Date: 2017-10-09

PROTOCOLS:

Your Excellency Prof Ben Ayade,

Governor, Cross River State,

Senator Suleiman Adokwe

Chairman Senate Committee on Information and National Orientation

And all the Distinguished Senators here present,

Honourable Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Muhammed

Royal Fathers from different royal houses of our lovely Cross River State

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

My colleagues from the Nigerian Press

On behalf of the Board of Management and members of staff of the NBC, I will like to congratulate Gospell Digital Technology for the impressive work that has been done on this site. This is the first SMT production line in West Africa; and it is also a Set Top Boxes factory.

From the standpoint of the NBC, an initiative like this is the best justification for all the efforts that we have put into the Digital Switch Over (DSO) process.

The central vision is not only to change the face of television in Nigeria, in terms of quality and the surfeit of channels that would increasingly become available to Nigerian viewers.

In my view, and one that directly relates to President Muhammadu Buhari's vision, it is the opportunity to open up the broad avenues of a digital revolution in our country: through the creation of jobs and the contribution towards industrialization as well as opening newer accesses for Nigeria's creative young people.

The facilities in place here would certainly be a catalyst for the vision. The NBC is delighted that one of our licensees has taken this step with the massive investment on this site. We believe that this will become a major contribution to the effort we are making to conclude the digital switch over in our country.

Nigeria leads West Africa in this digitization process and with the opening of this SMT line, we have also created an opportunity to service this region of Africa.

It is equally important that this impressive plant has been located here in the beautiful city of Calabar. There's a serenity about this city and also a vibrancy which makes it a very compelling destination, for business as well as for leisure. I am therefore not surprised that GOSPELL DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY also chose this city and its Export Processing Zone as location for their new factory. May this institution serve our country's development in all the endeavors that have been planned here.

Congratulations!