500,000 Units of Decoders Deployed in Kano for Digital Switchover

By Ibrahim Shuaibu

The Minister for Information and Culture, Mr. Lai Muhammad, has announced that 500,000 units of decoders have been deployed to Kano State for the commencement of the switchover from analogue TV to digital TV in the state.

Mohammed stated this yesterday in Kano while delivering a speech at the switchover ceremony from analogue television to digital television broadcasting in Kano State

He said: “I am reliably informed that the NBC has also conducted awareness training to the DSOs for information officers in the Nigerian Orientation Agency (NOA), and about 500,000 decoders have been deployed to Kano by the setup of manufacturers.”

The minister said that even though the journey, which started in 2006 in Jos, had been slow but steady, the whole country would soon switch over to Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) broadcasting.

This is based on a deadline of June 15, 2015, which was agreed to by signatory countries in Geneva by the International Telecommunications Union to be reviewed by the various countries including Nigeria due to enormity of the phenomenon.

Mohammed said: “The decision to transition from analogue to digital television followed a treaty that was signed at the Regional Radio Communication Conference (RRC-06) in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 16, 2016 to usher in ‘all-digital’ terrestrial broadcast services for sound and television. This is aimed at creating a more equitable, just and people-centered Information Society, which would connect underserved populations and remote communities, thereby bridging the digital divide.”

The Governor of Kano State, Mr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, declared that the state government would purchase and distribute 100,000 units of the decoders, out of which 10,000 would be shared to Ministries, Departments and Agencies as well as Primary Healthcare Centers and local government councils in the state. The remaining would go to other beneficiaries in the state.

He stated that the analogue system would be completely closed down in Kano State in December 2021as all television stations in the state would have switched over to digital broadcasting.