Broadcasting
NBC Begins Digital Broadcasting Switch-Over in Lagos, Others Tomorrow
Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has ruled out extension of digital switch over, as the first phase of the new era is expected to begin in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Kano from tomorrow, January 1, 2015.
Although, the government said it would complete switchover by January, for many other countries that might be looking for the opportunity to extend the transition, Hamadoun Toure, out-going ITU secretary general, recently dashed the hope by ruling out any deadline extension for countries that will fail to meet the June 17, 2015 transition.
Speaking during an NTA programme on the Digital Transition on Tuesday, Engineer Edward Amana, chairman, DigiTeam, said in spite obvious challenges, the Commission will go ahead to switch-over from analogue to digital broadcasting.
He said, “We do not have a choice. We have to, because there are so many implications of cannot switch-over. We will become an island on our own. We cannot get protection from our neighbouring countries who have already gone digital. Apart from that, after the transition, the analogue equipment becomes obsolete. And for you to maintain the equipment it becomes extremely expensive. We are setting a target for ourselves to transit by 1th of January.
However, we are going to transit in phases. What we are going to do it take the major cities first and move to the rural areas. We will probably start Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kano, Kaduna during the phase one. In phase two, we will move to other cities till we go round. As we move from cities to others, we can learn from the mistakes and correct ourselves. That way, we will be able to fast-track our transition.
He said the team has planned for public enlightenment campaigns, adding that if the public fail to appreciate the transition, it might affect the whole process.
The assignment of the DigiTeam is to draw the roadmap for the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting in Nigeria.
What it entails is the processes to ensure all the television stations in Nigeria switch-off their analogue transmitters by January 1, 2015, while the digital transmission takes effect.
According to Amana, “There are many implications for this, both business models, regulatory issues and the people at home who currently have the analogue receivers in their homes. There is this apprehension that if we change from the analogue to digital, are we going to throw away our current television sets and buy new ones or what?
“Aside the inauguration of the team, government has to (improve) on the regulation; there are issues with the current regulations that need to be amended. To an extent, government has to provide some seed money for the transition. For the people at home; currently, if you have an analogue television, you will need to buy a set-up box to be able to enjoy the digital signals. And for the broadcasting houses, there are two categories of situation. The way they do their production now will have to change. Those who do not have digital equipment will have to upgrade their studios to be able to produce digital programming. And the programming will have to include some level of synopsis as a guide to the viewers at home, because they that are at homes will expect more from the programs broadcasters produce.
“The era will give producers enough capacity to innovate their programs. You can imbed in your programming a guide which gives a run-down of what is coming maybe in the next one week or so. So that, I as a viewer will check and find out the ones I want to watch and set my recorder to record during the period it is coming up. The synopsis gives the parent and idea if the program is suitable for the children to watch or not, so they can also help in censoring it their own way”.
From the transmission point of view, the Chairman said that the existing analogue has to change to digital as it will involve upgrading existing transmitters or acquiring new ones.
“But, we have agreed one, which government has adopted is, rather than ever station buying a digital transmitter, some signal carriers will be appointed that will be responsible for transmission, so that broadcasters can engage themselves in the production of local contents or programming. If you have the capacity, you should have the equipment to produce. Once the burden of buying new transmitter is taken off the shoulders of the broadcaster, the savings can go into content production,” he said.
On set-up boxes which are paramount to enable analogue Tv owners to enjoy the digital era, he said, “Let me take the example of America that we are a bit familiar with; what happened then was that the government provided the basic coupons for poor families who cannot afford digital television or set-up boxes. The basic set-up box was about $40 when they transited in 2009. Each family was a given a coupon to buy two, amounting to $80.
“For Nigeria, what we have recommended is that from the available statistics we have 20 million (analogue) television sets in circulation and we feel that this is good market for any manufacturer to put up such business in Nigeria.
