Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed has come out to say that the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) will compete with Cable News Network (CNN) if his ministry receives the $500million loan it needs for an upgrade.
Lai revealed this as he showed up at the senate committee on local and foreign loans.
According to the minister, NTA will only grow to greater heights when digitized, because the manpower is already available to make things happen.
He added that the fact that the creative industry employs tons of Nigerians is also another reason to invest heavily in it.
His words, “If this project is approved, there will be more visibility for our people in the music, fashion and film industries.
“In 2014, we made $23 million from music alone and about $53 million in 2019 and we're looking forward to making $83 million in 2025.
“You can imagine the kind of growth we will have if only we digitise all the NTA stations in the country.”
“Apart from agriculture, which is the largest employer of labour in Nigeria, especially the youths, the next largest employer of labour is the creative industry.”
“The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in 2006 gave June 17, 2015, as deadline for all members of the organization to migrate from analogue to digital.
“Regrettably, we were unable to meet the deadline along-side most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the deadline was moved to 2017, which was not reliable and today the target is June 17, 2020.”