Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, says Nigeria will achieve a successful and “history-making” Digital TV switch over ahead of the June 2017 deadline set by the country.

The Minister told the British Broadcasting Commission (BBC) in London, when he met officials of the leading public service broadcaster to understand its central role in supporting the development of Digital TV in the UK.

The Minister said all concerned would work relentlessly to meet the June 2017 deadline for Digital Switch Over (DSO) in Nigeria.

“The Digital Switch Over in the UK spanned about five years (2008 to 2012). Nigeria has a much shorter time to achieve the same feat. But we will harness all the available expertise to ensure a successful and history-making switch over,” Mohammed says.

The Minister also visited Digital UK and Freeview to draw lessons from the UK’s Digital Switch Over programme and to learn about the development of Freeview and the factors which have contributed to its long-running success as the Digital Terrestrial TV service that serves 75% of UK homes.

He rounded off his meetings with officials of the UK’s sole signal distributor Arqiva to understand how the UK’s TV infrastructure was developed and operated, learn about Arqiva’s role in Digital TV Switch Over programme, and how it completed the conversion of its TV network from analogue to digital in
the years 2008 to 2012.

Under a two-day intensive programme that ended on Thursday, the Minister led to the meetings a delegation that included the Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Mr. Is’haq Modibbo Kawu, and other officials of the Commission; the Director-General of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Mr. Mansur Liman, and officials of the Content Aggregator CCNL, according to a government statement.