Should FG borrow 500 million dollars to upgrade NTA?

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, recently said that if Nigeria were to get a loan of 500 million dollars, it would be able to compete with CNN, an international media organisation. Should the Federal Government take a loan to upgrade NTA to CNN’s standard? Weekend Magazine sought the views of some Nigerians.

Aisha Yusuf, 22, Student, Kaduna

I don’t think 500 million dollars; such a huge amount of money should be invested in the NTA for an upgrade. I mean there are so many other problems and challenges Nigeria as a country is facing and we deal with these challenges every day. Perhaps the amount needs to be reviewed or cut down to a reasonable amount before it is considered. But 500 million dollars is a huge amount of money that could cover a large portion of our budget. Also, Nigeria has a lot of debts which keep growing. We should at least borrow to grow the economy, rather than borrow to upgrade NTA. We should set our priorities.

Lorine Emenike, Journalist , 28, Port Harcourt

To me the issue of obtaining $500m loan to transform NTA as to compete with CNN is laughable. NTA has remained an analogue television station after several years. In Nigeria today we have seen the emergence of digital television stations who are all doing very well and if given such huge support they can compete with CNN. These organizations are private-sector driven and they have done Nigeria proud. NTA should strive to compete with these private television stations in Nigeria first before they can talk of competing with a global digital television station like CNN. Somebody needs that huge amount of money to embezzle that is the reason they are proposing it.

Abubakar Salman, 24, Student, Niger

Is it the same NTA that nobody watches? You find that most of the station’s audience are the elderly who still watch the 9 pm news. Private television networks have taken over and have more viewership. Taking a loan of 500 million dollars so that the NTA can compete with CNN is outrightly not a good idea. Who will pay the debt? Should we keep passing debts from one generation to the next? It is not right, to be honest.

Bala Yaro, 41, Dala Kano, Businessman

For me, the proposed $500million loan is not worth taking especially now that the country is facing serious issues in terms of infrastructural deficit and insecurity. Instead of taking the loan to upgrade NTA to the standard of CNN as Lai Mohammed claimed, we should rather take it to finance the ongoing war against insurgency currently spiralling across the country. For now, we are not in competition with CNN, all we need now is security. Our interest is let there be peace and safety everywhere in the country.

Ibrahim Akindele Olore, 37, Blogger, Oyo

I think Nigeria needs to be very careful on their borrowing. However, it is never a crime to borrow money but I know it is a serious crime to borrow money for some people to misappropriate. On this, it is a misplaced priority on the part of the FG. Note that if they succeed in borrowing that money, it would end up in someone’s pocket. Do you think $500million is small money? If I may ask, how much has NTA generated for the FG in the last 10 years? Is it not the money meant for other capital projects the FG is spending on salaries of staff in NTA and even to equip the organization? How many people watch NTA? Do you think Nigerians would because of NTA subscribe for a cable network or other countries would also subscribe to our NTA when it’s upgraded? These and many other questions should be answered before the FG embarks on another borrowing to equip NTA.

Inyang Ekong, Journalist, 49, Port Harcourt

Loan of $500m to fix NTA is not the issue. Nigeria’s problem is not money. We have an attitudinal problem towards development and that affects all the decisions we take. Even if approved for the project, Nigeria cannot measure up to CNN’’s standard. Except we come back and change our attitude towards development, we cannot move forward.

Abdullahi Umar, 43, Civil Servant, Kano

As far as Nigeria of today is concerned, I think borrowing such amount of money to upgrade our national broadcasting body is very important but the problem here is how sure are we that if the money is eventually released, it’s going to be used judiciously? Also, what are the terms and conditions for paying such amount of money? If the government can be able to pay such loan on time, are they going to utilize the broadcasting channel for revenue generation use it just to campaign for government and those in power? If you go to the NTA, all you see is that they are promoting government every day, they are doing nothing to be like CNN. CNN is serving the interest of the founder and they are also a source of revenue to the government.

Patrick Nwosu, 52, Businessman, Kano

To go and borrow money to upgrade the NTA is wrong. Yes, we need to upgrade NTA to surpass CNN but must we borrow money to do that? Instead of them to go and borrow money they should reduce salaries and allowances of National Assembly members. Their salaries are too much, they are eating half of the budget of Nigeria. Let them reduce that money to upgrade the NTA not to borrow.