The Federal Government (FG) has urged the SetTop Box
manufacturers to give Nigerians multi-purpose television, reports ITRealms.
Making this call on
behalf of Federal Government, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji
Lai Mohammed, challenged the manufacturers of Set Top Boxes/Decoders in the
country to produce a multi-purpose television set that will help in transforming
the TV experience of Nigerians.
Speaking in Calabar on Thursday during the commissioning of
the ultra-modern Digital Set Top Box manufacturing plant, owned by the Gospell
Digital Technology.
Also, he said the transition from analogue to digital
broadcasting in the country is aimed at giving Nigerians a total television
viewing experience that will transform their lives and change TV viewing forever.
''I have continued to reiterate, and the quality of the
service we launched goes to confirm, that our objective is not to just move Nigerians
from analogue to digital in a simple technical sense, but to improve the
viewing experience and give them increased variety of channels and services.
''The average home today - in order to have access to the
various types of entertainment - will require a television, a Set Top Box and a
VCD/DVD player. This era is about to end. I am challenging the industry to move
to one device in the home - the television. Give us a TV with a built-in
decoder and the requisite middle-ware inside it, being able to access Nollywood
releases with or without the internet, and with a remote control that can
convert the TV into a computer.
''And please not for the rich, but for every Nigerian home.
With that we will have succeeded in the reduction of the cost of access to television,
information and education,'' he said.
The Minister hailed Gospell Digital Technology for building
the country's largest electronic manufacturing and assembly plant, saying the
investors and the managers of the manufacturing plant have exhibited absolute
confidence, ''first in the future and economy prosperity of our beloved
country, and of course in the Digital Switch Over (DSO) programme.
The plant, situated in the Calabar Export Free Trade Zone,
has the capacity to produce 2.4 million Set Top Boxes annually, and has already
provided 500 jobs.
''Going by its achievements in so short a time, the
company's vision of becoming the leading manufacturer of household electronic
video, home entertainment and electrical appliances in Africa is very much within
its reach,'' Alhaji Mohammed said.
Also present at the commissioning were the Executive
Governor of Cross River State, Prof. Ben Ayade; the Chairman of the Senate
Committee on Information, Senator Suleiman Adokwe; Senator Shehu Sani, Senator Samuel
Anyanwu; Senator Mao Ohuabunwa and the Director-General of the National
Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Mala, Is'haq Modibo Kawu.
Uboshe Uboshe/GEE
Pix: From left - Cross River State Governor, Senator Ben Ayade (left); Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed (middle) and the Group Managing Director of Gospell Digital Technology Electronics Manufacturing and Assembly Company, Sir Godfrey Ohuabunwa, at the commissioning of the production plant of the company in Calabar on Thursday.
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