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President Bola Tinubu has renewed the tenure of the Director-General of the Nigerian Television Authority, Abdulhamid Salihu Dembos, and the Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria, Ali Mohammed Ali.
Their appointments were renewed for a second three-year term each.
The renewal was announced in a State House press release signed by Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, on Sunday, August 23, 2026.
What Tinubu is saying
The President urged both chief executives to justify his confidence in them as he announced their reappointments.
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Tinubu called on Salihu Dembos and Ali to continue demonstrating commitment to their organisations’ mandates and to the promotion of his administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda
He framed the renewals as a vote of confidence tied to an expectation of continued performance rather than a routine administrative action.
Both executives were first appointed on October 20, 2023, and their second terms will begin on October 20, 2026.
Who are Abdulhamid Salihu Dembos and Ali Mohammed Ali?
Salihu Dembos, a native of Yola, Adamawa State, joined the NTA as an announcer at the Kaduna Station after his National Youth Service in 1989.
- He rose through the ranks to serve as General Manager at NTA Lokoja and NTA Kano before retiring in 2017 as Acting Zonal Director of the NTA Kaduna Network Centre.
He served as a former National President of the Radio, Television, Theatre and Art Workers Union and returned to the NTA as Executive Director of Marketing after his retirement before his first appointment as Director-General in October 2023.
Ali Mohammed Ali is a veteran journalist and media manager with over 30 years of experience.
- He holds a first degree in English from Bayero University Kano, a graduate degree in International Affairs from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria.
He also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Mass Communications from Bayero University Kano.
Get up to speed
The reappointments follow developments around the leadership and reform of Nigeria’s government-owned media organisations since Tinubu came into office.
In September 2025, Nairametrics reported that President Tinubu recalled Dembos to complete his first three-year tenure after he was briefly removed from the position during a management shake-up at NTA.
Beyond the leadership changes, the broadcaster has also been undergoing efforts to address longstanding operational challenges.
Earlier, in October 2023, Nairametrics reported that the Federal Government had committed to the digitisation of NTA, with the broadcaster facing challenges including inadequate funding, infrastructure gaps, declining advertising revenue and competition from other media platforms.
What you should know
President Tinubu’s decision to renew the tenure of Dembos and Ali follows other recent cases of the administration extending the tenure of heads of government agencies.
In March 2026, Nairametrics reported that Tinubu renewed the tenure of Ahmed Abubakar Audi as Commandant-General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for another five years.
Audi was initially appointed to the position in 2021.
