Broadcasting
FG Cannot Subsidize Television Forever- Lai Mohammed
Federal government has said that it cannot continue to subsidise television forever but will work with relevant stakeholders to design right policy framework and create sustainable ecosystem for the industry.
Lai Mohammed
Alhaji Lai Mohammed, minister of Information and Culture, stated this on Tuesday in Abuja at the virtual inauguration of the Task Team on Audience Measurement.
“Currently, government is subsidising the signal distribution because the channels cannot pay for the carriage of their stations by the licensed Signal Distributors, who have invested in equipment and transmission.
“Things cannot continue like this. Government cannot continue to subsidise television forever, hence we must create a sustainable ecosystem,” he said.
The minister noted that Audience Measurement is the missing link in the entire broadcasting ecosystem.
Audience measurement, according to Wikipedia, “measures how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership…”
He said the broadcast industry needs an Audience Measurement system that will encourage investment, mainly through increased advertising spend driven by confidence in the Audience Ratings data.
He said increase in advertising revenue will in turn encourage current and prospective channel owners to create additional television channels necessary for the success of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT).
“We need an objective and scientific Audience Measurement System that articulates the value of the content to consumers, as well as the value of the audience to advertisers, particularly in the television sector. “The absence of a world class measurement regime has resulted in under-investment in the sector, which is necessary to foster the growth of the industry.
“This is because the advertising community continues to rely on subjective factors when making decisions on the content they want, as opposed to how many viewers the content truly attracts,” he said.
The minister said the consequence of lack of scientific audience measurement system is that television platforms are subjected to renting out space on their channels to sustain their businesses.
He added that content producers are also at the mercy of sponsors which, unfortunately, skews the authenticity of their creative output in favour of a few decision makers, instead of the millions of TV viewers.
He stressed that the existing model will never enable Nigeria’s creative industry to reach its full potential.
The minister said the value of Nigeria’s Broadcast Advertising Market is not proportional to the country’s population, when compared to the Top 3 Markets in the Sub-Saharan Africa.
“Despite having a population more than three times that of South Africa, Nigeria’s Television Advertising Revenue in 2016 was 309 million Dollars compared to that of South Africa, which was 1.301 billion Dollars.
“It is imperative that we urgently put in place an Industry Framework that will ensure that content producers receive their just due for the value of the content they create.
“We must also provide objective guarantees to the Advertising community on their Return-On-Investment on media placements.
“This will then have the overall effect of guaranteeing greater spend by the Advertisers, who are all seeking to grow their market share,” he said.
The minister said with the right policy framework, the Nigerian TV advertisement market will grow two to three times its current size and generate additional 200 million dollars to 400 million dollars revenue to the industry.
He therefore charged the committee of industry experts to help solve the Audience Measurement issue in the country once and for all.
He said the Terms of Reference of the committee included to identify best practice Audience Measurement System that will support the sustainable growth of the Nigeria Creative Industry.
The committee is to recommend a Framework for supporting the sustainability of the Audience Measurement System, independent of the federal government;
The committee is also to recommend a Payment and Disbursement Framework among the key stakeholders in the industry.
The members of the Task Team, which has six weeks to submit its report, are Alhaji Garba Kankarofi as Chairman and Mr Joe Mutah as Secretary. Other members are Mr Obi Asika, Hajiya Sa’aa Ibrahim, Mr Mahmoud Ali Balogun, Mrs Pauline Ehusani and Mr Tolu Ogunkoya. Responding on behalf of other members, Kankarofi thanked the minister for their appointments and assured that they would engage every sector of the industry to come up with good report.
Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria (BON) has established six committees to help strengthen and modernize the country’s broadcasting industry.
The committees will focus on content creation, skills development, digital transformation, sustainability, policy and commercial opportunities
The initiative aims to support industry growth and improve collaboration between broadcasters, regulators and media experts
The official launch recently, was led by Tony Akiotu, president, BON and attended by media professionals, program directors, former journalists and heads of specialized media organizations.
