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Transition to Digital Broadcasting Requires Careful Planning – Bolarinwa

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Yomi Bolarinwa, director general, National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) a parastatal of the Federal Government of Nigeria, empowered to regulate the broadcasting industry. Under him, the NBC is now evolving defined standards, in all aspects of Broadcasting, by effectively licensing, monitoring and regulating an environment that encourages investment and development of quality programming and technology for a viable industry, which competes favourably in the global information society. Bolarinwa spoke to hilary okeke on a wide of issues

Meeting the Digitisation Switchover Deadline
Yes. There are lots of activities going on already and the target date of June17, 2012 will be met. In October 2009, the African Union ministers of communications met in South Africa and one of their recommendations to African Heads of States was that the switchover date for African countries should be in 2012. The internationally signed agreement is 2015 for UHF and 2020 for VHF. We have signed an international agreement that come June 12, 2015 our transmission will not cause interference to our neighbours’ transmissions. The planning in Nigeria is carefully done so that our switchover date in Nigeria would be met. We are going to start from our border areas, take care of our international agreements and move inwards, until we finally switchover. But we will take it in phases, and it is important for us that come 2012, those border areas are switched off and we won’t be causing interference to anybody; and then we can use the experience to carefully move inwards.

Delayed Whitepaper on Recommendations by Presidential Advisory Committee
We have not stopped working to meet the deadline. We understand that there are certain things that should go on because it is very clear that we must transit from analogue to digital broadcasting. The standard adopted for Nigeria is the DVB-T, which is the standard used all over Europe and would also be used all over Africa, and the planning for transition is based on that.
There is no political intrigue around the yet to be issued whitepaper, government is just trying to ensure that everybody is being carried along. When you give tax or import duty waiver on broadcast equipment, for example, it affects the federation account. We are in a democratic dispensation, and this is not a matter to be decided by the executive alone. Members of the National Assembly are also involved and they need to deliberate and agree that this is what is best for the country. What is being done is to ensure that we have a firm policy on ground, unlike in South Africa and Ghana where problems are beginning to come up due to improper planning. There is no way the federal government would prefer a prolonged transition period  (during which there will be simultaneous transmission of analogue and digital signals) because of its cost implications. We do not manufacture any of these equipment, and the longer the transition period, the more difficult it becomes for us to keep our analogue equipment going; and the more old disused equipment are dumped in Nigeria. A short transition period ensures that we can do this without so much cost. If we have a longer transition period, it is going to cost money, and would increase the cost of our eventual switchover. We need to get it right, otherwise we will run into trouble and confusion.
Situation with Broadcast Stations
Most broadcast stations in Nigeria have already gone digital. Broadcasting is a chain, which starts from the acquisition stage (with the microphone and camera), through the production and then the transmission stages. Today, the acquisition and the production parts of the chain are digital. What is left now is the last mile, that is the transmission of digital signals from stations to homes. Viewers at home should have the wherewithal to receive digital signals. So we are looking at the acquisition of a digital receiver or an analogue receiver with an additional equipment called the set-top box, which interfaces with the analogue TV set and converts digital signals to analogue.

Acquisition of New Transmitters
As far back as 2004, the broadcasting industry on its own had agreed that the industry should look at the issue of a central facility provider. When the issue of digitisation came up and the realities dawned on the industry, it was also agreed that a new set of licensees who should provide transmission services, be introduced. A facility provider will be a standalone Nigerian registered company, which understands the business of transmission and has the wherewithal to warehouse transmitters – including microwave, satellite, fibre optics links – since he needs to get signals from the broadcaster, and then transmit to viewers. We know that political decisions are taken in states to buy new transmitters for TV stations, but we are making efforts to get the chairman of the Governors’ Forum so that we can talk to them. The Board members of the National Broadcasting Commission are trying to go round states to advise these political officeholders about the futility of acquiring new transmission equipment, especially for TV stations.
In the digital domain, broadcasters would have the license to provide their content and somebody else would have the license to provide transmission services. If you have your license today as a broadcaster, it does not matter where you do your production. All you need is the ability to send your content to the transmission provider and you are on-air. So business becomes even easier and cheaper for them.

