The Federal Government said the Digital Switch Over is a priority project because it will improve local content, create jobs, curb content monopolies and improve on-demand television to millions of Nigerian households.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed At The Digital Switch Over Stakeholders Meeting in Lagos on Monday.

The Minister disclosed that the DSO has been rolled out in five states so far, adding that the FG is “kick-starting the new rollout here in Lagos state on April 29th 2021, Kano state on June 3rd 2021 and Rivers state on July 8th 2021. We will then follow up with Yobe state on July 15th 2021 and Gombe state on August 12th 2021.”

What the Minister said

• The DSO is about stimulating local content and empowering platform owners. It’s about creating jobs for our teeming population, especially the very creative youth population. This project is capable of generating 1 million jobs in three years.
• We have carried out an unprecedented reform of the broadcasting industry because we know that there is a nexus between those reforms and the success of the DSO. The amendments were necessitated by the need to boost the local content in Nigeria, curb anti-competitive and monopolistic tendencies and boost advertising revenues.

The Amendments

The Minister revealed that the FG  amended the Code to curb monopoly and exclusivity of programme content in order to create room for the local industry to grow. “For example, the pay-tv sector of the Broadcast Industry had been controlled by foreign interests, while indigenous efforts to compete have been frustrated or weakened by the established control of the big monopolies,” he said.

• We have amended the Code to stimulate growth in the advertising industry, introducing regulations mandating media agencies and advertisers to offset all outstanding invoices within 60 days related to advert placement and the barring of carriage of adverts of defaulters.
• Under the new amendment, for a programme to qualify as local content, it must be authored, directed and produced by a Nigerian. In addition, at least 75 per cent of the leading actors and major supporting cast must be Nigerians, a minimum of 75% of its program expenses and 75% of post-production expenses paid for services provided by Nigerians or Nigerian companies.

The Minister added that the amendments also boosted advertising as all advertised products and services manufactured, grown, processed, developed, created and originating from Nigeria, shall be wholly produced in Nigeria.

What you should know

In February, The Federal Government launched a 14-member Ministerial Task Force on the Digital Switch Over (DSO) rollout across the country.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has further moved against bad debtors as it said it will extend its Credit Risk Management System (CRMS) to the other financial institutions (OFIs) in the country.

This follows the successful implementation of the CRMS in deposit money banks across the country.

This disclosure is contained in a circular titled, ‘Credit Risk Management System: Commencement of Enrolment of all Development Finance Institutions, Microfinance Banks, Primary Mortgage Banks and Finance Companies, issued by the apex bank and signed by its Director, Financial Policy and Regulation Department, Kelvin Amugo, on April 8, 2021.

CBN in the circular noted that this policy is to help promote a safe and sound financial system in the country as well as prevent the bad debtors from undermining the banking system.

What the CBN is saying in the circular

The statement from the CBN’s circular reads, “As part of efforts to promote a safe and sound financial system in Nigeria, the CBN introduced the CRMS to improve credit risk management in commercial, merchant and non-interest banks as well as to prevent predatory borrowers from undermining the banking system.

“With the successful implementation of the CRMS in deposit money banks, it has become expedient to commence the enrolment of Other Financial Institutions on the CRMS platform.

Accordingly, all DFIs, MfBs, PMBs and FCs are required to report all credit facilities (principal and interest) to the CRMs and to update same on monthly basis. OFIs shall note the Bank Verification Numbers and Tax Identification Numbers are the only basis for regulatory renditions.

To ensure full compliance, OFIs are reminded to conclude the tagging of ALL life credits files for ALL individual and non-individual borrowers with BVN and TIN respectively by May 14, 2021.’’

The apex bank in the circular also advised concerned OFIs to acquaint themselves with the regulatory guidelines for the operations of the redesigned CRMS for commercial, merchant and non-interest banks in the country.

While noting that it would monitor compliance with the requirements of this circular, the CBN said that appropriate sanctions would be applied for non-compliance.

What you should know

• The CRMS was introduced due to rising cases of non-performing loans in banks and this contributed significantly to the financial distress in the banking sector.
• This was also compounded by the existence of predatory debtors in the banking system who are fond of abandoning their debt obligations in some banks only to move to contract new debts in other banks. This led to the need for a central database from which consolidated credit information on borrowers could be obtained.
• The CRMS is web-enabled thereby allowing banks and other stakeholders to dial directly into the CRMS database for the purpose of rendering statutory returns or conducting status enquiry on borrowers.