The Member representing Ukanafun/Oruk Anam Federal Constituency of Akwa Ibom State, Hon Idem Unyime on Friday assured that the members of the public would soon be enjoying the pay-as-you-go services for digital satellite television, DSTV as the Bill to that effect scaled second reading before the House of Representatives on Thursday.
Hon. Idem Unyime (PDP-Akwa-Ibom) who is the Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Communication gave the assurance while speaking with newsmen in Abuja on a Bill for an Act to amend the National Broadcasting Commission Act, co-sponsored by himself, Hon. Odebunmi Olusegun and Hon. Dachung Musa Bagos respectively
The lawmaker pointed out that when passed into law, it would also give the NBC the power to fix prices for digital television in the country as being done in other countries of the World
He expressed confidence that the Bill would be passed into law as quickly as possible to assuage the inconvenience Nigerians have so far endured as far as cable television is concerned.
The Bill, he said, would also break the monopoly in the broadcasting sub-sector and create more employment with more investors coming in.
The PDP lawmaker explained that following the cries of Nigerians about the current payment arrangement, the House had taken up the assignment and directed NBC, which is the regulator of the broadcasting industry, to implement the pay-as-you-go service.
According to him, in the course of the assignment, it was discovered that the law did not empower them to do so.
“We discovered that there was a lacuna in the Act that regulates the broadcasting industry in Nigeria and the gap there is that the NBC, who is the regulator does not have the powers to fix or determine price or tariff for these operators in the broadcasting industry.”
Unyime said following this bottleneck, they had to resort to amending the Act that regulates NBC, so it could have full powers to call the digital television service providers to order when it comes to pricing policy in Nigeria.
He, therefore, appealed to the members of the public to be patient as the Bill would soon be passed into law.
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