Making Set-Top Boxes Available
With an analogue TV set you need to buy a set-top box in order to receive digital signals from a station like NTA. Considering the economic situation in the country and the fact that many people could barely afford digital ready TV sets, a reasonable option would be using set-top boxes that currently cost an average of $50, which many cannot afford too. As transition moves to the switchover date all over the world though, it follows that large numbers of set-top boxes are required and thus, the cost would reduce. What the Nigerian government might do is to encourage some manufacturers of set-top boxes to open shop here, close the border to the importation of such devices, give them tax holiday or import waiver on every component and provide infrastructure for them. These would bring down the average cost of a set-top box to between $15 and $20. The South African government has provided an enabling environment for manufacturers to make set-top boxes and ensured that they are of the same standard with the ones in other countries within the southern African belt. They provided a big market for the manufacturers, and the price came down to what their citizens can afford. This is what we are considering. The border should also be strengthened so that nobody jeopardizes the whole effort, and the manufacturers encouraged so that we would get a reasonable price and have set-top boxes available to everybody.

 

 


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NIMC Disowns Fake NIN Portal

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National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has warned Nigerians to disregard a viral online flyer claiming that a free portal has been opened for the correction of National Identification Number (NIN) data.

NIMC Disowns Fake NIN Portal

In a statement posted on its official X (formerly Twitter) handle, the commission described the flyer as fake and cautioned the public against using any links associated with it.

“The public is hereby advised not to use the above for modifying their NIN data. All modifications should only be done via the official channel,” NIMC stated, directing users to its authorised self-service portal.

The misleading flyer, which has circulated widely on social media, carries the logos of NIMC and the federal government, falsely claiming that authorities had launched a special correction portal in response to a “high level of complain.”

It lists services such as name, gender, and date of birth corrections, and provides links redirecting users to a suspicious “gvly.xyz” domain—an address the commission says is not affiliated with any government platform.

NIMC noted that the flyer has since been marked “FAKE” in red, indicating it is being recirculated as part of efforts to debunk the misinformation.

The Commission reiterated that all NIN data modifications can only be carried out through its official self-service platform, urging Nigerians to remain vigilant and avoid falling victim to online scams.


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Moniepoint Acquires Orda Africa to Transform Africa’s $50Bn Restaurant Sector

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Moniepoint Inc. (“Moniepoint” or the “Company”), Africa’s all-in-one financial ecosystem platform for individuals, businesses and their customers, today announced the acquisition of Orda Africa (“Orda”), a leading cloud-based restaurant management platform operating in Nigeria.

Moniepoint Acquires Orda Africa to Transform Africa's $50bn Restaurant Sector

Moniepoint

Under the terms of this acquisition, Orda will become part of the Moniebook platform, Moniepoint’s all-in-one Point-of-Sale (POS) and business management platform. Since launching its business management tools product in 2025, Moniebook has rapidly become the go-to platform for thousands of African businesses seeking integrated financial and operational tools, seamlessly unifying payments and bookkeeping in one platform.

With Orda, restaurant owners can now gain access to this proven ecosystem that creates unprecedented opportunities to scale operations, optimize performance, and access credit, as well as the extensive reach of Moniepoint which has powered growth for millions of African businesses.

The acquisition comes as Africa’s food service industry experiences unprecedented growth, with the sector valued at $50 billion and Nigeria’s market alone projected to reach $19.31 billion by 2030, growing at 11.73% annually. With Orda’s restaurant-focused capabilities now part of the Moniepoint ecosystem, the platform is well-positioned to capture this opportunity.

Founded in 2015 by Tosin Eniolorunda and Felix Ike, today Moniepoint has grown into one of Nigeria’s leading distributors of financial services as well as a trusted platform for many of the country’s MSMEs especially in the informal sector.

The company has considerably expanded its offerings to include digital payments, business and personal banking, credit, cross-border payments, and business management tools with a customer base exceeding 20 million active businesses and personal banking customers and processes over US$250 billion in digital payments transaction value annually.

Tosin Eniolorunda, Co-Founder and Group CEO of Moniepoint Inc., said: “The food industry isn’t just about feeding people, it’s a major source of jobs and daily survival for many Africans. It highlights how vital the informal sector is, not just for the economy, but for everyday life across the continent.

