A Strong Digital Economy Can Bring Economic Diversification, Transformation To Nigeria – NCC
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has restated the need for the stakeholders in the economy especially players in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and telecoms sectors to harness available digital opportunities for real diversification and transformation Nigerian from the largely oil and gas economy.
Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, Executive Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (EVC/CEO) of NCC, stated this in a presentation at the Civil Society Roundtable on Digital Economy last Tuesday, September 21, 2021, in Abuja.
According to Prof Danbatta, Digital Economy offers Nigeria the opportunity to grow and diversify its economy from overdependence on oil and gas resources, and the country will also to have a piece of the action regarding the benefits of the $11.5trillion global Digital Economy,
The Roundtable was organized by the Civil Society Group for Good Governance (CSGGG) with support from NCC and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), among other partners,.
The event also attracted stakeholders, including officials from the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, NCC, NITDA, Nile University, among others.
The NCC EVC/CEO, represented at the event by Dr. Augustine Nwaulune, Director of Digital Economy Department at NCC, spoke on the topic, “Understanding the Gains of the Department of Digital Economy towards Economy Diversification and Social Prosperity”.
He clearly stressed that stakeholders could put Nigeria on the global map of digitally prosperous countries of the world by exploiting the inherent opportunities in the Digital Economy.
According to Danbatta, Nigeria has 187 million mobile lines with 98.39 percent teledensity in the country, and the country, therefore, has all that it takes to reap huge gains from the digital economy.
He stated: “The Digital Economy is worth over $11.5 trillion globally, accounting for 15.5 percent of the global Gross Domestic Product. Nigeria can tap into this.
“However, we have three components of the Digital Economy and they are Infrastructure, Innovative services and Entrepreneurship products/digital skills.
“Capitalising on the digital economy to improve the economy is a great possibility, because, you can see that, Uber, the world largest Taxi Company has no vehicle.
“Facebook has no content, but yet they are making billions of dollars.’’
The NCC Chief also reminded the audience that the Federal Government had launched two strategy documents for the development of the digital economy.
He noted these include the National Broadband Plan (NBP) 2013-2018, and 2020-2025.
Danbatta also stated: “The second document is the Nigerian Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030.
The EVC/CEO also explained that the policy document has about eight pillars, which have to do with digital regulations, literacy and skills, solid infrastructure, content promotion and adoption and many others.”
The challenges currently facing the telecoms sector regulatory Commission in Nigeria include vandalism, infrastructure gap, Right of Way (RoW), Forex issues, and duplication of functions.
Danbatta, however, assured that despite these identified challenges in the economy, there is hope for a digitally mature structure in the country to resolve issues, promote collaborations on a larger-scale, and advance prospects of e-governance for the benefit of Nigerian consumers.
Malam Inuwa Abdullahi, Director-General of NITDA, represented by Dr. Aminu Lawal, likewise observed that digitisation has come to stay in Nigeria, and that “it is for us to follow the trend.”
Abdullahi said: “NITDA is doing a lot to ensure that Nigeria achieved its goals as set out in the National Digital Economy Policy Strategy Document.
Mr. Dominic Ogakwu, Convener of the Roundtable and President of CSGGG, said that there were gaps between those with digital literacy and those without in the country.
In another development, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has warned any licensee who fails to capture, or who preregisters any individual or corporate subscriber to the Central Database is liable to a fine of N200,000 for each infraction.
As part of its regulatory activities, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has directed all licensed telecoms companies to ensure they capture, register and transmit the personal information of consumers to the Central Database before activating any subscription
The country’s telecoms regulator, in a recently updated draft regulation on telephone subscriber registration published on its corporate Web site recently, stated that the NCC has recommended a punishment of N200,000 for mobile communications service providers that fail to verify and confirm each subscriber’s biometric, National Identity Number (NIN), and other personal information.
According to the draft document, “any licensee who fails to capture, or who preregisters, register, deregister or transmit the details of any individual or corporate subscribers to the Central Database as specified in these Regulations or as may be stipulated from time to time by the Commission is liable to a penalty of N200,000.00 for each subscription medium.
“A licensee, who activates any subscription medium without capturing, registering and transmitting the personal information to the Central Database commits an offence and shall on conviction be liable to a fine of N200,000.00 for each unregistered activated Subscription Medium.”
It also further states “a licensee who fails to verify and validate biometric, NIN and other personal information before activation is liable to a penalty of N200,000 for each subscription medium in breach of these requirements.”
Mobile service providers, in the draft regulation, will be fined per subscription medium if they allow subscribers to make and receive calls, send and receive short message services, and other services typically provided by such operators without first verifying the subscribers’ personal information, including NIN.
Recall the NCC, in 2017, penalised MTN Nigeria N102.2million, Globacom N7.4million, Etisalat N7million, and Airtel, N3.8million for violating its regulatory directive on the deactivation of all pre-registered SIM cards, all improperly registered SIM cards, and all SIM cards that failed to undergo complete registration on their networks.