The event brought together several prominent figures in Nigeria’s media industry, including veteran broadcaster and trainer Bimbo Oloyede, Tony Uyah of M4S TV, Kingsley Uranta of Channels Television, Ismael Sani of Platinum TV and Ibrahim Shehu of Trust TV.
Together, they are expected to help drive innovation and support the growth of Nigeria’s broadcasting sector.
According to Akiotu, the committees are intended both to help shape industry policy and to provide a forum for dialogue between BON and broadcasting experts.
Akiotu said the ad hoc committees were intended to strengthen BON’s work and ensure that the umbrella body for Nigeria’s broadcasters played a more direct and meaningful role in developing the country’s broadcasting sector.
The six committees reflect the sector’s main priorities. The first focuses on collaboration and innovation to promote content creation.
The second is dedicated to training and talent development, while the third focuses on industry sustainability by improving the sector’s long-term financial viability.
A fourth committee will focus on digital transformation and work with the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) on regulatory issues.
The remaining two committees will oversee public policy advocacy and the development of sports and commercial rights to help broadcasters increase revenue and attract more investment. Together, the committees are expected to guide BON’s efforts to modernize and strengthen Nigeria’s broadcasting industry.
The committees, chaired by members of BON’s General Assembly and supported by the organization’s Secretariat, have an initial 12-month mandate that may be renewed if necessary.
They are required to submit a progress report within three months and implement approved recommendations within the following six months.
The arrangement is intended to ensure close oversight and the timely implementation of their work.
Akiotu also reminded committee members that Nigeria pioneered television broadcasting in Africa and urged them to carry out their work with greater effectiveness and efficiency.
Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) says it is investigating about 34 tertiary institutions over allegations that they failed to refund students whose tuition fees were paid twice under the Federal Government’s student loan scheme.
The Managing Director of NELFUND, Mr Akintunde Sawyerr, disclosed this during an interview on Arise Television.
Sawyerr said the agency had deployed a five-member investigative team, including operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and internal auditors, to examine the allegations.
According to him, the investigation was prompted by numerous complaints received from affected students.
“As of right now, there are 34 institutions that we are looking at closely with respect to this issue,” he said.
Sawyerr explained that the double payment issue arose because President Bola Tinubu directed that the student loan scheme commence in the middle of an academic session instead of at the beginning.
He said the decision compelled many students to pay their tuition fees to meet registration deadlines while awaiting approval of their loan applications.
“What happened is that a lot of schools got double payment; some from the students and some from us,” he said.
“The refund process is entirely out of our hands. It is the recipient of the double payments that is obliged to make refunds to the students.”
The NELFUND boss noted that many students had borrowed money from family members, friends and other sources to pay their tuition with the expectation of receiving refunds once the loans were disbursed.
He said while some institutions had promptly refunded affected students, others had failed to do so.
“Some have been very good at this. Others haven’t been so good at it,” Sawyerr said.
“I reserve judgement on the intentionality around it because, for some of them, they just didn’t have the process to make refunds.”
Sawyerr disclosed that NELFUND was exploring a tokenised payment system that would enable students to authorise tuition payments directly to their institutions, thereby reducing the likelihood of duplicate payments.
He said the agency deliberately chose not to disburse tuition loans directly to students to minimise the risk of fund diversion.
“Paying the funds to the students could really lead to the temptation for them to divert and do other things,” he said.
The managing director, however, acknowledged that NELFUND lacked the statutory powers to compel institutions to refund students or prosecute officials found culpable.
He added that many frustrated students had submitted complaints not only to NELFUND but also to anti-corruption agencies, including the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
Sawyerr also expressed concern over increases in tuition fees by some institutions following the introduction of the student loan scheme.
He said NELFUND had declined to pay institutions that increased their tuition fees beyond acceptable levels.
“Some schools, because they get paid easily, started to put up their fees. We refused, point blank, to pay institutions who had hiked their fees beyond a certain level,” he said.
He reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to investigating every reported irregularity and strengthening the implementation of the student loan programme through continuous monitoring and internal reviews.
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