Private Sector Should Ensure Full Realisation of Digital Switch Over In Nigeria – Stakeholders

A clarion call has been made of the dire need for the private sector to be fully involved in the digital switch over in Nigeria.

This call was made at the recently held webinar on the full implementation of Digital Switch Over which saw the convergence of major stakeholders in the Nigerian broadcast industry and foreign speakers.

As part of her Corporate Social Responsibility activities, Aims Media Company Limited, led by a broadcaster of almost forty years, Hajia Aminah Muhammad, felt the need to brain storm and hold a conversation on how best to fully switch over from analogue to digital signals.

In his welcome address, Dr. Ahmed Tunde Popoola, the Chairman of Aims Media Board, appreciated the convergence of the major players to enlighten the public on the much awaited digitization.

In his keynote address, Prof. Armstrong Idachaba, the Director-General of National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, presented the milestone that has been reached with the Digital Switch Over implementation in six states of the Federation.

He further emphasized on how the paucity of funds has militated the full implementation in the entire country.

According to Mrs. Jibe Ologeh, the President of EMCOAN, the relevance of the production of local broadcast content cannot be over-emphasized to avoid reliance on on foreign content.

She said that there is need to explored the benefits of this to avoid imperialistic influence on viewers particularly among children.

Speaking on the importance of content distribution, Mr. Ahmed Lawal, the Zonal Director of NTA Lagos Network Centre, used the platform to explore the various ways broadcast stations can partner with content owners for a mutually beneficial venture using NTA 2 Lagos as a case study.

The representative of Bank of Industry was also on hand to give the various criteria for funding creative and broadcast content with Emeka Ossai explaining the economic viability of such creative content for advertisers to have the right platform to sell their brands.

Throwing light of the delay in payment of the commercial input of media content, Mrs. Bunmi Makinde of Scout Media explained some of the challenges that may arise in the contract while calling for a proper agreement between the parties before the commencement of the media campaign.

The issue with compliance and monitoring agency regarding the delay was also xrayed. The regulation of the commercial content was explained by the APCON representative who posited that all commercial content must adhere to the rules and regulations of the code to have sanity in the air waves.

Sharing his varied experience in some African countries where he has successfully consulted and supervised the digitization process, Russell Southwood of Balancing Act based in United Kingdom, emphasized the need for the set up boxes to be subsidized for the down-trodden to be able to enjoy the digital signals.

” if we must fully switch over from Analogue to digital broadcast signals for an improved and more interactive signals.”

Emphasizing on the benefits of DSO, he concluded that there will be a reduction of broadcast transmitters and more broadcast content thereby creating more jobs for innovative content.

The interactive webinar had more participants both in Nigeria and in diaspora lending a voice to the subject as we gradually await the full implementation of the Digital Switch Over in another two to three years to be at par with other African countries to truly claim the giant in us.

All participants at the webinar commended Hajia Aminah Muhammed and the entire board and management of AIMS MEDIA for the great initiative.