At the just concluded Social Media Week, the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) reiterated that Nigeria still has 200 communities with telecommunication access gap. Together, these communities account for more than 40 million Nigerians who lack access to the internet.
While the commission is confident it can bridge the gap as it has prioritised the inclusion of the communities over a period of four years in the new National Broadband Development Plan, some challenges if not sufficiently addressed would likely derail this target.
Bako Wakil, director, Technical Standards and Network Integrity, NCC, who spoke during a Social Media Week panel organised by the commission identified some of the problems in inadequate power supply and insufficient fibre infrastructure.
While unstable electricity may be beyond the purview of the commission and the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy, they certainly can take control of fibre deployment.
In all fairness, some steps are being taken to address the challenges in fibre deployment.
For instance, as part of efforts to provide access to the communities, the NCC had in 2019 collaborated with a consortium of infrastructural companies to raise N265 billion for the development of broadband infrastructure across the country in the next four years. The commission would raise N65 billion subject to the approval of the Federal Executive Council as counterpart funding. The infrastructural companies would raise the balance of N200bn.
While explaining the plan, Wakil said the deployment will see the 776 local government in the country play active roles in ensuring that their communities are properly provided access to broadband.
For a four year target, the question would be is Nigeria doing everything to include everyone in its push for the digital economy?
Earlier in the year, Isa Ali Pantami, the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy had met and agreed with the chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) and later some governors under the forum over the increase in Right of Way (RoW) fees from the planned N6, 000 to N145 per linear metre. 14 states had increased RoW charges from the initial fee of between N300 to N500 per linear metre to between N3,000 and N6,000 per linear metre.
Although the move is very commendable, it perhaps would be better to get it into legal writing for one obvious reason.
The broadband plan would conclude in 2025 when most of the governors who are supporting the Minister would have left office. It is equally important to note that the Minister would most likely not be the minister in 2025. With new governors and a new minister in place, there is no telling what the fate of the agreement would be.
Lagos State presents a picture of how Right of Way (RoW) fee negotiation can go from right to wrong. For instance, Lagos State during the days of Babatunde Fashola charged N500 per linear metre, but the Akinwunmi Ambode government jerked it up to N3000. The current administration under Babajide Sanwo-Olu raised it further to N5000. If the agreement with the Pantami is anything to go by, the fee is back to N145 per linear metre.
But would it remain so in 2025?
A written agreement would probably go a long way and the NCC can achieve a lot for as long as the governors that signed the agreement are still in position. But it would not work when the governors are gone because whatever agreement they signed with the current minister is not legally binding. This is where the minister of Communication and Digital Economy needs to bring in the lawmakers.
At the moment, the lawmakers are addressing the Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) bill. It is meant to deter criminal elements from continued damages on telecommunication infrastructure.
But stakeholders worry the process is taking too long. Again the Presidency has indicated it could use executive order for the time being. The best solution would be to prod the lawmakers to accelerate the passage of the bill.
Nigeria’s digital economy drives, while it should assume some form of urgency, requires the legal ‘Is’ and ‘Ts’ to be crossed in order to be sustainable and have far-reaching impact on the targeted communities.
