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.
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.
