In a major shake-up at the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appointed Rotimi Richard Pedro as the new Director-General, replacing the previous management team.

Other key appointments include:

• Karimah Bello (Katsina State) as Executive Director of Marketing
• Stella Din (Plateau State) as Executive Director of News
• Sophia Issa Mohammed (Adamawa State) as Managing Director of NTA Enterprises Limited

A native of Lagos, Pedro is a veteran media executive and consultant with nearly three decades of leadership experience in broadcasting, sports rights, and marketing communications across Africa, the UK, and the Middle East.

A trained entertainment and intellectual property lawyer, he also holds an MSc in Investment Management & Finance from City University Business School, London. In 1995, Pedro founded Optima Sports Management International (OSMI), which grew into one of Africa’s leading sports content providers, distributing events like the English Premier League, UEFA Champions League, FIFA World Cup, and CAF competitions to audiences in over 40 countries.

His career highlights include senior roles at Bloomberg Television Africa, Rapid Blue Format, and consultancy for FIFA, UEFA, Fremantle Media, and the African Union of Broadcasters (AUB). Notably, he helped the AUB secure exclusive pan-African free-to-air media rights for all CAF competitions.

Industry analysts credit Pedro with building commercially viable broadcast platforms, boosting sponsorship revenues, and delivering world-class content to African audiences.

His appointment is viewed as one of the most significant leadership changes at NTA in recent years, signaling the Federal Government’s commitment to modernising the state broadcaster and repositioning it in an increasingly competitive media landscape.