How approval was received for digital broadcasting transition

– The source said approval for the mandatory Digital Switch Over followed necessary due process 

– The source no money was missing from the process 

– She also said governments funds were not paid upfront to anyone who may end up receiving the funds and diverting them

         A source has revealed how the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) facilitated the approval of N34 billion for a mandatory transition from analog to digital broadcasting transition. 

         The source who spoke under anonymity because she is not authorized to speak on the matter said the approval which was done on May 18, 2015 came after the commission perceived Nigeria was going to miss the international deadline on the transition due to crash crunch.
The transition popularly known as Digital Switch Over (DSO) was stalled in previous years due to lack funds and government’s inability to necessitate funding for the transition, the source said.

She added that a proposal from an ICT Law firm in Nigeria, Technology Advisors, provided the funding project for the DSO which was presented to former president Goodluck Jonathan in 2015 for approval.

Former director general Nigerian Broadcasting Commission, Emeka Mba 

She said approvals were immediately made for the utilization of the funds for the DSOs and Set Top Boxes (STB) subsidy rebate.#
         
         She said the STB was approved for 10.1 million television viewing household in Nigeria. But the 10.1 million only 1,250,000 were slated for three pilot cities – Jos, Kaduna and Uyo –  at the rate $45 per STB per household.

“This covered not only the utilization of the proceeds realized for DSO, but also the format of the special auction to be conducted for the license, as well as provisioning of STBs, providing STB rebates, DSO publicity and other critical aspects of the DSO,”
the source said. 

            The minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed on Friday in Jos said the DSO, when completed will create 15,000 jobs for Nigeria’s unemployed. 

Mohammed said 10,000 of the jobs will be for technicians while 5,000 jobs will be left for engineers on completion of the transition. With Nigeria currently running on only four national stations, the minister added that the switch over when completed will give room for better transmission of programmes in Nigeria and also give the nation up to 30 national digital television stations.


              The source continued that MTN Communications Limited, the highest bidder in the auction process was licensed by NBC with its proceeds used to meet up with regional DSO deadline as approved by the former president. “It was based on this approval that the NBC in consultation with all relevant stakeholders involved in the DSO, agreed on the STB rebate scheme financing, with the NBC providing the necessary “off taker guarantees” to all the STB manufacturers through Zenith Bank for the off-shore manufacture and delivery of STBs for the pilot DSO launch in Plateau state.

        She added that investigations showed that the major reason the guarantee was instituted was to ensure that the STB manufacturers were assured that their investment in importing STBs for the Jos DSO pilot and establishing manufacturing plants locally in Nigeria would be safe.