[Anglican Communion News Service] Nigerians will soon be able to tune into programming from the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) thanks to the launch of the church’s very own cable TV channel.

The channel has been several years in the planning. Back in December 2012, Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, primate, told the church’s Standing Committee that progress was being made on the TV project.

Writing for the Diocese of Amichi website, the Rev. Canon Chukwuebuka Chukwuemeka said the primate told the Standing Committee in Abuja, “The work on the studio is progressing steadily. We have made the first line of payment and the technical committee of experts has been inaugurated.

“The new vision of the Church of Nigeria, revised in 2010 stated that to expand mission work media facilities – such as cable television, radio and print media – should be established and existing ones fully utilized.”

In May of this year, the primate announced to synod members that there was a test transmission for ACNN TV showing on Channel 91 of MyTV.

On Tuesday a job advert appeared on the province’s website: “The Anglican Cable Network Nigeria (ACNN TV) hereby invites applications from suitably qualified candidates to fill the position of the General Manager” indicating that the launch date is now perhaps only a few months away.

The province’s communications director, the Ven. Foluso Taiwo, told ACNS that the channel would be a tool for evangelism. “The vision is to reach the unreached. The main focus is salvation,” he said adding that the Church of Nigeria wanted to deliver the “undiluted Word of God.”

ACNN TV will be good news in the province for Anglicans such as the Rev. Uche Nwoye who, writing on the Diocese of Offa’s website, welcomed the initiative saying the church would be “lost in space” without a television station. Without such a medium, he warned, the church would fail to reach an “already moving generation.”

Others on the same web forum were also positive about the plans, but called for careful consideration about the ongoing costs of such a project.