Nigeria aims to raise US$1billion from the sale of broadcast spectrum frequency, according to Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed.

Speaking at this week's Africast in Abuja, the Minister said the government is handling the broadcast frequency as a digital dividend which would generate more revenue while Nigeria works towards meeting the ITU June 2017 digital migration deadline.

"The Nigerian government can raise a digital dividend of US$1bn from the sale of spectrum, thereby ensuring that the whole digital switchover programme is self-funding. The digitisation of broadcasting offers Nigeria a lot of opportunities. The benefits are multifaceted and very far-reaching in the areas of economics, politics, education, entertainment, science and technology and several other ways," he said.

The Minister said digital migration would bring out a revolution in Nigeria's broadcast industry, with one of the direct consequences being an increase in the number of broadcast channels.

"The Federal Government's idea of Digital Terrestrial Television is one in which there is free digital TV service called FreeTV, based on freeview rather than requiring pay TV subscriptions. Therefore, the government is providing support to ensure that the FreeTV set-top boxes, also called decoders, are affordable at a retail price of N1,500," he said.

"Nollywood will have a safe and profitable distribution channel direct to 24 million TV homes through the set-top boxes with no piracy risk. This will generate $250 million per annum of extra income for Nollywood."