N4.8bn VON Station In Abuja
Ready In 2009.
The Voice of
Nigeria (VON) transmitting station in Abuja will be completed by
the first quarter of 2009, according to Alhaji Abubakar Jijiwa,
the station's Director-General.
The cost of the
project, located in Lugbe on the Airport road Abuja, has been
put at N4.8b.
Jijiwa told the
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that construction work at
the project site had reached 80 percent completion while the
civil works were 100 percent ready.
In his words, ``
most of the equipment in terms of transmitters, antennae, mast
systems and generators are already on site at the moment.''
The
Director-General, (DG) said that on completion, the project
would produce the first radio station with capability to
broadcast in digital and analogue systems, within the Short Wave
Bands.
The Biggest In
Africa
According to him,
`` if the budget works out well in 2009, we should be able to
roll out the project in terms of getting it commissioned in the
first quarter of next year. When that project is completed and
commissioned, it promises to be the biggest in Africa, whether
North or South of the Sahara.''
He explained that
the new transmitters would expand the international coverage of
the station, because it would be heard worldwide.
The VON DG said ``
the station has the capability of a rotating antenna that can
target any country in the world when desired.''
On digitisation,
Jijiwa said there was no cause for alarm over the country's
road-map to digital broadcast migration, beginning from June
2012, compared to South Africa which had set Nov. 1 as start up
date.
Nigeria Ahead
He said that there
is anything much Nigeria can learn from South Africa in terms of
broadcasting; they might have better facilities in terms of
equipment but in human capacity, we are far ahead of them.
This statement
follows South Africa’s digitisation programme in good time in
preparation for the 2010 World Cup. In reality, South Africa
will not fully digitize until 2010 but they are going to start
skeletal movement from analogue system, just like its being done
in the UK.
Jijiwa is the
Chairman of Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON), a
voluntary umbrella body for all broadcast stations in the
country and the President, Commonwealth Broadcasting Association
(CBA).
NAN/ Qasim/G.O.
