By Our Correspondent
Amid rising doubts over meeting the June 2017 deadline for the Digital Switch Over (DSO) of broadcast signals in the country, a sudden switch off now hangs over the Abuja switch over three months after it was commissioned with fanfare to signal launching of the digitisation programme.
At the centre of the hitch that threatens to roll back the slow progress in capturing patronage of the Abuja population due to inadequate distribution of the set-top boxes is Information Minister Lai Mohammed’s “skewed” release of overdue payments to the technical partners involved in the DSO.
Although the Minister was not available for comments, a source at the Federal Ministry of Information disclosed that selective payments of N5 billion to the manufacturers of set-top boxes and two billion naira to ITS one of the two signal distributors leaving out Pinnacle Broadcasts whose equipment and facilities were relied upon for the successful national launch of the DSO in Abuja in December 2016 is regarded as an imminent threat to the continuation of digital broadcasts in the federal capital.
Pinnacle Broadcasts have already commenced work on the Kaduna DSO while still awaiting settlement of its overdue bills.
“No one can say why Pinnacle was left out because the approval of fund release to technical partners in the last three weeks has been a prerogative of the Minister alone” our source explained while indicating that the non-payment to Pinnacle Broadcasts “will certainly cause a break in transmission very soon if not resolved.”
The DSO has been mired in a series of disputes and financial scams including the rushed award of contract s to set top box manufacturers in violation of procurement due process and TSA regulations for which the EFCC is prosecuting the former DG of NBC, Emeke Mba, and others.
