PINNACLE COMMUNICATION LIMITED DSO CONTRACTS PREDATES MALLAM ISHAQ MODIBBO KAWU APPOINTMENT.
Since the appointment of Mallam Ishaq Modibbo Kawu as the DG NBC , lots of stakeholders in the broadcasting Industries as continued to appreciate the developmental and progressive strives in the commission.
The progressive advancement in the digital switchover projects in Nigeria as continued to catches the attentions of stakeholders with the multiple stages at which many States are joining in the digital switchover projects in Nigeria.
As it stands now, the NBC as completed the mapping up of the entire states in Nigeria for digital switchover.
This is a major part of any transition process, because with that, the signal distributors can more confidently roll our transmission facilities, with a sure knowledge of the topography and points of location of transmission systems.
Similarly, the Commission under the focused leadership of Mallam Ishaq Modibbo Kawu as concluded an elaborate roll out timetable, and a consequent timeline for Analogue Switch Off (ASO), for the entire country.
However, the flurry of news reports in the media on Thursday evening copiously quoting a statement allegedly attributed to the spokesperson of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Rasheedat Okoduwa disclosing that the Commission was investigating the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission over the “misapplication of N2.5 billion seed grant released to the agency by the federal government for its digital switch-over programme” for which the Commission has so far quizzed the Director General, Mallam Ishaq Moddibbo Kawu, and other top management staff of the agency over their alleged involvements in the misapplication of the fund .
This news as continued to generates lots of controversies as the commission’s spokesperson, Hajia Maimuna Jimada, told reporter that the NBC “is not aware of any fraud case involving the DG, and therefore not aware of any ICPC investigation on the DG.”
For records, Pinnacle Communications Limited emerged successful bidder out of 9 companies in 2014 after a rigorous public tender and full compliance with due process two years before the appointment of Mallam Ishaq Modibbo Kawu as the DG National Broadcasting Commission.
Pinnacle Communications was licensed following payment of the stipulated license fees to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), NOT NIGERIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION as stated in the alleged press release of ICPC spokesperson.
Pinnacle Communications Limited has been a major facilitator of the Digital Switch Over (DSO) implementation process in Nigeria, notably as the broadcast signal distributor for the National Launch of the DSO in Abuja in 2016 at its state-of-the-art Broadcast Centre on Mpape Hill, performed by His Excellency, Yemi Osinbajo, Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The Company was also responsible for the Kaduna Digital Broadcast Signal Distribution Centre commissioned in 2017 by the Kaduna State Governor, His Excellency, Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai.
However, neither the DSO nor Pinnacle Communications Limited has anything to do with “migration of telephone lines from analogue to digital platforms” as the ICPC spokesperson is alleged to have stated.
In all the , ICPC spokesperson supposes to get records clear before coming public with the unwarranted speculative information as she put it wrongly that Mallam Modibbo Kawu “fraudulently recommended to the Minister of Information and Culture for the release of N2.5 billion against the guidelines contained in the White Paper” and further reference to Pinnacle Communications as “an unqualified company.” The 2014 licensing of Pinnacle Communications in the DSO predates the appointment of the current DG of NBC in 2016.
The public need to be well placed in a transparent knowledge of what truly transparent between the Commission and the Pinnacle communication limited without prejudices and predetermined desperation.