“It is a guaranteed market of 20 million; the economy of scale will bring down the prices if done locally. We recommended for incentives like giving them some tax holiday, customer duty-free for the equipment that will be used to manufacture locally. We are targeting a price tag of N2500, which we feel should be affordable by Nigerian who has television already. So, we are not asking government o release money for subsidy or buy and give rather to create enabling environment to make it affordable. A family that can afford to buy a television set that costs over N10,000, they should be able to afford to buy the set-up box to enjoy the digital era”.
Amana admitted that the time available for transmission is too short.
“Fortunately, NTA has transmitting stations in over 102 locations in the country. Government has approved that NTA will be one of the carriers for the digital (network) transmission. What have been approved on the white-paper are: NTA and two others. Let me correct and impression. NTA the carrier will be different from the content provider. There will be separation, because it will be carrying signals of other competitors. The transmission end of the NTA will be licensed as one of the carriers; as an independent entity,” he added.
The DigiTeam chairman also said that content providers will be licensed by the NBC; apart from the existing broadcasters.
Netflix has expanded its language options for television viewers, allowing users to select from the full list of available subtitles and dubbing languages for any title.
This update aims to make Netflix’s global catalogue more accessible, especially as nearly a third of its viewership comes from non-English language shows.
Previously, TV users could only choose from a limited selection of languages based on their location and settings.
Now, they can access the complete range of available languages for any title, similar to the flexibility already offered on mobile devices and web browsers.
For instance, a user can watch an English title like “Bridgerton” with Spanish dubbing and Korean subtitles, or opt for Japanese dubbing with Portuguese subtitles.
Netflix offers subtitles in 33 languages and audio dubbing in 36 languages across its catalogue, though the exact number of available languages may vary by title. This change responds to numerous user requests for more language options on TV platforms.
This move reflects Netflix’s commitment to enhancing accessibility and catering to its diverse global audience by providing more inclusive viewing experiences.
Broadcasting
AMCON Gets Boost as Arik Air Records 2.2M Passengers, 10,699 Flights in 2024 – NCAA Report
Arik Air in 2024, airlifted 2,239,176 passengers between January 1, 2024, to December 31, 2024, a report sourced from the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has confirmed.
The airline, which has been under the receivership of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) since 2017, despite its challenges, also operated 10,699 flights within the year under review, making it the second most active airline in terms of passenger traffic and flight operations in Nigeria, after Air Peace.
According to the report, the total number of air travellers in the domestic scene in 2024 was 11, 549,443 with inbound at 5,727,700 and outbound passengers at 5,821,743. This figure shows that Arik Air captured 19.3 per cent of the total passenger traffic for 2024, while it had 15.1 per cent of the total 70,543 flights operated by the 15 domestic airlines in the year under review.
The Executive Summary on International and Domestic Flight Operations 2024, as captured by the NCAA, indicated that Arik Air had 1,112,358 and 1,126,818 as inbound and outbound passengers for 2024, respectively, making it a total of 2,239,176 passengers ferried in 2024.
Monthly breakdown of the passenger traffic indicated that Arik Air had 37,772 inbound passengers and another 38,987 as outbound passengers in January 2024, totalling 76,759 passengers. For February the airline recorded 38,217 as inbound and 39,209 as outbound, totalling 77,426; March, 37,183 as inbound and 37,642 as outbound, making it a total of 74,825; April, 31,326 as inbound and 31,971 as outbound, making 63,297.
The airline in May 2024, also recorded 39,006 as inbound and 39,765 as outbound passengers, totalling 78,771 for the month, while the month of June had 37,710 as inbound and 38,617 as outbound, totalling 76,327; July, 156,146 as inbound and 159,044 as outbound, totalling 315,190; August, the airline recorded 153,080 as inbound and 144,259 as outbound, making it a total figure of 297,339 within the period.
For the month of September, Arik Air recorded 143,396 as inbound and 145,096 as outbound, making it a total figure of 288,492; October 129,506 as inbound and 133,330 as outbound, totalling 262,836; November, 252,448 as inbound and 255,578 as outbound, making it a total of 508,026, while December had 56,568 as inbound and 63,322 as outbound, making it a total of 119,890 passengers ferried within the period.
