The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed said the Digital Switchover will ‘bring out the best’ in young Nigerians as it will enrich Nigeria’s Television production, boost Nigeria’s economy, thereby creating millions of jobs.
Speaking on Friday at the Digital Switchover Launch in Kaduna state, he said the Digital Television experience will empower young Nigerians who are full of talents as it will be a platform to exhibit their talents exploring the spread of the Digital Switchover to many more states.
“Within next few weeks, we will be running out in many states as we seek to take the digital television experience to all the six geopolitical zones. We have so many untold stories and it is evident from demographics that we have enlarged young workforce who happens to be those with the highest propensity to work and consume content.
“We are turning our focus to the crux of the matter which is content production that will help to bolster our economy. At the end of it all, we would have created millions of jobs,’’ he said.
The Minister said it is therefore important to ensure profitability of Television Content as it an avenue to boost Nigeria’s economy.
“By content here, I refer to Television shows, sitcoms, documentaries, music videos, drama series, talent and reality shows, etc. The challenge before us is to ensure that this becomes a profitable industry for our creative channels, entrepreneurs, advertising agencies, Television channels, and digital distributors.
“The value chain of the DSO is so enormous. We are talking about a minimum of 30million households. That is about 60 million eye balls (viewers). This will provide job, not just for youths but also those in the area of manufacturing technical materials and help us ensure that scare foreign exchange is retained within the country,” he said.
According to the Minister, the Digital Switch Over will be over 200 channels and over 1000 organsied production outfit which will create content. All these he said, will require infrastructure investment in production destinations in studio, graphic, sound hubs, among others.
The Digital Switchover which was launched today in Kaduna State had in attendance dignitaries including the Chairman of the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON) and Chairman/CEO of Channels Media Group, Mr John Momoh, and Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Mr Madibbo Kawu, Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, among others.
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