Since the August data was released, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has not published telecom industry statistics. The stats for September, October, and November are yet to be published as of December 18.
Experts say the delay could be as a result of the recent appointment of a new executive vice chairman of the NCC. The Senate approved Aminu Maida as substantive Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman of the NCC on November 16.
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The Policy Competition and Economic Analysis Department which is in charge of the publishing of the stats has a process for the publishing of the stats. However, they will need the approval of the NCC management before publishing the stats.
August was also the month Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, assumed office. At the time, Umar Garba Danbatta was the Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NCC. The implication is that no new data has been published since the minister was appointed. Usually, the data for the previous month is published around 16 to 20 of the new month.
It is unlikely that the delay is entirely a result of the recent appointment of the Maida, as the commission has an update on the website indicating some activities were carried out on the stats. The information on the commission’s website showed that it was last updated on 12 December 2023. BusinessDay found that the GDP statistics have been updated showing that the industry’s contribution declined significantly at 13.50 percent.
On Thursday 14 December 2023, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nigeria’s President said through the Vice President, that the absence of comprehensive data and technological applications poses a stumbling block to the country’s economic growth and efficient policymaking.
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Sources close to the commission say the NCC usually give telecom operators a timeline on when to submit their new data. It is the data from the operators that is eventually processed into the stats that the NCC publishes. Some operators who spoke to BusinessDay said that they are statutorily mandated to submit the data every month to the NCC and the odds of an operator not submitting in a month is almost zero. As a result, the challenge lies with the commission to explain why the data has yet to be submitted after receiving an update from the operators.
