This
is cheering news for Nigerians and those living in Jos particularly. This is
because about 2,000 television viewers in Jos, capital of Plateau state today
switched over from analogue to digital television in the pilot scheme of the
Federal Government digital transmission.
With
the successful switch on of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT), viewers in
Jos with set up boxes would now be able to access 15 high quality video and
audio channels free of charge.
Plateau
Governor, Simon Lalong commended the Federal Government for choosing Plateau
for the pilot scheme.
Lalong
who was represented by his Deputy, Prof. Sonni Tyoden said the switchover to
DTT was a necessity for Nigeria as a signatory to International Broadcast Union
Agreement tagged; Geneva 2006.
He
said that the agreement mandated all countries to switchover to avoid bad
signals as a result of the switchover to digital.
The
governor thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for rolling out 2000 setup boxes
for television users in the state.
“As
a pilot state, the success of the project will be measured by viewers’
satisfaction in the state.’’
Mr
Edward Amana, the Chairman of the Digital Transmission team said that
televisions needed setup boxes to get the digital signals for their analogue
television sets.
Amana
said that the Federal Government was distributing 200 thousand setup boxes free
charge to households in Jos.
According
to him, a total of 30 million setup boxes are required for the entire country.
He
said that the setup boxes for the pilot scheme were imported by the 13
companies licensed to provide the boxes, but subsequent ones would be produced
in Nigeria.
Amana
stated that four out of the 13 companies had already established their
factories in Calabar and Port Harcourt and would soon begin production.
The
chairman stated that each of the companies would employ no fewer than 2000 Nigerians
as setup boxes manufactured in Nigeria would also be exported to West African
countries.
He
said that so far, 450 youths in Plateau had been engaged on temporary basis as
enumerators to distribute the setup boxes.
The
switchover which was done by the Minister of Information and Culture was
witnessed by heads of broadcast media organisations in the country.
Yay!!! Those of us in Lagos, Port
Harcourt, Abuja and all other states are eagerly waiting. One day it shall
reach our side....hopefully lol
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