Government to resume DSO roll-out

Nigeria’s federal government has revealed that it will soon resume digital switchover (DSO) across the country.

Minister of information and culture Lai Mohammed made the announcement at a ceremony during the unveiling of the new amendment to the sixth edition of the broadcasting code.

He said DSO was put on hold after it was launched in six states and reiterated the commitment of the government to spreading the benefits of digital television to the people, stressing that it was the fastest way to create jobs.

He assured stakeholders they would hear from the government on the resumption of the DSO roll-out in the coming weeks.

“The government had been implementing policies and programmes to reposition the creative industry and one of the major recommendations of the post Covid-19 initiative committee on the creative industry chaired by ace comedian Ali Baba was a restructuring of the industry,” said the minister.

He said the government would soon set up a committee looking at the implementation of the recommendations to move the industry forward. He also reiterated its commitment to assisting the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria in securing the N10bn Nigeria Media Intervention Fund from the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The roll-out of DSO began in Jos, Plateau in April 2016 and moved to Abuja, Ilorin, Kaduna and Enugu in Oshogbo in February 2018 and Benin City in 2019.

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