FG Launches Digital Switch-over in Jos, Targets Abuja, Lagos

The federal government on Sunday launched the pilot scheme of switch-over from analogue to digital broadcasting in Jos, Plateau state, signalling the commencement of a nationwide digitisation process.

To this end, the government will commence distribution of 200,000 free set-up boxes to households within the Jos metropolis and neighbouring communities, while other users will have to purchase a set-up box at the rate of N 1,500 each.

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, while performing the epochal function, noted that it was important for states and local governments throughout the federation to support the process by investing in the purchase of set-up boxes.

He said the next phase of switch over will be conducted in Abuja and Lagos.

According to the minister, about 30 million subscribers are being targeted across the country, which suggest one of the biggest television market in the world.

“We call on the local and state governments to help us by buying the boxes – which the Federal Government has highly subsidized – for their citizens. The Federal Government is also giving out, free of charge, the 200,000 boxes for this pilot phase. And the Plateau State Government has agreed to buy 300,000 boxes for their citizens. We are targeting 30 million viewers across the country, which will make Nigeria the biggest Free TV market in the world. Congratulations to everyone who has been part of this epoch-making process,” he said.

Comments

Understanding Prof. Yemi Osinbajo - Abraham Ogbodo

Abraham Ogbodo I am trying to understand Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Often, he speaks out of character. That is, he talks as if he is Vice President before he is a professor of law, even when I know that the latter comes first. The man wasn’t like this when he was the attorney general of Lagos State and a teacher at the Law Faculty of the University of Lagos. Then, his statements were measured and as a seasoned lawyer, based on facts. But today, Osinbajo is sounding like Adams Oshiomhole, a union leader, who by the grace of God, became governor of Edo State for eight years. The revelations about big thefts in the economy had come more from Adams than even Ibrahim Magu, chairman of the EFCC. It was Adams who said former petroleum minister; Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke alone stole 13 billion British pounds from the national treasury. That is like saying she stole in raw cash almost twice as much as the entire fortune of Alhaj...

Boko Haram’s campaign against education and enlightenment - By Landry Signe

Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Boko Haram, the Islamist terrorist group originating from Nigeria is frightened by this enlightening power of education. Unsurprisingly, on Monday, February 19, the group, whose name often translates to “Western education is a sin,” stormed a girls’ school in the village of Dapchi in northern Nigeria to abduct students. Of the 907 schoolgirls who were in the school the day of the attack, more than 100 are still missing as of Sunday. Since it became violent about a decade ago, Boko Haram’s actions, through these and other types of bloody attacks, have resulted in horrifying consequences. Human Rights Watch estimates that Boko Haram has left at least 7 million in need of humanitarian assistance, 2.1 million displaced, and 20,000 civilians dead. Local leaders claim the number is significantly higher. Despite such causalities, it took Boko Haram’s massive kidnapping of 276 sch...

FG borrows N3.38bn To Aid Potato Production in Plateau

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) wednesday approved N3.38 billion to boost the production of potatoes in Plateau State. The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who made the disclosure said the money would be borrowed from Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) with one per cent interest rate and 25 years moratorium. The minister who said the loan was not fresh, explained that it had previously been cancelled by the federal government with the intention to make a fresh request for the loan on behalf of Plateau State which she said was responsible for 95 per cent of potato production in the country. According to her, following ADB’s comprehensive programme on potato production in Plateau State, 100,000 families and 17 local government areas of Plateau State would benefit from the loan while 60,000 jobs would be created by the initiative. “My approval was on behalf of Plateau State to support the potato value chain. There is a loan that we had previously cancelled from ...

ATTENCAO

Search This Blog