$4BN, 50,000 JOBS LOST

Since 2006, Nigeria has struggled to no end to meet the deadline for the International Telecommunications Union, ITU, sanctioned Digital Switch-Over. Thrice, the country has set deadlines, thrice the deadline has not been met. The process has been enmeshed in one controversy or another and 13 years after, it still remains a mirage, costing Nigeria a whopping $4 billion in revenue and thousands of jobs in tow, BABAJIDE OKEOWO reports.

In the beginning

In June 2006, Nigeria penned its signature to the Geneva Agreement on Transition from Analogue to Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting, alongside 116 member countries of the International Telecommunications Union, ITU.  According to this plan known as the GE06, the analogue switch-off date was fixed at June 17, 2012 (on a first trial) and June 17, 2015 (except for some countries in some frequency bands where the deadline is June 17, 2020).

Nigeria has set three targets to complete the switch over, in 2012, 2015 and 2017, but failed to meet any of the targets.From June 17, 2012, to June 17, 2017, Nigeria missed five concurrent years of meeting its set target and the opportunities of wealth creation that comes with it. The DSO comes with a huge financial, social, technological and cultural benefits to Nigeria, however, the possibility of achieving this laudable feat has been mired in controversy of corruption which has stopped the country from achieving the feat even when lesser African countries like Algeria, Ivory Coast, Gabon,andthe Gambia has successfully completed the migration according to ITU.

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What Digital Switch-Over means for Nigerians

The DSO, upon completion, holds humongous benefits for Nigeria and Nigerians. The Switch-Over is expected to create over 50,000 direct jobs and another over 250,000 indirect jobs, emanating from the new Set Top Box Decoders, STB Local Manufacturers, over 200 new television stations and numerous local content production companies that will serve as feedstock for these new 24-hour television channels. The positive impact in the labour market, youth empowerment, creative industry,and manufacturing sector can only be imagined.

Furthermore, with Digital Switch Over, Nigerian viewers will have access to over 200 free to air channels on the FREETV Set To Box – ranging from News, movies, sports, lifestyle and general entertainment channels. The new DSO FREETV Set Top Box will enhance Nollywood film and content monetisation, by providing the platform for new movies and films to be released and distributed, hence fighting piracy. The industry is worth more than US$5.1 billion, making it the third most valuable film industry in the world, behind the United States and India.

The quality of life of Nigerian TV households will improve significantly with better TV viewing experience; better quality picture and clearer sound. There will be more cost-saving options – receiving the same type of Pay TV channels on the new ‘FREETV’, free to air Set-top box. All free of charge under the digital switch over.

Corruption, bane of DSO- Experts

However, since the move to migrate from analogue to digital switch-over began, the whole process has been enmeshed in one corruption controversy or the other. Broadcast industry experts in Nigeria are also of the opinion that corruption in the management of the Digital Switchover process is the greatest bane of the project.  This is even as they acknowledged that technological, financial and legislative hurdles are also some of the hindrances to the successful DSO implementation.

A broadcast engineer, Justus Attoh Akende, in an earlier interview stated that the prosecution of top management staff of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and a firm by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) over an allegedly fraudulent release of N2.5 billion to a private company is a testament of the corrupt practices that have enveloped the entire process.

Akende explained that the DSO guidelines, provided by a Federal Government Whitepaper, directed that the process be exclusively managed by companies affiliated to the Federal Government. Based on the guidelines, two companies were nominated for the purpose.

One of them is the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA)-affiliated ITS, which got a seed grant of N1.7 billion for the commencement of the DSO. But against the guidelines, another private company surfaced and was handed N2.5billion as seed grant, prompting many stakeholders to petition the ICPC, alleging that firm is ineligible, as it is not affiliated to the government.

The ICPC said its investigation into the allegations showed that the firm was recommended to the Minister of Information and Culture by NBC. An ICPC statement by its spokesperson, Rasheedat Okoduwa, said the N2.5 billion was paid into the firm’s account in May/June 2017 for the DSO.

The agency added that the NBC chief failed to adequately explain his decision to ignore the provisions of the guidelines and release of funds to an ineligible company.

