The Chinese government has launched a satellite TV access project for 1000 villages in Nigeria. This is part of the country’s initiative to provide digital TV access to 10,000 rural communities across Africa.
According to the Chinese government, this is to ensure that the economic ties between it and Nigeria are preserved through infrastructural projects that will uplift the people of the local communities.
The project is being delivered by StarTimes across Africa on behalf of the Chinese government. At the launch of the project in Kpaduma village, Abuja, the CEO of StarTimes Nigeria, Justin Zhang, stated that the project would help meet the ITU’s demand for African countries to achieve digital migration of TV industry before the year 2020.
He added that “We have entered an advanced stage in the installation of satellite TV access to 1,000 villages in Nigeria. The villages identified for this project will receive two solar power projector TVs for the community, digital TV sets, 20 satellite dish and decoders where they can watch more than 100 international and local channels all free of charge.”
According to Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the project came at a better time that Nigerians would need access to information now to know about the over 70 political parties that will be participating in the elections as well as their various candidates.The Minister appealed to StarTimes to expedite the installation of the satellite TV systems in the selected villages ahead of the elections, as this will go a long way in making it easier for Nigerians to make the right choice of candidates to vote for during the elections, adding that access to information will no doubt have a positive effect on the lives of people in our rural communities.Alhaji Lai Mohammed stated that under the project, each of the 1,000 carefully-chosen villages in Nigeria will receive two sets of solar powered projector television systems and one set of solar 32-inch digital TV integrated terminal system, among others. Meanwhile, Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Zhou Pingjian, has expressed China’s willingness to continue to bring projects that will better the lot of Nigerians and Africans at large.
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