$500m loan not meant for NTA alone – DG
Yakubu Ibn Mohammed is the Director General of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). In this interview, he clarifies issues relating to the loan the Minister of Information spoke about for projects at the NTA and other parastatals, the digital switch over, relevance of traditional broadcasting in today’s technological age, content, programming and revenue generation at the NTA, amongst others.
Yakubu Ibn Mohammed is the Director General of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). In this interview, he clarified issues relating to the loan the Minister of Information spoke about for projects at the NTA and other parastatals, the issues of digital switch over, relevance of traditional broadcasting in today’s technological age, contents, programming and revenue generation at the NTA, amongst others.
There has been controversy and debates over a $500m foreign loan been sought by the Federal Ministry of Information, Culture and National Orientation to upgrade some facilities at the NTA. Could you throw more lights on this?
Yakubu Ibn Mohammed: We need to get the facts right for the records. The $500m loan in question is not to be spent wholly and exclusively for the NTA. it is a loan in the domain of the Ministry of Information, Culture and National Orientation - a Ministry that supervises 19 parastatals and agencies including the NTA. The loan is for the execution of three major projects of the Ministry. One of the project is the development of an ultra modern media city. The media city will be established on a vast expanse of land at Ogijo Ikorodu, Ogun State. It will involve the construction and installation of indoor and outdoor shooting area, animation production faculty, digital media training centre, a world-class cinema, a 4-star hotel, an amusement park and an amphitheatre as well as acquisition of digital movie production equipment for rental and power systems, amongst others. The Media City
Training Academy, like that of Egypt (the only one in Africa) and Dubai, will train Nigerian broadcasters and film makers on how to produce high quality media content programmes and make the country a hub for digital movie production in SubSahara Africa. For this particular project, $245m is earmarked.
The second project is the construction of a headquarters complex and a Transmission Network for the federal government-owned Integrated Television Services (ITS). The ITS is a company responsible for signal distribution, a pivot in the digital switch over process, currently in progress in Nigeria. The estimated cost for this is $232m.
The third aspect of the project entails the digitisation of the NTA Stations. This will involve the digitisation of all NTA stations headquarters, the 12 Zonal stations, the 36 State Capital NTA Stations and the 76 community stations. It will include the upgrade, purchase and installation of relevant digital TV broadcasting equipment compatible with the DSO products and accessories that are necessary for the production and broadcast of digital programme contents, in addition to the provision of power systems and manpower training. This will costyy$111m . The entire project will gulp only about 25% of the total loan of $500m.
At present, NTA has a mix of analogue and digital equipment. Unless and until this situation changes, NTA will become irrelevant in a digital broadcast ecosystem which Nigeria is working to achieve. NTA, as a content provider is a major player in the digital switch over process. The current position of the NTA is such that if nothing is done to digitise its operations as soon as possible, its ability to broadcast the policies and programmes of government will be seriously hampered. The consequences will include information blackout to majority of the citizenry who rely on the Network to keep pace with policies and programmes of the various tiers of government. NTA has the manpower, technical competence and professionalism to compete with major global networks if rightly equipped. This will be facilitated by the loan.
Broadcasters agree that the tectonic shift to online has begun, but believe that until data costs and affordability issues are sorted out, traditional transmission will continue to play a key role in attracting audiences. In your opinion, do you think traditional broadcasting is still key?
Yes, traditional mode of broadcasting is both key and relevant in our current broadcast eco-system . Exorbitant data costs and other hindrances such as illiteracy will continue to be considerations in the “competition” between online and traditional broadcast media. The hindrances cannot disappear overnight - so the traditional media cannot be said to be close to extinction. They are relevant and will continue to be for a long time to come.
For now, Nigeria’s traditional broadcasters remain engaged in the dogfight for audience share. With the economy largely stagnant, competing aggressively and taking advertising revenues from other broadcasters remains crucial, as does the switch to new markets , is NTA considering expansion in other African countries?
No matter the economic conditions NTA cannot expand to other countries for commercial reasons. Our mandate is clear - Inform, Educate and Entertain the citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The act setting up the NTA did not provide for a profit making enterprise. Yes, an effort was made in 1992 to partially commercialize NTA but the exercise was never consummated because the conditions needed to ensure its success were never met and the Act has to date not been amended to change NTA’s status. Yes, we make efforts to generate funds but when these are in conflict with the national interest the latter takes precedence. We have made forays into some African countries like Egypt and Ghana with the major objective of informing, educating and entertaining Nigerians
Talking about Entertaining the masses, entertainment is a big thing now in Nigeria, but the NTA seems to be lagging behind in entertainment for teeming youths, as what is available now is oldies. How are you planning to make sure this is a thing of the past?
We are aware of the demographic configuration of Nigeria and the need to cater for the needs of the different segments of our society. This need informed our decision to set up a 24/7 Entertainment Channel which is on StarTimes platform Channel105. We have also transformed NTA 2 Channel 5, Lagos into a 24/7 Entertainment Channel. Itis on DSTV Chanel 369 and GOTV Channel 114. These are efforts geared towards ensuring that every spectrum of our national demography is catered for
Africa’s rapidly growing population offers an attractive market for broadcasters and advertisers, but the growth of mobile technology, the slow switch from analogue to digital and muted economic growth all pose challenges for the industry. How do you hope to overcome this?
Broadcasting, especially television, is technology driven. Technology, unfortunately, has however never been a strong point of reference for African countries. This means that African broadcasting outfits like the NTA are disadvantaged technologically. But we are constantly trying as best we can to keep up with the industry’s global best practices. Yes, it is tough; yes, it is daunting but we have proved over and over again that we are equal to the task.
NTA has never seen CNN as a competitor because we do not have the same mandate nor do we share the same principles of operation. NTA for example has national interests to consider while CNN is not tied to the protection of any national interests. We admire the technological advancement evident in the operation of the CNN and we want to match that. This is not competition but taking NTA to the next level.
Content seems to be a huge problem for the NTA, how are you tackling the challenge of content and programming?
I do not agree with your position that content, “seems to be a big problem for the NTA”. I would reframe it and say the “Right content”. We acknowledge this and are doing a lot to change the situation. Regular viewers of our various platforms will attest to the fact that things are changing as our programming, content development and delivery have improved tremendously.
Many Nigerians have lost confidence in NTA with many regarding it as a station for the government. What are you doing to change the misconception Nigerians have about NTA?
To say that Nigerians have lost confidence in the NTA amounts to a generalized perception which is definitely wrong. It is a perception informed by a lack of the understanding of the mandate of NTA, which is to propagate and publicize the policies and programmes of the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the benefit of Nigerians .
We have in the recent past refined the way this is done and we have restored NTA’s believability and authority to the extent that the view now is “if it is not on NTA then it has not happened.”
We have NTA Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo, don’t you think the other minority groups in Nigeria will feel left out….
Nigeria has over 200 indigenous languages and there is no way you can have a channel on the Network Service for every one of these languages hence our decision to settle for the three major languages. We however take care of other languages through our state capital and community stations located in all the 36 states and the FCT.
The menance of fake news an hate speech has remainded a huge challenge with the advent of social media platforms, how are you combating that as a broadcast outfit?
The danger of fake news is real and confronting it is the responsibility of all Nigerians. We all should desist from creating it and from spreading it. This is the only way to go.
No matter the economic conditions NTA cannot expand to other countries for commercial reasons.