Lai Mohammed, minister of Information and Culture has stated that contrary to reports, the proposed $500 million loan being sought from China is for three major projects and not for the upgrade of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) alone.
The minister’s plan to secure the loan which he said will be used to digitise NTA to enable it compete with America’s CNN has since attracted wide criticism from Nigerians who described the plan as a waste of money.
But Mohammed, while addressing a press conference on Thursday in Abuja said the loan will be used to construct a headquarters complex and transmission network for Integrated Television Services (ITS), an FG-owned signal distributor that is a major component of the country’s Digital Switch Over (DSO).
The second project according to Mohammed is the construction of an ultra-modern Media City in Ikorodu, and a Media City Training Academy which he described as the second of its type in Africa and first in Egypt, that will train Nigerian broadcasters and filmmakers in the production of high quality media content programmes and make Nigeria a hub for digital movie production in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The minister said the third project will be the digitisation of all NTA Headquarters, 12 Zonal Stations, 36 State Capital NTA Stations and 76 Community Stations as well as the upgrade, purchase and installation of relevant digital TV broadcasting equipment compatible with DSO products and accessories that are necessary for the production and broadcast of digital programme contents, in addition to provision of power system and manpower training.
The minister regretted that there has been a spike in the dissemination of fake news and the use of disinformation in recent times. He said Fake news, disinformation and hate speech have
become the weapons of choice to create tension in the polity and destabilize the country.
Godsgift Onyedinefu, Abuja