Also, a month-by-month breakdown of flights operated by Arik Air in 2024 showed that the airline had a total number of 380 flights in January, 2024; 419 flights in February and 468 flights in March 2024.
Further breakdown showed that for the month of April, the airline operated a total number of 340 flights; May, 374; June, 350, while it peaked in July, going as high as 1,403 flights in just one month.
Besides, in August, the airline operated 1,320 flights; in September, 1,352; in October, 1,266; in November, 2,442, while it operated a total of 585 flights in December 2024. The airline within the period also had a total number of complaints among the air travellers, with just 190, with the majority being resolved by the airline.
The further breakdown of complaints indicated that for the month of January, there were no single complaints from any of its air passengers ferried within the period, had just two complaints in February, while March recorded only one complaint.
April had four complaints; May, two; June, one; July, three; August received seven complaints; September, 28; October, 50; November, 67, while December 2024 recorded only 25 complaints from the flying public. Besides, Arik Air did not record a single baggage miss in 2024, with all 84 delayed baggage items, as indicated by the NCAA statistics, were handed over to their owners.
Furthermore, unlike other domestic airline operators, Arik Air had only one overbooking/denied flight in its entire 10,699 flights in 2024. This was in October 2024.
Olumide Ohunayo, General Secretary Aviation Safety Round Table Initiativs said: “Arik Air’s performance in 2024 stands out as exceptional, despite the airline being under AMCON receivership. The data released by the regulatory authority ranked Arik as second in domestic passenger traffic, moving 2,239,176 passengers—a testament to its resilience and strategic management under challenging conditions.
“With a 13.4% market share out of the 11.5 million total domestic passengers, Arik Air’s sustained dominance highlights its strong operational efficiency. This result demonstrates Arik’s operational stability under Receivership despite financial constraints, distractive litigations, fleet limitations, and regulatory challenges, the airline continued to deliver reliable air travel services, showing effective route management and passenger demand optimization.
“It should be noted that Arik Air suffered severe disruptions due to a high court order grounding some of its aircraft last year when mediation was a better option to the instantaneous grounding by the executive.”
In his comment Roland Iyayi MD of Top Brass Aviation Limited said: “Arik Air transporting 2.2 million passengers and securing the second position in Nigeria’s domestic market, ahead of competitors like Ibom Air (1.3 million), Max Air (915,918), and Aero Contractors (964,900) is a huge and massive achievement, considering the disruptions the airline had suffered under receivership.
“Arik Air’s performance is remarkable given its limited access to fresh capital, aging fleet, and regulatory hurdles tied to its receivership status.
“The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) strategic support deserves recognition for its crucial role in stabilizing Arik Air, ensuring its continued operations, and maintaining confidence among passengers. Without AMCON’s intervention, the airline would not have remained a key player in Nigeria’s aviation industry. Arik Air’s ability to thrive under receivership reaffirms AMCON’s commitment to preserving jobs, sustaining economic contributions, and ensuring safe, reliable airline services for Nigerian travelers.”
National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has announced a milestone achievement, with over 117 million Nigerians now enrolled for the National Identity Number (NIN) as of February 28, 2025.
Lagos State emerged as the top contributor to this figure, boasting over 12.6 million registrations, followed by Kano State with 10.2 million.
According to NIMC’s latest data, male registrants outnumber female registrants, making up 56.5% of the total enrollment at 66,281,803, while female registrants account for 43.5% at 51,079,521.
The report highlighted regional enrollment trends, showing an almost equal distribution across Nigeria’s northern and southern regions.
However, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, and Ekiti States recorded the lowest enrollment figures, with Bayelsa reporting a mere 758,111 registrations.
Lagos State dominated the charts with 6,870,915 males and 5,741,419 females registered, while Kano trailed closely, boasting 5,924,126 males and 4,321,929 females in its 10.2 million total registrations.
Other notable states in the top 10 include Kaduna, Ogun, Oyo, Katsina, and Rivers. NIMC expressed optimism about further improving enrollment figures in underrepresented regions in the coming months.
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