Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has disclosed that it is developing a new framework to drive the federal government’s goal in promoting indigenous content in the country’s telecommunications industry.
Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC made this known at the maiden edition of the Policy Implementation Assisted Forum on the National Policy for Promotion of Indigenous Content in the Nigerian Telecommunications Sector (aka PIAFo-001). Noteworthy, NCC collaborated with Messrs. Business Metrics and their partners to deliver the maiden initiative of PIAFo-001.
Danbatta said the policy will encourage domestic production of telecommunications equipment, components, and software to meet local and export demands.
He said, “As we are all aware, the Federal Government has put in place a very robust policy and legal framework for local content within the oil and gas sector. Similarly, the advent of local content in the Nigerian Telecoms sector is probably as old as the Nigerian telecoms revolution itself. The National Telecommunications Policy posited that the domestic production of telecommunications hardware and software is desirable for national development. It further states that Government shall encourage domestic production of telecommunications equipment, components, and software to meet local and export demands.
“In giving legal backing to the above policy direction, the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003 identifies, as one of its primary objects the encouragement of local and foreign investments in the Nigerian communications industry.
“With the steady evolution of Telecommunications in Nigeria, the industry and its infrastructure are appreciated as the infrastructure of infrastructures, positioned to drive growth and efficiency in every other sector (both private and public) by supporting the optimization of institutions and processes in the ecosystem. Accordingly, the development of effective local participation at all levels of the value chain becomes a sine-qua-non to the overarching national economic development and market success.”
Recall, in May 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari had launched the national policy for the promotion of indigenous content in the telecoms sector.
It focuses on major areas in the telecoms sector such as manufacturing, software development, compliance, monitoring, licensing, funding, people, and research & development for digital innovation and entrepreneurship.
In addition, he stated “The NCC is vigorously promoting local investment in digital infrastructure and competition in the provision of accessible high-speed broadband infrastructure. This will in turn enable the Commission to deliver on the stipulated targets in the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2020-2025. Towards achieving the mandate, the Commission has developed a licensing framework to enable infrastructure companies (INFRACOs) to roll out optical fibre cables for communications in the 774 Local Government Areas that make up the Federation. The Commission also ensures full utilization of spectrum for deployment of services through Re-farming, Re-planning, and Auctioning.”
Similarly, Omobayo Azeez, Chairman, Organising Committee of Policy Implementation Assisted Forum (PIAFo) said “I am also glad to announce to you that today marks the birth of a new initiative and an addition to the mechanism of policy implementation in Nigeria. You will agree with me that the Nigerian archive is replete with good policies across the various sectors of the economy. But poor implementation has always characterized the system.
“We desire to change this order of poetic policy pronouncement and prosaic execution by creating a midpoint interface between the government and private sector players, where policies can be dissected, digested, and driven to effective implementation, and later appraised using measurable metrics to assess their success over time.”