From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Destiny Network Africa (DNa) a Nigeria based Direct to Home (DTH) pay television service provider unveiled its brand with the expectation of creating over 5 million jobs.
Chief Executive Officer of DNA, Shittu John, at a press briefing, recently in Abuja, told journalists that DNa would give Nigerians a quality television experience with highly informative programmes.
John said that Africa cultural heritage had over time been regarded as unique but stories from out the shores of continent were projecting it rightly.
He said: “We have seen how non-Africans come from other parts of the world to harness our culture as they export it to other parts of the world.
“They attempt to tell our stories, but don’t tell it with flair and originality, with this simple miscommunication, a wrong image of Africa in given to the outside world.
“To address the gap in African TV content, our vision is to make up to 70 per cent of our content purely African, on this platform.
We would tell our stories and showcase the heritage of Africa through tourism, entertainment, enlightenment, music and many more via the growing engine of technology.
“That would be achieved when DNa brings to light Africa cultural activities that had over time been existing in the shadows and those that have been forgotten in the archives.
“It is our dream to sustain stories from our roots that are gradually fading out so that the next generation would be able to stand with their head above waters and answer questions about their roots.”
John explained that the creation of the employment both directly and indirectly would be through the value chains which the company had created, including installation of the company’s decoders.
He said that DNa was partnering with the Nigerian Communication Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) to achieve the aim of reaching out to Africa by transmitting through its strong signal that covers Africa and parts of Asia and Europe.
“Once you tune in to NIGCOMSAT frequency 42.5 degree, I think the symbol rate is 12599 you will be able to get our signal.
“We are hoping that before the year runs out our decoders will be on ground. Then we are going to do the proper launching and commercialise DNa to Nigerians.
“Right now, with the signals with NIGCOMSAT, we have over 50 channels. We hope by the time we finish other documentations that we needed to do, we are going to push it to about 150 before the end of July,” John said.
He called on Nigerians and all people of African descent to join the company in making the vision a reality
He appreciated the President Muhammadu Buhari and the Federal Government for removing monopoly in the sector, saying this would bring more contents and more creativity, hence reduce price and create more employment opportunities.
He also appreciated MD of NIGCOMSAT, Bola Alale, Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, and the team of Satellites Broadband Company (SBBC).
The Managing Director of NIGCOMSAT, Dr Abimbola Alale, said the agency decided to enter into the partnership to diversify its internally generated revenue.
Alale, represented by Dr Najeem Salaam, the NIGCOMSAT Executive Director, Marketing and Business Department, said that satellite provide enabling environment in digitalising any economy.
“Our DTH broadcasting platform offers an array of services to include utilization of our Digital Headend for broadcasting, satellite backhauling, TV channel acquisition solutions, video service operations centre, and carrier uplink to satellite, amongst others.
“As part of our efforts to increase our profit portfolio and increase our internal generated revenue, we have decided to diversify our business strategy by joining the league of players to provide DTH Services through strategic partnership.
“This strategy would encourage partnership with expert stakeholders in the Broadcasting ecosystem Like DNA.
“We believe we can foster quick solution to providing broadcasting services in the neatest possible time,” Ale said.
She disclosed that in 2016, global revenues accruing from Satellite television services (DBS&DTH) was a whopping 97.7billion dollars
This according to her is a huge revenue market share when compared with the total revenue of 127.7billion dollars accruing from overall satellite services which is comprised of the satellite television, Satellite radio and satellite broadband.
“It is therefore clear that this sector presents a defined path for revenue diversification and economic growth.
“To harness the enormous opportunities in the global satellite television business, the NIGCOMSAT DTH broadcasting platform, is a veritable platform which strategic partners can leverage on thus diversifying Nigerian economy,” she said.
She disclosed that there were already a number of TV stations within and outside Nigeria transmitting through Nigeria Satellite, which NIGCOMSAT was contributing to the business development and economy growth of the country.
He added that that there were also other companies within and outside the country still willing and working towards partnering with NIGCOMSAT.
One of the Special Guests, Mrs Maryam Baba, who unveiled the brand, commended DNa for aiming at promoting Africa cultures and job creation.
Baba urged Africa people to continue to promote the cultural heritage of the continent.
He said: “As it is today, most Africans don’t look like Africans, both men and women, and we must change that as soon as possible.
“So that we can handover our rich culture to our children and unborn generations.”
