How the StarTimes Satellite TV Programme help our people’s personal development – the HRH Dimas Daniel, the District Head of Hulumi Village

When Chinese President Xi Jinping announce on December 4th, 2015, at the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation that China would implement satellite TV programs for 10 thousand African villages and Nigeria would get 1,000 of the allocation, it was a news well received by the Nigerian Government.

In 2017, StarTimes, the contractor executing the project commissioned the pilot phase of the project in Hulumi Village, a suburb of the FCT having installed 20 Satellite TV Dish, Solar Powered Projector TV for a communal viewing center and some TV sets all maintenance free for one year.

In this follow-up interview with the HRH Dimas Daniel, the District Head of Hulumi Village, MUTIAT ALLI examines the impact of the gift to the members of Hulumi Community more than one year after the installation.

What has changed in the community since the installation of the satellite TV?

A lot of things have changed among our people. First of all we thank StarTimes and the Chinese Government for this project.

The people of this community are more informed that they were many years before the installation was done.

In the area of personal development, language speaking, home improvement, cooking, sports activities, farming and even how we dress sometimes.

People are generally happy each time there is electricity and they have the chance to watch TV. I can say that this project has changed the life of our people positively more than we even expected when the project was launched in 2017.

Everybody is pleased with it, including children, women, men and even myself.

What do your people love watching the most?

It is the foreign channels most especially. You know because many of them are now beginning to see foreigners on TV more than ever before.

They now have access to learn how things are being done in the other countries thereby adding to the knowledge they already have.

When I interact with my people, I know that they enjoy watching the foreign channels; it makes them very happy and knowledgeable.

The information they get from this foreign channels is so much that it helps them improve in their education.

Now when they are being taught some things in school, it is not strange to them because they may have seen it on TV before the class.

We have noticed this among our children, it is helping them in their education and all the parents are very happy to see their child doing better.

Are there any areas that require improvements?

Well yes. Sometimes when it rains heavily with so much wind, the satellite dish may shift and the signal will be lost.

What we do in this situation is that we have to call somebody in the StarTimes office to assist us in making it work. Apart from this, there is nothing else.

How often does the community viewing center operate?

Between one to two times a week. We normally use the viewing center as a means of bringing our people together to enjoy some of these movies and TV shows both the foreign ones and Nigerian ones.

Before we watch any show, we let the people know that the viewing center will be open on a particular day so that these who are interested can come and watch.

We also have different things showing so that people who are interested in various topics can watch.

For example, we had the opportunity to watch all the news and see things live during the election from all parts of the country.

As you know whatever is enjoyable can also be a way of distraction, so we try to control how much we use the viewing center so that the children in the community remains focused on their education.

We don’t want a situation where the adults are watching and the children are not allowed to watch what they want so the best way is to regulate how we open the viewing center to everyone.

What other comments do you have for the Chinese Government for this initiative?

I want to thank them for remembering our community. It is important for me as the community leader to express our thanks.

If this project was not initiated I don’t think our people will be enjoying what they have now.

This 1,000 African Villages project in Nigeria is one of the best things that has happened to the rural communities, and I am sure that other district heads just like me can confirm how important it is to their people and how it has made them better.

But I also I want to ask for more support in terms of helping our communities with jobs and other things to improve the health of our people and the living conditions.

If we get better health care, better structure in our primary school where the children are learning and better electricity in this community things would be better.