The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on March 2, 2018 inaugurated the fifth Board of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) comprising of 10 members.
The inauguration of the NBC Board took place along with the inauguration of the Boards of 12 other parastatals under the Ministry of Information and Culture.
The ten-man NBC Board includes Alh. Ikra Aliyu Bilbis as Chairman; Is’haq Modibbo Kawu, the Commission’s current Director General and Mal. Nasir Danladi Bako, a former Director General of the Commission, both as members of the Board.
Other Board members are Dr. Yusha’u Ahmed M, Hon. Tjjani U. Marafa, Hajia Rabi Ana Haruna, Hon. Agbo K. Ndubuisi (JP), Chief Ajibade Emiabata Balogun, Bar. Saliu Bamidele Aluko and Engr. Garba Lawal Dass.
After the inauguration, members of the newly inaugurated NBC Board moved to the Commission’s Headquarters where they met with the Management and a reception was held for them.
In his remarks at the reception, the NBC Director General, Malam Modibo Kawu noted that his job since May 2016, to make NBC the best broadcast regulatory agency in the world, has been made easier due to the assemblage of experienced and distinguished individuals on the board of the Commission.
He enthused that for them at the NBC, it is a remarkable homecoming for some of the Board members, pointing out that the chairman was once a Minister of State in the Ministry of Information while Malam Nasir Danladi Bako is a former Director General of the Commission “who burnt a very positive imprimatur on this institution”.
Malam Kawu pointed out that their appointment was coming at a remarkable moment when the Digital Switch Over (DSO) process which is a “front-burner project of the Commission, initiated by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU); actively supported by the Federal Government is being strategically implemented by the NBC and a group of stakeholders.”
The DSO, according to Malam Kawu encountered an initial delay of over 12 years but has now witnessed success in six states with one of its signal distributors currently installing facilities for the next round of rollouts in Delta and Gombe States. He disclosed that NBC Board of Management (BOM), and the DSO stakeholders, have also selected the next set of six states that would switch on to digital television broadcasting before the end of 2018.
He said it is his firm belief, that with their varied experience, clout and reputation, they should be able to work together, to accelerate the progress of the DSO.
Regulation of the broadcast media space, according to the NBC DG is another major issue in focus for the Commission pointing out that the political space is already polluted with several negative tendencies such as fake news, hate speech, abusive comments and biased/partisan reportage.
