The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the nation’s telecommunications sector regulator, has urged stakeholders in the sector to intensify efforts to promote Nigeria’s indigenous telecommunications capacity and by so doing, improve the sector’s contributions to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, gave this charge during an event with the theme ‘Establishing Trackable Metrics for Developing Nigeria’s Indigenous Telecoms Sector’ organised by the Policy Implementation Assisted Forum (PIAFo) in Lagos.
Danbatta, who was represented by the NCC’s Head of Nigeria Office for Developing the Indigenous Telecom Sector (NODITS), Mallam Babagana Digima, maintained that the development of the indigenous telecommunications sector was vital for the growth of the country.
The EVC explained that based on this, the commission’s policy and regulatory framework had always laid emphasis on the development of effective local participation of the telecoms sector’s value chain.
The industry regulator recalled that the Federal Government last year launched a National Policy for Promotion of Indigenous Content (NPPIC) in recognition of the pertinent need to develop indigenous capacity in the telecom sector.
Danbatta stressed that in order to ensure the effective implementation of the NPPIC, the commission articulated several targets and high impact interventions, which were Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Based (SMART).
He said: “We have not only identified a number of critical stakeholders in the industry, but we have engaged over 30 different entities ranging from MDAs, Mobile Network Operators and SIM manufacturers and mast manufacturers via Nigeria Office for Developing the Indigenous Telecom Sector.
“At a higher level, the commission had identified some time-based metrics for NPPIC which it classified into immediate, short term, medium term, and long-term items.
“Some of the activities include creation of NODITS dedicated to guiding the policy, constitution of local content steering committee and engagement with relevant internal and external stakeholders.
“Others include commissioning baseline studies on the level of indigenous content in the Nigerian telecoms industry, development of regulations, enforcement key performance Indicators and methodologies”, Danbatta added.
While stressing that transforming the action points into metrics will not only streamline the implementation of the policy as well as provide for a SMART system to show progress, the industry regulator solicited the support of industry stakeholders, watchdogs and partners to create independent metrics that would ensure the achievements of the goals of the NPPIC.
Danbatta further explained that to demonstrated the commission’s commitment to the goals, the NODITS would be hosting a two-day maiden edition of Nigerian Telecommunications Indigenous Content Expo (NTICE 2022) from today, August 1 with the theme ‘Stimulating Development of Indigenous Content through Innovation and Commercialization’.
The commission’s EVC explained that the main objective of NTICE 2022 was to promote the four focus areas of the NPPIC in the telecommunications sector, namely manufacturing, service, people, research and development for innovation.
In his remarks, Lead Executive at PIAFo and Convener of the event, Mr. Omobayo Azeez, noted that the telecommunications sector had become indispensable to Nigeria’s sustainable economic development.
He, however, lamented that despite the sector’s growing contributions to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), it largely remained dependent on foreign inputs which, at the end of year, usually resulted into capital flights in excess of 2.16 billion dollars.
According to the industry expert, when telecom operators depend solely on foreign talents, solutions, equipment and accessories, they will invariably be faced with problems of sourcing foreign exchange (forex) and by implication, be unable to plan their business operations.
Azeez, therefore, urged the government to use its NPPIC to reverse ugly trend in order to position the sector and the nation’s economy on the path of sustainable growth for global market competitiveness.
