idea of the digital switchover. In other words, moving our transmissions from the analogue to the digital.

“Now this has happened and is ready to be inaugurated by June 17, this year,” he said.

According to him, while going around the facilities, many of the channels have already been unbundled here.

“This is going to bring a lot of advantages to all the broadcasters, the viewers, and everybody that advertises.

“Now science is at play. I mean, if you are now viewing any particular station, you know who is viewing what, how many people are viewing.”

The minister said that the standard measurement that was absent in the previous experiments was now being made available.

According to him, this will help advertisers to take informed decisions about what programming is it that people are watching, what is it that Nigerians want to watch across all the demographics.

“So, it’s easy for you to now say, I want to put an advert on this channel or I want to put it on this channel. Who are you targeting?”

The minister lauded the collaboration between NIGCOMSAT, NBC and the Ministries of Communication and Information and National Orientation for making the initiative happen.

He also thanked President Tinubu for providing all the resources required to deliver the project to Nigerians.

“It’s been such a shame in the past that Nigeria has not been able to achieve this. But now the digital switchover is here.

“Everybody now can watch whatever he wants to watch in real time and painlessly. Free TV everywhere for everybody.

“This will enable viewers, advertisers, and everybody to now take informed decisions about what he views on any particular channel.

“I think this is a great thing that is happening. And we know that by the time that we return here on June 17, when this is going to be officially unveiled to Nigerians, Nigerians will really be very happy about it.”

The Managing Director/ CEO of NIGCOMSAT, Jane Egerton-Idehen, attributed the success of the DSO project to the strong collaboration among relevant agencies and support given to NIGCOMSAT by the President.

Also speaking, the Director-General of the NBC, Charles Ebuebu, said the commission had considered emerging technologies while designing digital terrestrial television broadcasting.

“The younger population like things on their mobile devices. That’s why we have put this there.

“We have also gone by way of satellites. So, rather than restricting content to just eight cities. We are all over Nigeria and beyond,” the NBC D-G said.

According to him, NBC is updating the list of channels. We are going to have 100 channels by the day of launch. And even more because more content producers are talking to us.

“We are also bringing up content. We have six regional studios around the country.

“You don’t have to travel to Lagos or Abuja or Kano to develop your content. You just go to the nearest regional studio and develop,” he said. (NAN)

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