SPEECH BY THE HONOURABLE MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND CULTURE, ALHAJILAI MOHAMMED, AT THE INAUGURATION OF THE GOVERNING BOARD OF THE NATIONAL BROADCASTING COMMISSION (NBC) IN ABUJA ON THURSDAY, 31 MARCH 2022.

PROTOCOL.

I am delighted to be here and I join the Permanent Secretary to welcome you all to this inauguration.

2.   I wish to most sincerely congratulate you on your appointment into the Governing Board of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), a parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture. Your appointment is a call to service, and I am sure you will all live up to expectations.

3.   Please note that the role of the board of any organization is to formulate policies, and NOT to engage in the day-to-day running of the organization. The Board is to evolve strategic ways of supporting the commission so it can most effectively deliver its mandate. I therefore enjoin you all to maintain a cordial relationship with the Chief Executive Officer of the Commission to engender a smooth working relationship.

4.   The most important task facing NBC today is to successfully transition the broadcast industry from analogue to digital broadcasting, through the Digital Switch Over (DSO) project.

While the NBC is the implementing agency for this all-important project, a Ministerial Task Force on DSO, under my chairmanship, is driving the project. As a quick background information, we launched the pilot phase of the project in Jos, Plateau State, on 30 April 2016 and, since then, we have launched the DSO here in the Federal Capital Territory, as well as in Kwara, Kaduna, Enugu, Osun, Lagos and Kano states.

5.  We have an ambitious plan to fast-track the DSO this year by launching it in at least two states every month. Unfortunately, we have not been able to meet this target. But we are working hard to resume the DSO launch as soon as possible.

I urge you all to buy into this project to ensure that NBC is able to deliver on what we perceive as a legacy project – because it will change the face of broadcasting in Nigeria.

6.  Also, please note that as we move closer to the 2023 general elections, the NBC will come under increasing pressure to step up its regulatory role to prevent a repeat of what transpired before, during and after the 2019 general elections, when some broadcast stations threw caution to the wind and engaged in inciting, incendiary and unprofessional broadcasts. It is important for the Commission to ensure that its licensees adhere strictly to the tenets of the Broadcasting Code.

7.   It is now my pleasure, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, to call on the Chairman and members of the reconstituted Governing Board of the NBC to please stand up and remain standing, in readiness for the administration of the oath of office by the Director, Legal Services, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture.

8.   I thank you all for your kind attention