Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has launched the 1,000 Villages Satellite TV Project, which is part of the Chinese government-sponsored 'Access to Satellite TV for 10,000 African Villages Project'.
Launching the
project at a ceremony in Kpaduma village, Federal Capital Territory
(FCT), on Monday, the Minister recalled that Chinese President Xi
Jiping announced the 'Access To Satellite TV For 10,000 African
Villages' during the 2015 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC)
in Johannesburg, South Africa.
He said under the
project, each of the 1,000 carefully-chosen villages in Nigeria will
receive 2 sets of solar powered projector television systems and 1
set of solar 32-inch digital TV integrated terminal system.
Alhaji Mohammed also
said 20 recipient families with TV in each village will be provided
with 20 sets of direct broadcast satellite terminal system free of
charge, adding that viewers in each village
provided with the
projector TV system will enjoy 21 satellite channels free of charge,
while each of the 20 recipient families will have access to 33
satellite TV channels free of charge for two months.
After the expiration
of the two months, he said, viewers can continue to enjoy access to
the 33 channels by paying N900 per month, or enjoy limited access
without payment.
The Minister said
the project complements the efforts of the Buhari Administration at
democratizing access to information and entertainment through the
Digital Switch Over (DSO) for television which has now been rolled
out in the several states and the FCT.
He urged the
satellite TV implementation agency, StarTimes, to expedite the
installation of the TV satellite system to cover the entire country
in order to give the people opportunity to be informed
on the policies and
programmes of the candidates for the various elective positions in
the 2019 general elections.
“The
1,000 villages project could not have come at a better time. In just
a little over one month, Nigerians will be voting in the 2019 general
elections. They need access to information now, more than at any
other time, to know about the over 70 political parties that will be
participating in the elections as well as about their various
candidates,” Alhaji Mohammed said.
The Minister
commended the Chinese government for the project which, he said, will
undoubtedly strengthen the already very cordial China-Nigeria
relations.
In his remarks, the
Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Zhou Pingjian, who pledged the
commitment of China to implementing the outcome of the FOCAC, said
Nigeria and China are working closely to ensure access to information
through television and satellite technology.
“StarTimes
is now working to ensure access and besides access, China and Nigeria
are also working very closely on TV and on Satellite. We are building
the Made-in-Nigeria TV sets,” he said.
On his part, the
Chief Executive Officer of StarTimes, Mr. Justin Zhang, said the
implementation of the project will create more jobs as Nigerians
across the 1,000 villages have been trained on how to
install, recharge
and operate the Satellite TV system.
No comments:
Post a Comment