FG: Digital Switch-over to Yield $1.1bn, Create 2m Jobs

The ongoing process of switchover from analogue to digital broadcasting when completed, will yield $1.1 billion revenue and create two million jobs, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said yesterday.

The minister who made the disclosure while briefing journalists after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in the State House, Abuja, said the ministry had also put the machinery in place to create additional 1 million jobs.

Giving a breakdown of the proposed revenues, Mohammed said $1 billion would be realised from the sale of the spectrum that would be vacated when the analogue to digital migration is completed, while additional $1 million would be generated from the collection of television licences and digital access fees.

According to him, with the initiative and other initiatives from the ministry, no fewer than 2 million jobs would be created in the next three years in accordance with the vision of President Muhammadu Buhari to lift 100 million from poverty.

He said: “But the good news, as contained in today’s presentation, is that the Ministry of Information and Culture is set to create over 2 million jobs within the next three years. We are doing this through the implementation of Deliverable number seven, which mandates us to collaborate with the private sector to create jobs for the youth.

“Gentlemen, the number one job creator under the Ministry of Information and Culture is the Digital Switch Over (DSO) in broadcasting, which is set to create 1 million jobs in the next three years through the manufacturing of set-top-boxes (decoders) and TV sets, TV and Film production, as well as TV and Online advertising and Data, among others.