The digital agenda of the federal government of Nigeria seems to be gaining momentum as many transformation programmes with capacity to improve the effectiveness and productivity of the populace are churned out regularly. This has become necessary in view of growing opportunities that can help accelerate Nigeria’s social and economic development.
In the face of dwindling revenues from crude oil and the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government seem to be exploring various avenues to diversify the economy. This prompted her to come up with policies and strategies to facilitate the development of a digital economy, with the ministry and agencies like the National Communications Commission (NCC) championing this noble aspiration.
According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), nearly 60 per cent of the world’s economy would be digitised by the end of the year 2022. To ensure that Nigeria is not left behind in the digital economy, the federal government unveiled the National Digital Economic Policy and Strategy.
The Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy reported that the inputs of stakeholders, including recommendations and constructive criticisms on how to make the document more effective, were taken into consideration in the formulation and expert review of the policy.
Many of the states that keyed into the programme are said to be enjoying the support of the ministry. It is an attempt to replicate the policy at the state level by looking at the peculiar situations and challenges of those states.
States may not have ministries of digital economy. However, digital economy can be implemented by relevant state ministries such as ministry of science, technology and innovation, ministry of education, among others.
For the first time in the history of the industry, there are states providing right of way free of charge. This was after many attempts by previous communication ministers to reduce the cost.
Before now, right of way used to be as high as 70 per cent of the cost of deploying the infrastructure. For instance, it used to be cheaper to buy bandwidth between London and Lagos than between Lagos and Kano. This was traceable in part to the insufficiency of fibre resources across the country, as well as the high cost of deployment caused by excessive charges in several states. This has engendered unwarranted charges incurred for using internet in the country.
This situation has virtually become a thing of the past consequent on the digital economic policy of the federal government. There is the National Broadband Policy which gives the right to build relevant broadband digital infrastructure across every state. A state like Lagos has partnered with a lot of infrastructure companies. She has given them the needed support and free use of their right of way. As a result, Yaba in Lagos was able to boom with digital technology.
Today, there is a lot of capacity at the shores of Lagos because of the multiple sub-Atlantic cables landing there. Bandwidth is better and cheaper in such areas than it is in other parts of the country. However, most states are now able to deploy faster and better. At the end of the day, end-users benefit in terms of better pricing.
Nigeria also initiated the Digital Nigeria Policy 2020–2030 with special focus on eight pillars that are critical to the development of the digital economy. The pillars include developmental regulation, digital skills, solid infrastructure, service infrastructure, digital services promotion and development, software infrastructure, digital society and emerging technologies, as well as indigenous content development and promotion.
It is believed that these digital economic policies will drive the federal government’s economic diversification plan which will include employment generation as well as encourage innovation.
Digitalisation is the direction of the world today. According to the Ministry, $11.5trn was generated in 2016 through digital economy. It becomes necessary to accelerate the process of making Nigeria a digital economy.
Now, telecommunication is seen by everyone as a critical national security and economic infrastructure.
The temptation to cut corners is also there. There is the practice of engaging in broadband projects without clearance from regulatory authorities which the NCC is tackling remarkably. The NCC is also effectively regulating the activities of other parastatals and ministries.
When it comes to laying fibre optics by any government institution, NCC is always on ground as the appropriate regulatory body to issue the needed permit to every prospective player.
Today, with the solid foundation laid for the country’s digital transformation, the next big task to move things to the next level is the eventual deployment of the 5G Tecnology
Nigeria is presently gathering momentum to pick up the pace to join countries like Kenya and South Africa as the few countries pioneering 5G deployment in Africa.
The country’s biggest evidence in the desire to excel in this area came months ago after the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and communications satellite firm, NigcomSat, to allow 5G services ride on its C-band frequency spectrum.
From various comments by Umar Garba Danbatta, Executive Vice-Chairman of NCC, “The importance of this spectrum for prompt deployment of 5G services in Nigeria cannot be overemphasised.”
Last year, the NCC began coordinating with stakeholders to create policies governing the commercial implementation of 5G. The government has also dispelled health-related concerns regarding the technology and conspiracy theories associating 5G with the coronavirus pandemic.
The NCC has high hopes that the tech will “improve the way Nigerians live and work” by advancing smart transportation, medicine, manufacturing, amongst others.
The Senate has equally approved the deployment of the 5G network in Nigeria, following the outcome of investigations by a Joint Committee mandated to carry out same.
The upper chamber, amid the adopted recommendations, posited that the technological impact of 5G will revolutionise Nigerians’ way of life in areas such as education, agriculture, security, entertainment, and governance in general.
The Senate, however, added that although no license has been issued to any Mobile Number Operator on a commercial basis, Nigeria should still use 6 months to observe the trend of 5G deployments around the globe and engage in extensive sensitisation of the public through all channels before commencement.
In line with the social distancing rule, occasioned by the pandemic, the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy introduced “Virtual Academies” and “Virtual Institutions” domiciled in the Ministry of Communications, and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) respectively.
These appear to be world-class youth training programmes supported by IBM, Microsoft, Cisco, among others, aimed at digital skills acquisition particularly in the area of emerging technologies such as cloud computing, cybersecurity, internet of things, artificial intelligence, among others. The target is to train about five (5) million Nigerians over a 5-year period with the support of Microsoft.
It is obvious that NCC, NITDA and other agencies within the sphere of ICT have remained alert in their roles to interpret and effectively implement the digital transformation goals of the federal government,
The desired ICT transformation Nigeria desires will only be achieved at the desired speed with quality integration and collaborative partnership that can galvanise qualitative ICT solutions that the sector can harness.
At various times Danbatta, the NCC Executive Vice- Chairman has identified several areas of collaboration with other government agencies and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), such as National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), National Agency for Science & Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN) among others. With consistency and a collective effort, the ICT transformation that Nigeria passionately needs will be achieved.