President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has announced a sweeping leadership overhaul at the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), appointing seasoned media entrepreneur Rotimi Richard Pedro as the new Director-General of the state broadcaster.
The shake-up, one of the most significant in recent years, replaces the existing management with a new team tasked with modernising the NTA and strengthening its competitiveness in a fast-changing media environment.
Alongside Pedro’s appointment, the President named three other key executives: Karimah Bello from Katsina State as Executive Director of Marketing, Stella Din from Plateau State as Executive Director of News, and Sophia Issa Mohammed from Adamawa State as Managing Director of NTA Enterprises Limited.
Pedro, a Lagos-born media executive, brings nearly 30 years of experience spanning broadcasting, sports rights, and marketing communications across Africa, the UK, and the Middle East. A trained entertainment and intellectual property lawyer, he holds an MSc in Investment Management & Finance from City University Business School, London.
In 1995, he founded Optima Sports Management International (OSMI), which became one of Africa’s leading sports content providers, distributing marquee events such as the English Premier League, UEFA Champions League, FIFA World Cup, and CAF competitions to audiences in more than 40 countries.
His career also includes senior roles at Bloomberg Television Africa, Rapid Blue Format, and consultancy projects for FIFA, UEFA, Fremantle Media, and the African Union of Broadcasters (AUB), where he was instrumental in securing exclusive pan-African free-to-air rights for all CAF competitions.
Industry observers credit Pedro with building commercially viable broadcast platforms, increasing sponsorship revenues, and delivering world-class content to African audiences. His appointment is widely seen as a strategic move to inject fresh vision into NTA’s operations and reposition it in an era of digital disruption and shifting viewer habits.
With the new leadership team, the Federal Government is placing emphasis on specific operational areas, including news coverage, marketing strategy, content production, and commercial operations.
The challenge ahead will be converting this leadership change into tangible improvements in programming quality, production standards, and audience engagement as NTA strives to reclaim its place as a leading voice in Nigerian and African broadcasting.
