The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has signed a Public Private Partnership (PPP) agreement with its consultant, 3R Company Nigeria Limited, for the execution of the Revenue Assurance Solutions (RAS) to strengthen and manage the integrity of revenue generation process in the Nigerian telecommunications industry.
The agreement signing ceremony, which took place at the Commission’s Head Office, Abuja last Friday was witnessed by representatives of the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC), which has been guiding the partnership implementation process to give expression to the decision to procure the solution within a PPP framework due to the scope of the project.
While the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, signed the agreement on behalf of the Commission, the Chief Executive Officer, 3R Nigeria Limited, Mr. Raymond Wodi, signed for his company.
Commenting after signing the MoU, Danbatta said the decision of the NCC to opt for RAS was to bolster the efforts of the Federal Government in increasing revenue generation, especially at a time when the resources available to governments are dwindling by the day.
The EVC expressed optimism that the deployment of RAS would enhance monitoring and regulatory activities concerning Annual Operating Levy (AOL) administration in the telecommunications industry and confer higher levels of integrity and fidelity on the AOL figures obtainable in the industry.
Danbatta said: “It is our belief that if we can be able to deploy RAS and ensure we get the true picture of what the Mobile Networks Operators (MNOs) are supposed to be paying by way of AOL, we would have accomplished an important milestone in the area of revenue generation for the Commission as well as for the government.”
While commending the ICRC for the guidance provided in the process of consummating the partnership. he also lauded the Project Delivery Team (PDT), comprising staff of the Commission, who worked tirelessly in ensuring that the project was brought to fruition and for all their efforts.
Danbatta urged the 3R Company Nigeria Limited to ensure effective deployment and implementation of the project within its scope, objective and government’s expectations.
In his remarks, Wodi thanked the Commission for the opportunity given to the company to serve the industry and the government through deployment of 3R’s technology solution to ensure a more effective revenue generation from telecom licensees.
He also assured the stakeholders that 3R would exceed their expectations on the assignment.
The Director, Internal Audit at the ICRC, Mr. Togunde Dada-Hammed, who represented the Director-General, Mr. Michael Ohiani, commended the NCC for the bold decision to deploy RAS.
He promised that the commission will support the process in order to ensure that the project’s objectives are achieved.
The RAS project is designed to be connected to the licensed telecommunications operators’ systems and will have the capability of capturing and reporting in real-time, the billing activities by the operators for the purposes of computing and assuring with minimal or no error margin, the accrued AOL payable to the NCC by the licensees.
