‘How Obasanjo’s 2000 telecom reforms rescued Nigeria from global teledensity shame’

Ernest Ndukwe, former executive vice chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has recounted how the telecommunications reforms introduced under former president Olusegun Obasanjo in 2000 rescued Nigeria from what he described as a global teledensity shame and laid the foundation for the country’s digital transformation.

Speaking during a panel session on Nigeria’s telecom policy evolution, at the National Telecommunications Policy 2000 Review Workship, in Lagos, on Wednesday, Ndukwe traced the country’s telecommunications journey from the colonial era to the liberalisation reforms that opened the sector to competition and investment.

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According to him, Nigeria’s telecom sector was in a deeply embarrassing state before the reforms, with fewer than 200,000 ordinary Nigerians having access to telephone services in a country with an estimated population of about 120 million people at the time.

“The number of connected lines was growing at an average of about 1,250 subscribers per month. This was clearly inadequate and embarrassing for a country of Nigeria’s size and economic potential,” Ndukwe said.

He explained that by the end of 2000, Nigeria ranked among countries with the lowest teledensity levels globally despite decades of state control under the defunct Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL).

Ndukwe said the roots of telecommunications development in Nigeria dated back to 1886 when the first telegraph cable was laid by a British company, but noted that progress remained painfully slow for decades.

“At independence in 1960, Nigeria had only about 18,724 fixed telephone lines,” he stated.

He added that after several unsuccessful national development plans aimed at improving telecom access, the government eventually created NITEL in 1984/1985 following the separation of postal and telecommunications services from the old Posts and Telecommunications department.

NITEL was established as a commercial telecom monopoly with the responsibility of expanding telecommunications services nationwide. However, Ndukwe said the organisation struggled to meet growing demand, while expansion remained slow and service quality poor.

“Between 1960 and 2000, NITEL’s subscriber base grew to only about 400,000 fixed lines. Detailed analysis later showed that almost 200,000 of those lines were concentrated in government offices and private organisations. That meant fewer than 200,000 ordinary Nigerians actually had access to telephone services,” he said.

He noted that the government eventually recognised the urgent need for reforms and introduced Decree 75 of 1992, which established the NCC as the industry regulator and separated policymaking, regulation and operational responsibilities.

However, he said policy inconsistencies and political uncertainty at the time discouraged major foreign investment into the sector.

Although private operators and satellite service providers received licences in 1996, NITEL still maintained monopoly control over critical services such as long-distance and international telecommunications. According to him, experience later proved that partial liberalisation could not attract the level of investment needed to transform the sector.

The turning point, he said, came after Nigeria returned to democratic rule in 1999, when the Obasanjo administration identified telecommunications as a strategic priority for national development.

Ndukwe explained that the government decided to replace the previous telecom framework with a more ambitious policy capable of driving rapid growth and infrastructure expansion. A multi-stakeholder committee chaired by the vice president was subsequently established to draft a new telecom policy.

“The committee was tasked with removing the bottlenecks hindering rapid expansion of telecom services and positioning telecommunications as a major driver of national infrastructure and economic development,” he said.

The policy was eventually released in September 2000 and became the blueprint for the full liberalisation of Nigeria’s telecommunications sector.

Following the release of the policy, the NCC moved swiftly to open all segments of the telecom market to competition, including areas that had previously been monopolised by NITEL.

Ndukwe said the reforms paved the way for the licensing of digital mobile operators in 2001, triggering explosive growth in mobile connectivity across the country.

“This process was not easy at the time. However, by 2001, competitive operators had been licensed to provide digital mobile services, leading to the rapid expansion of connected lines across the country, a transformation that continues to this day,” he said.

He admitted that the privatisation of NITEL, handled by the Bureau of Public Enterprises, did not achieve the expected success, largely because the process dragged on for too long while the company continued to decline.

Despite that setback, he said liberalisation brought new energy into the telecom sector, improved service quality, reduced prices, expanded network coverage into underserved areas, increased investment inflows and contributed significantly to economic growth.

“One important lesson from this journey is that sound policy does not only affect an industry, it impacts the entire economy and national ecosystem,” Ndukwe said.

Reflecting on the lessons from the reforms, the former NCC boss identified three critical factors behind the sector’s success: strong enabling laws, regulatory independence and stakeholder consultation.

He said the Nigerian Communications Act may now require another review after more than two decades, stressing that regulators must be protected from political and administrative interference to maintain investor confidence.

Ndukwe also emphasised the importance of consultation before major regulatory decisions are taken. “You cannot simply sit in an office and make decisions about the future of the sector without engaging those who operate within it,” he said.

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He recalled that before auctioning digital mobile service frequencies, the NCC published consultation documents online and in newspapers to gather industry input before taking final decisions.

At the same time, he warned regulators against excessive delays in decision-making, saying delayed actions could discourage investment and slow industry growth.

Looking ahead, Ndukwe advised that Nigeria’s emerging telecom policy should avoid being overly prescriptive on technology because of the fast-changing nature of innovation.

“This new policy that we are now developing should not be too prescriptive on technology because technology changes so quickly. That is why regular review is necessary,” he said.