Data has shown us that Africa’s restaurant sector is one of the continent’s most dynamic economic engines, yet the majority of food businesses still operate with manual processes and fragmented tools. By bringing Orda into Moniepoint, we are giving restaurant owners what they deserve: one simple platform that handles everything from managing their kitchen to growing their business. Our goal remains to create financial happiness for Africans, giving them the tools to reach their full potential and that’s exactly what we’ve built here.”

Founded in 2020, Orda was built to give Africa’s small and independent restaurants the tools they need to run more efficiently, providing a purpose-built software to businesses that had long operated without it.

Guy Futi, CEO of Orda, reassured existing customers: “Orda has found the perfect home in Moniepoint. We have spent years building deep expertise in restaurant operations, but we have always known that to truly transform the industry, we needed to connect that expertise with comprehensive financial infrastructure.

“That’s exactly what this integration delivers. For our customers, we are assuring a smooth transition with no disruption to the platform and retained access to the support you are used to. What changes is your access to opportunities.

“Over the coming weeks, being part of Moniepoint means you’ll have more tools, more reach, and more ways to grow your business than ever before”

Combining their respective strengths, Moniepoint and Orda deliver a purpose-built solution that empowers food businesses at every scale to manage orders, track inventory, pay suppliers, and access working capital, all in one seamless experience.

This move represents a demonstrated commitment to building a dedicated financial infrastructure designed around the unique complexity of Africa’s food economy.

For the millions of food entrepreneurs across the continent, from the everyday buka owner to the high-end restaurateur, this acquisition means less time managing multiple tools or carrying out arduous manual work and more time doing what they do best – feeding Africa.


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Tech Firms Sack over 45,000 so Far in 2026

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More than 45,000 jobs have been cut across the global technology sector in the first few months of 2026, according to data from RationalFX, signalling that the industry is still adjusting after a period of aggressive hiring rather than returning to a full growth phase.

Tech Firms Sack over 45,000 so Far in 2026

“In 2025, automation, artificial intelligence, and sustained cost-discipline measures drove much of the downsizing, with entire departments restructured or eliminated in favour of leaner, AI-assisted workflows. This trend has continued full steam into 2026,” said Alan Cohen, analyst at RationalFX.

According to the report, if the current rate of redundancies is sustained, total layoffs in 2026 could surpass the 245,000 recorded in 2025.

The majority of these layoffs have been concentrated in the United States, with major companies continuing to trim their workforce despite stable core operations.

Amazon has announced approximately 16,000 job cuts this year, while Block has also reduced thousands of roles as it tightens operations and shifts focus towards artificial intelligence.

There are indications that further reductions may follow.

Meta is reportedly considering additional layoffs as it increases investment in AI infrastructure, while PayPal and Klarna are reassessing spending and hiring strategies amid ongoing uncertainty.

Established technology firms are also undergoing restructuring. Dell has reduced its workforce by around 11,000 over the past year as part of a broader reorganisation, while Salesforce has cut approximately 1,000 roles in 2026 while aligning its teams more closely with AI-driven products.

Outside the United States, layoffs have been smaller in scale but more geographically dispersed.

Australia has reported around 2,650 job cuts so far this year, followed by Sweden with roughly 1,923 and Netherlands with about 1,700.

Other markets have also been affected. Israel and India have recorded approximately 1,539 and 1,520 layoffs respectively, with Israel’s startup ecosystem particularly sensitive to tighter funding conditions, while in India, both startups and larger IT firms have reduced headcount as global client spending slows.

In Singapore, around 1,016 layoffs have been reported, reflecting a softer hiring environment across Asia’s major technology hubs, where companies are adopting a more cautious approach amid uneven demand.

Across Europe, job cuts have been comparatively limited but still noticeable.

The United Kingdom has recorded around 1,000 layoffs, while Czech Republic and Germany have seen smaller reductions.

The broader trend suggests that technology companies are shifting towards leaner operations and more defined priorities following years of expansion. Increasing investment in automation and artificial intelligence is also reshaping the types of roles in demand.

For employees, the impact is becoming increasingly visible, with hiring slowing and becoming more selective. While opportunities remain, companies are taking a more measured approach to recruitment compared to the rapid expansion seen in previous years.

 

Further credit… .storyboard18.com

 


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