.Uncertainty trails Nigeria’s third attempt
.House of Reps declares process illegal
.NBC pushes for funding, legislation
.Set top box manufacturers expect payment this week

By Prince Osuagwu (Hi-Tech Editor) & Marie-Therese Nanlong

DESPITE several assurances by the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, and other stakeholders, there still appears a dark cloud shrouding Nigeria’s ability to switch to digital broadcasting by June 20, 2017.

This is after Nigeria had failed to meet the deadline for the Digital Switch-Over, DSO, on two consecutive occasions in the last six years. On each occasion, the issue of funding was heavily attributed to why the deadlines could not be met. But this time around, the House of Assembly is introducing a twist to the story when it declared the whole process illegal.

ANALOGUE TO DIGITAL TRANSMISSION

Approvals for funds

The House committee members on communication which went to Jos, Plateau State, Monday, on an oversight visit, not only expressed doubt that the new deadline would be met with almost all relevant parties to the project having one complaint or the other. They also declared the whole process illegal as it lacks legislation and National Assembly approvals for funds already spent.

The House Committee, led by its Chairman, Mr. Olusegun Odebunmi, who visited the zonal offices of the NTA, NBC and ITS in Jos, said that it discovered among other challenges that there is no law backing the DSO as the International Telecoms Union, ITU treaty signed by Nigeria as a member country has not been domesticated in the National Assembly.

Similarly, it also discovered lack of funds as an impediment, considering that there has been no appropriation for the DSO since inception of the process and even the 2017 budget makes no provision for such activity. According to Odebunmi: “With the ongoing recession and subsidy paid per set-top box for the 30 million projected beneficiaries, one wonders how N45bn required to put effective infrastructure which will cover the entire country and give good signals would be realized.

STBMAN laments

In addition to these challenges, the Set-Top Box manufacturers, are also crying that the NBC was frustrating the process by holding back payment for the Set-Top Boxes even though the Federal Government released the necessary funds long ago.

A reliable source from the Association of Set-Top Box Manufacturers, STBMAN however revealed that the NBC had promised to release the funds this week, and warned that reneging on this promise would mean that the commission was not keen on the success of the whole process.

“This non-payment is impacting heavily on our ability to raise funds, especially loans from banks and consequently, our ability to continue manufacturing. However, it is still possible for us to meet the deadline of June 2017 if the NBC makes payment this week as promised” the source said.

Odebunmi and his colleagues frowned at the process saying, “the national assemblies in other African countries are being carried along but that is not the case in Nigeria.”  According to them operating based solely on executive policy or order will make the programme difficult to sustain.

“There are lots of work to do, what are the plans to cover the entire country as the National Assembly is not informed about the issue of set top boxes and a bill has not even been introduced to enable its passage for us to switch-over.”

Since there has been no legal backing for the entire process, the lawmakers wondered where the money so far spent on the process was coming from saying, “this process is not backed by law hence there is no budget for it, there is a lacuna. For the lawmakers, this means the money spent on subsidizing the set-top boxes are funds released illegally. If it is legal, it ought to have been accommodated in the budget proposal.”

Odebunmi further noted that the visit was not to witch-hunt anyone but “our coming to Jos means we mean business. What we met here are challenges upon challenges and we are trying to see how we can work together with the Executive especially with the Information Minister to see how we can solve the problem of digital switch-over. We are sure that working together with the Executive, we are going to overcome the challenges.

“Another part of the challenge which we are asking is, can NTA meet up with the deadline of June, 2017 with these challenges on ground? But that will not stop us from moving on, the commitment of the President is that we must meet the deadline but as long as we are moving, many others will be joining as we look for ways to meet up. As regarding the set top boxes, that is the process, if you are awarded a contract, there will be a time for payment.

Time for payment

“There are challenges even in the lack of legislation to back up the process but that is why I said we are in the process, Nigeria is ours and the legislators are Nigerians so whatever we can do to make sure Nigeria is moving on, definitely, we will do it. I’m sure we will overcome the problems.”

However, the Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, Mr. Modibo Kawu, is optimistic that the country will not fail in meeting the June, 2017 deadline as he said, “Nigeria has made a commitment, the process is a very expensive one that will help to change the face of TV broadcasting, the set top boxes are being subsidized by government but given the state of the economy, it will be difficult to continue to subsidize.

“A set top box cost $40 multiply that by 30 million, the National Assembly has to help us to fund the project through appropriation, we need to pay for satellite cost among other things, and equipment portfolios must be changed to meet with standard. The NBC Act permits what we are doing, we are not doing anything illegal, we need support in areas of legislation and funding.”

Having contracted two signal distributors, Integrated Television Services, ITS and Pinnacle Nigeria Ltd., 13 National Broadcasting Corporation, NBC licensed set-top box (decoder) manufacturers and content aggregator as well as software and subscriber management services, it appears the functions of too many players instead of being a plus may actually derail the plan as there may be variations in services if the processes are not checked.

Analogue equipment

While the ITS which acquired analogue equipment from the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA distributes signal in Plateau State, the Pinnacles does same in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory but Nigerians largely express dissatisfaction with services rendered as the set-top box still give poor signals in Jos the Plateau State capital and non-connection in surrounding local government areas.

As efforts are being made to meet the said deadline, the challenges faced outweigh the successes achieved as relevant stakeholders call for accelerated engagements to fast-track the processes of meeting the deadline. The chairman of the DigiTeam saddled with the responsibility of ensuring a smooth transition from analogue to digital TV broadcast, Engr. Edward Amana observed that the process has been besieged by what he termed “political problems” stressing “we failed to meet deadline in the past because of no allocation.”

License to manufacture

His words, “We have mapped out how this process will positively impact on our economy, 30 million set top boxes are required and 13 companies have been licensed to manufacture them locally. We expect 29,000 direct employments for our young people, we are trying to evolve the industries and any set top box illegally imported outside the country won’t work in Nigeria.

“The pilot scheme in Jos on April, 2016 was a testing ground to see what it entails, the distribution of the set top boxes was another lesson learnt. Abuja roll out handled by the Pinnacle Nigeria Ltd was another experience, now we are deliberating on how to simultaneously move to six states across the six geopolitical zones, we need allocation or appropriation to the digitalization process.”

On his part, the Managing Director, ITS, Engr. Rotimi Salami stated, “We inherited infrastructure from the NTA but we need to replace analogue equipment. We have to install infrastructure and we need N45bn to put effective infrastructure that will cover Nigeria, we need support to realize our goal.

“The coming of the House Committee on Information on oversight visit is a welcome development because the migration process will be smoother than it presently is. Generally, the challenge we are having is funding and government money is not just spent anyhow you want, there is a process and this process is guided by principles.”