The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), in conjunction with Nigerian Communication Satellite (NigComSat), will commence technical and sensitisation training for installers of set-top boxes and associated reception equipment on Friday, 17 July 2026, at the NBC’s Ibadan zonal offices.
Whereas many experts see the training after launch of the Digital Switchover (DSO) as placing the Horse after the Cart which will produce no result, a statement form the Commission said the training targets more than 50 technicians and installers drawn from states across the South-West region. According to Mrs Clementine Usman-Wamba, Head of the Digital Switchover (DSO) unit and Deputy Director of Public Affairs at the NBC, this marks the first in a series of capacity-building exercises designed to ensure the smooth and error-free operation of Nigeria’s long-awaited digital migration.
Business Hilights.ng reports that the DSO programme—Nigeria’s transition from analogue to digital terrestrial television broadcasting—has taken nearly two decades to implement. The country formally adopted the policy in 2008, following the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) 2006 directive for member states to complete the switch by June 2015. However, Nigeria missed that deadline, as well as subsequent targets in December 2017 and beyond, owing to funding shortfalls, policy inconsistencies, infrastructure deficits, and logistical hurdles. Although pilot rollouts were conducted in Plateau, Lagos, Kano, Enugu, Kwara, Osun, Kaduna, and the Federal Capital Territory, nationwide coverage remained elusive as there was no single Set Top Box for Nigerians to use even till now they are training people from city to city.
After multiple failed attempts and more than N60 billion in public expenditure with no commensurate results, the Federal Government—through the NBC and the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT)—unveiled a renewed strategy in 2025. Dubbed “The Big Picture,” the initiative was launched nationally on 17 June 2026, with a final analogue switch-off scheduled for 31 December 2028.
