By Uche Mbah
Social media has been literally on fire in reaction to the request by Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, for a loan of $500 million to revamp the Nigerian Television Authority, to make it at per with the likes of CNN and Al Jazera.
Speaking on the floor of the Senate, Mohammed had declared that the upgrade of the government owned station will digitize it. According to him, they already have the manpower.
“If this project is approved, there will be more visibility for our people in the music, fashion and film industries”, he said.
“In 2014, we made $23 million from music alone and about $53 million in 2019 and we are looking forward to making $83 million in 2025.
“You can imagine the kind of growth we will have if only we digitise all the NTA stations in the country.
“Apart from agriculture, which is the largest employer of labour in Nigeria, especially the youths, the next largest employer of labor is the creative industry,
“The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in 2006 gave June 17, 2015, as deadline for all members of the organization to migrate from analogue to digital.
“Regrettably, we were unable to meet the deadline along-side most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the deadline was moved to 2017, which was not reliable and today the target is June 17, 2020.”His statements were made as part of the defense of the loan being requested for by the federal government to fund critical infrastructure.
The total loan is in $30 billion.
There has been widespread criticisms over the request, with many saying that it is an avenue for the fund to be siphoned. many said NTA should ask Synagogue and Chris Oyakilome how they were able to build international media brand with far less.
Some say that there are rumors of undue vetting of editorial content, and paucity of funds at the station that has made it more of an analogue organization over the years.
