…Stoutly Defends $500m Loan for ‘NTA’
By Ayo Kehinde
Mohammed with Mic
Minister for Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has fixed the inauguration of the stakeholders committee on ‘Fake News’ for March 2, 2020
The stakeholders committee, according to him, “will deliberate and recommend the way forward.”
Speaking at a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday, Mohammed also said the government is also planning a major international conference that will bring together the tech companies, media practitioners, policy makes and others as part of efforts to tackle this growing and disruptive issue of social media.
He said; “Last week, I met with representatives of Google and Facebook for the same purpose. The situation is dire, and no nation that values its peace, security and stability will allow an irresponsible use of the social media.
He noted that though the country is facing security challenges, “and the
challenges are being tackled headlong,” the clamour for the resignation of the security chiefs or their sacking by President Buhari, was uncalled for.
“To those asking Mr. President to resign, I wish to say this: Mr President will not resign. He has the overwhelming mandate of
Nigerians to preside over the affairs of the country till the expiration of his tenure in May 2023.”
On the reported diversion of international flights from Murtala Mohammed International Airport, MMIA, owing to lack of navigational aids, he said the disruption of flights was due to navigational upgrade at various airports across the country and apologized to those who had suffered in whatever manner.
He said: “ In its commitment to passenger safety and security, the Federal Government has recently taken the decision to upgrade the navigational facilities at some major airports across the country.
“Consequently, the navigational aids at airports in Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt, Asaba, etc. were all marked for an upgrade from Category II Instrument Landing System (CAT II ILS) to top-of-the-class CAT III
ILS. In the first phase, the CAT III ILS was procured and installed in Lagos and Abuja. In addition, the government procured a calibration aircraft instead of renting one each time for $500,000.
“Both Abuja and Lagos airports were calibrated. The CAT III ILS is working perfectly here in Abuja. But after calibration, some incorrect readings were noticed in the CAT III ILS at the MMA. Just as it was about to ben re-calibrated, the weather situation in Lagos changed for the worse,
hence the disruption of international flights into Lagos.
“Some airlines opted to divert their flights to Kotoka International Airport in Accra, Ghana, which, by the way, does not even have a CAT
III ILS but where the weather was not as adverse as that in Lagos.
“Many travellers bound for Nigeria became stranded. Again, this is much regretted. Of course, the same flights could have diverted to Abuja, which has a perfectly-functioning CAT III ILS and where flights to Lagos are regular. But they instead chose to fly to Accra.
Some commentators have alleged that perhaps the CAT III ILS was not bought or installed in Lagos and Abuja. This is not true.
“The equipment was indeed procured and installed in both airports. But for the hitch I referred to earlier, there would have been no disruptions at the MMA. Accusation of ineptitude against aviation officials is misplaced. Otherwise, the Abuja CAT III ILS would not have been working perfectly now”
He said the weather phenomenon that reduced visibility at the International
wing of the MMA is not unique to Nigeria, adding that “as some flights were being
diverted from the Lagos airport, over 200 flights were either being diverted or cancelled at Heathrow in London
The minister stoutly defended the controversial $500m loan the government is seeking for the upgrade of Nigeria Television Authority, NTA, to enable it compete with international cable outfits such as CNN, Aljazeera. According to him the loan is not for NTA alone but for three major projects, namely, the construction of a headquarter complex and transmission network for INTEGRATED TELEVISION SERVICES (ITS), the FG-owned signal distributor that is a major component of the country’s Digital Switch Over (DSO), the building of an ultra-modern Media City in Ikorodu that will have the following facilities- Indoor/Outdoor shooting area, Animation Production Facility, Digital Media Training Centre, World Class Cinema, Four-Star Hotel, An Amusement Park – Amphitheater (b) Acquisition of digital movie production equipment for rental as well as power system, (c) Media City Training Academy, only the second of its type in Africa (the first is in Egypt) that will train Nigerian broadcasters and film makers in the production of high quality media content programmes and make Nigeria a hub for digital movie production in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Digitization of NTA Stations
