₦airaland Forum

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the return of N10bn seized from the National Broadcasting Commission by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The Director-General of NBC, Mallam Is’haq Kawu, said this in Abuja on Thursday at a press conference to announce the 20th edition of Africa Broadcasting Conference and Exhibition coming up in Abuja next week.

The money is part of the funds realised by the NBC from the controversial sale of frequency to MTN Nigeria Communications Limited.



The funds had been a subject of probe by the EFCC following allegation that the broadcast regulatory agency failed to remit it to the Treasury Single Account at the time prescribed by the Federal Government.

The NBC had claimed that the funds were meant for projects being executed for the country’s migration to digital broadcasting.

Kawu said the funds would be channelled towards projects and programmes aimed at achieving the transition to digital broadcasting for which a deadline of June 2017 had been set.

He added that the NBC was planning to establish a content development for the broadcast industry as the era of digitisation was expected to create immense need for content development as a result of multiple channels to be witnessed in the new era.

The NBC boss said, “We are going to assist a lot of young people to get finances for the production of their contents. We are thinking in terms of content development fund within the NBC and the NBC also provides opportunity for young content providers.”

According to Kawu, a 10 per cent increase in the digitisation of the broadcast industry is predicted to create one million new jobs.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has given assurance that the digital switchover from analogue television would be achieved in the Federal Capital Territory before the end of the year.

Mohammed gave the assurance after a guided facility tour of Pinnacle Communication Limited – the licensed signal distributor of the DSO in the FCT and Trefonics, a manufacturer of Set-Top-Boxes.

He said it was imperative to ascertain the level of preparation of all the stakeholders in order to ensure a successful roll-out in Abuja.

The minister said, “We are very much on track but I think it’s important to understand what the Digital Switch Over entails. It entails that all the component actors be ready.”

He expressed satisfaction with the signal distributor as well as the Set-Top-Box manufacturer, adding that they were on track to meeting the switch over date.

A women group, Ondo Women for Women, on Monday marched through the streets of Akure, the Ondo State capital, in protest of what it described as assault on Oluremi Tinubu, a Lagos senator, by her colleague in the Senate, Dino Melaye.
The group, which is an arm of the All Progressives Congress in Ondo State, said the attack on Mrs. Tinubu by Mr. Melaye during an executive session of the Senate was an attack on Nigerian women.
They went around the streets chanting solidarity songs and brandishing banners with inscriptions against Mr. Melaye.
Briefing journalists after the March, the leader of the group, Olaseinde Vincente, said Mr Melaye had records of assaults and physical attacks on women who either were in romantic relationships with him or in working relationship with him.
“He threatened to beat up Senator Remi Tinubu at the Senate Executive Session and boasting that nothing would happen after carrying out such action,” she said.
“We not only find this action of Melaye appalling, this shameful behaviour of the Senator from Kogi west shocked us the entire Nigerian women.
“We APC Women, Ondo State Wing, are horrified at seeing that a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria could stoop so low as threatening to beat up a fellow Senator, and a woman for that matter during a Senate Executive Session.”
Mrs. Vincent said if Mr. Dino Melaye wanted to flex his muscles, he was free to do so but not by bullying a fellow senator at the senate hallowed chambers.
“Melaye’s excesses and uncontrolled anger towards women should be nibbed in the bud before it gets out of hand,” she warned.
“How would anyone imagine any reasonable man could intimidate a woman who spoke in candour at a Senate Executive Session and whose comment at the meeting was laced with utmost decorum.
“But Dino Melaye did, he sprang up from his seat and charged towards Senator Oluremi Tinubu and threatened to physically assault her.”
She said the women group would not allow Melaye’s assault on women go unpunished.
“It is on this note that we condemn in its entirety the barbaric behaviour of Mr. Dino Melaye, a Senator who misrepresented the good people of Kogi West Senatorial District in the National Assembly at the Executive Session meeting of the National Assembly on Tuesday, 12th of July, 2016,” Mrs. Vincent noted.
“It is unparliamentary for anyone in the Legislative Assembly to exhibit aggression-verbal or physical assault, not to talk of expressing derogatory sexual harassment against a fellow female member.”
Mr. Melaye had admitted insulting Mrs. Tinubu after she called him a dog and a thug.
He also vowed not to apologize for his actions, saying his political future could not be determined by the APC national leader, Bola Tinubu, who is Remi’s husband.

The Court of Appeal on Monday in Abuja adjourned until October 6 to hear an appeal filed by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, challenging his criminal trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
Justice Abdul Aboki, leading four other Justices of the Court, gave the date at the instance of counsel to the parties.
Kanu Agabi (SAN) and Rotimi Jacob (SAN) are representing Mr. Saraki and the Federal Government respectively.
At the resume hearing, Mr. Agabi urged the court to adjourn the matter on account of the convenience of the presiding justices.
“My Lordships, it is glaring that the court is overworked and this is telling on the postures of your Lordships,” he said.
“If we say we should press on because of the exigency of this appeal we could all be dead.
“We shall at this juncture be urging your Lordships to adjourn hearing on this appeal after you have returned from the annual break.”
Meanwhile, the presiding judge interjected to assure parties of the court’s readiness to entertain the appeal.
“We appreciate the concerns advanced by the Senior Advocate Agabi, but we shall not be adjourning on account of our convenience as we are here to serve,’’
Mr. Jacobs, counsel to the federal government, opposed the motion for adjournment, adding that the applicant should be eager for the appeal to be heard.
He said, “My Lordships, I am also concern about the effort you people are putting to ensure speedy dispensation of appeals. And this no doubt is telling on your health.
“More so that the court has come to the threshold of this year’s annual recess, it is appropriate to take your deserved rest but not when a matter is ripe for hearing.
“Hearing of this appeal has been adjourned three times at the instance of the appellant applicant.”
Mr. Jacobs further said, “Why have they suddenly developed cold feet towards the application?
“Be that as it may, My Lordships, I shall be guided by the body language of the court to hold that My Lordships’ discretion should prevail in the circumstance,’’ Mr. Jacobs said.
Mr. Saraki is challenging the jurisdiction of the CCT to try him on charges of false and anticipatory assets declaration.
The senate president had approached the appellate court challenging the March 24 ruling of the Danladi Umar-led Code of Conduct Tribunal dismissing his application challenging the jurisdiction of the tribunal.
He further said that the Code of Conduct Bureau did not give him the opportunity to react to the alleged discrepancies in his asset declaration form before his prosecution.
It would be recalled that Mr. Saraki’s earlier appeal aimed at ending his trial was dismissed by the Supreme Court in its judgment delivered on February 5.
The Supreme Court had in that decision ordered the senate president to submit himself for trial at the CCT.