Nigerians will soon start to enjoy pay-as-you-go service for all digital satellite televisions, as the Nigeria’s House of Representatives is on the verge of passing a bill to that effect.
Acoording to the Nation newspaper, this revelation was made by the Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Communication, Hon. Idem Unyime, on Friday, where he assured Nigerians that a Bill for an Act to amend the National Broadcasting Commission Act, co-sponsored by himself, Hon Odebunmi Olusegun and Hon Dachung Musa Bagos, has scaled second reading on the floor of the House on Thursday.
Any bill under consideration at the National Assembly can only be passed after it has scaled through a third reading, and if this bill eventually does and then passed, it implies every Nigerian will have to be paying for satellite television services using a more economical pay-as-you go model. According to Hon. Unyime, the bill under consideration will also give the Nigeria Broadcasting Cooperation (NBC) the power to fix prices for digital television.
In order to assuage the inconvenience Nigerians have so far endured paying for services of cable televisions on monthly basis, the lawmaker representing Ukanafun/Oruk Anam Federal Constituency of Akwa Ibom State expressed confidence that the Bill would be passed into law as quickly as possible.
Speaking further, Unyime emphasized that, when finally passed, the Bill will also break the monopoly in the broadcasting sub-sector and thereby allowing more investors to come in, and thus creating more employment for the people of Nigeria.