ICPC said the firm’s chief confirmed the release of the money to his company, but could not justify how it was used for the DSO.

The ICPC equally said N100 million of the N2.5billion was paid into the firm chief’s personal bank account, which he claimed was for legal services rendered to the company he works for.

Also, N450 million was also found to have allegedly been transferred into the account of a bureau de change for conversion into dollars, physically delivered to the firm’s chief.

The trio has denied allegations of misapplication of funds and graft, with the NBC chief claiming that petitions against him were instigated by a pay-television company which is threatened by looming industry ecosystem change.

The firm is claiming that the award of a nationwide terrestrial pay-television license to some operators, which allows them to distribute content and signal simultaneously, violates the DSO guidelines and was done without due process.

Why Nigeria is yet to fully complete the DSO- NBC

However, the Director-General of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission, NBC, Mallam Modibo Kawu is optimistic that the country will soon complete the DSO while explaining that Nigeria missed the third deadline due to the huge cost implication of the project.

According to Kawu, Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory and Jos, the Plateau State capital have fully attained the DSO status, adding that Osun, Kwara, Gombe,and Kaduna states would soon join the league.

Speaking on the huge financial demand of the project, Kawu stated that though the federal government had licensed 13 companies to establish digital switch-over set-top box manufacturing plants in the country and paid three digital distributors the sum of N600 million each for the project execution, the cost of covering the whole nation of over 191 million people was still humongous.

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Nigeria losing billions to failure to complete DSO-Stakeholders

Former Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Lai Mohammed in an earlier interview had alluded that following the successful completion of the Digital Switch Over, the country stands to generate a whopping $1billion in revenue annually. This is even as he pointed out that industries like the Nigerian film industry, Nollywood, stands to rake in additional $250m to the economy yearly.

Similarly, experts in the industry have posited that once the DSO is completed, Nigeria stands to generate another whopping $4bn in revenue.

“Today, all terrestrial television stations in Nigeria are operating on 450MHZ – 862MHZ: At digital switchover, all the TV stations, both old and new ones will operate under 450 MHz-694 MHz, freeing up the whole of 700 MHz and 800 MHzfrequencies. These frequencies 700 MHZ & 800 MHZcan be farmed back and sold by the FGN to other services, such as mobile broadband as part of the digital dividend and this is worth over $4 billion revenue to the federal government coffers.”

Subtle Sabotage?

There are insinuations in some quarters that the whole process of the DSO is being sabotaged by the major PayTV companies in the country, which somehow feel threatened that if the DSO fully comes into play, they will be losing a major market where they make the large chunk of their money. It is also becoming increasingly clear that one of Nigeria’s endangered frontiers is the broadcast environment, which now seems to be threatened by an armada of foreign programmes and foreign entities. It is becoming obvious that Nigeria’s assertiveness in the digital switchover project is beginning to challenge their comfort.

How to salvage the DSO- Experts

Speaking on the way forward, an ICT expert, Sunday Folayan was of the opinion that due to the huge financial implication of such project as the DSO, it is high time that the federal government considered the establishment of an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Development Bank which would cater for the needs of special and capital intensive projects like the DSO.

“We need a specialist bank that understands IT and can invest in IT. Commercial banks don’t understand agriculture, which is why we have the Bank of Agriculture. Commercial banks don’t understand the industry, which is why we have the Bank of Industry (BoI). So we need a bank of ICT that will specifically understand ICT and be able to fund ICT development in the country. We need a bank for IT that will collect less than 10 percent interest, in order to be able to position ICT in the country,” Folayan said.

Similarly, another expert, Dele Olowu said the country stands to gain a lot from the DSO and as such, must do all she could to achieve the feat.

“A digital switchover will make Nigeria the largest digital television market in Africa, and will also give incredible leverage to film, music and drama productions. What Nigeria has on her hands in prospect, is a cultural explosion of revolutionary proportions. The digital switchover is a huge project and contains even more huge prospects for changing the national economy and creating employment. We have already lost enough time. Let us maintain a steady gaze now and follow the project to the end,” he said.