Director-General of Nigeria Television Authority, NTA, Mallam Mohammed Ibn Yakubu on Monday revealed that its partnership with Startimes, which enabled the Chinese company to use the NTA facilities to transmit it’s signals, has yielded no profit for eleven years.
Malam Yakubu made this shocking disclosure when he appeared before the Joint Senate Committee on MTEF,
He stated that the NTA could not remit revenue from that arrangement into the Federation Account.
According to a report by Daily Post, the Committee queried the unprofitable business relationship between the Nigerian Television Authority and the Chinese PayTv Startimes calling for a review of its terms of engagement.
Chairman of the Committee, Senator Solomon Adeola Olamilekan lamented that Nigeria has allowed itself to be treated in a manner that appears as “if there are no laws governing the nation, insisting that the pact must be reviewed.”
The Senate became more concerned that the Nigerian government spends a huge sum of N10 billion on NTA yearly without contributing revenue to service the nation’s deficit.
Co-Chairman, Senator Ayo Akinyelure expressing his disappointmgent asked the NTA DG to conduct a review or the parliament would step in.
