TheCable

Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, has expressed optimism that the Nigerian economy will soon be transformed in an unprecedented manner, which will lead to the creation of “hundreds of thousands of jobs”

Speaking on Friday when he visited Gyang Buba, the Gbong Gwom Jos, Mohammed said thousands of jobs would be created in 2017 when the country is expected to switch from analogue to digital broadcasting.

He said the digitisation of the broadcast industry would revolutionise the broadcast media industry and boost the nation’s economy.

“This project is going to bring a revolution not just to communication and media industry in terms of television, advertising, content producing and film making,” he said.

“But it is going to change the economy in a manner that has never been seen before.

“Over 5, 000 direct jobs for engineers, another 15, 000 for technicians, hundreds of thousands of jobs for people who will become retailers and vendors in all the local governments of the federation.”

He said when the country goes digital, every Nigerian would be able to watch a minimum of 30 channels on their television free of charge.

Mohammed said many stations, which Nigerians pay to watch would not only be viewed free but with e better quality.

He said the choice of Jos for the pilot scheme of the digitisation, which has April as deadline, is significant in many aspects.

“Jos was chosen because historically, Jos has always been number one cosmopolitan city in the country and because Jos was where historically the colour television was first aired in Nigeria,” he said.

“Jos is one city that has a confluence of regional, national network and also private channels and that is why we are starting our pilot scheme in Jos in April.

“We have 15 channels for the pilot scheme programme. I am here today to meet with all the stakeholders in this project, like the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), representatives of the digital team and other consultants.”

The minister said that the visit was to monitor progress on the work and as well as the impediments that might hinder meeting the April deadline.

In his remarks, the monarch said that the choice of Jos would help in the confidence-building mechanism to return Jos and Plateau as the home of peace and tourism.

He said that the visit would afford the minister the opportunity to see things for himself, saying often situations concerning the state were misrepresented.

“We have our challenges but we also know that the whole of Nigeria has challenges and we believe that the country through this government will overcome the challenges so that we can continue our match to greatness,” he said.