Minister of communications and digital economy, Isa Ali Pantami, apart from overseeing Nigeria’s best performing sector, is driving one of the most important projects in the country’s history – the national identity database.
Other telecom assets under the minister include the web infrastructure for MDAs, armed forces and intelligence managed by Galaxy Backbone; Satellite comms and navigation support for the Nigerian Air Force, and NIPOST.
Pantami is currently finding it very difficult to untangle himself from his past actions, and this could reflect on the fortunes of the sector he heads.
Many Nigerians are asking the minister to resign or be sacked following alleged pro-jihadist utterances, alleged support for terrorist groups like Al Qaeda and Taliban, alleged role in the murder of a young Christian student in a Mosque, alleged incitement of religious violence in Southern Kaduna and other parts of the North, among other sins.
In one of the documents released by Peoples Gazette, the minister during a meeting allegedly plotted with other Muslim leaders to assassinate Patrick Yakowa, former governor of Kaduna State.
While the conclusion of the alleged plotters was not clear, it will be recalled that the former governor later died by a plane crash along with the former National Security Adviser Owoye Andrew Azazi, a retired army general, while flying from Bayelsa State to Port Harcourt. They were returning from the funeral of Oronto Douglas’ father in Bayelsa. The actual cause of the crash has yet to be made public.
Another report by Punch found that Pantami was the Chief Imam of Abu award Tafawa Balewa University Mosque when Sunday Achi the leader of the students’ fellowship of the Evangelical Church Winning All Ministry was killed by a Muslim mob. The mob had pronounced a ‘fatwas on Sunday for an alleged blasphemy on Islam.
“The @NigeriaGov @NGRPresident @MBuhari may not realise that the world is following the ugly developments of our country’s Minister of Communication and how his government is handling or in fact ignoring to handle it,” Obiageli Ezekwesili, former education minister of Nigeria, tweeted. “Nigeria must avoid the list of states that sponsor terrorism.”
Pantami however has since denounced his past utterances, describing them as “immature”. He also claims the statements were made when he was quite young and ignorant of most things about the world. However, experts have since pointed out that the Pantami who turned 48 in 2021 was 38 in 2010 when the video was recorded, which means he was fully an adult and knew what he was saying.
While renouncing jihadist utterances doesn’t exactly turn Pantami into a saint, experts are divided about how his public perception rubs off on the industry he oversees.
The telecom industry contributed about 17 percent to the country’s GDP in 2020. However, since the NIN registration exercise began and the decision to ban SIM card sales, operators in the industry have recorded a negative turn in growth.
In the period between November and February, over 11 million subscribers have exited, amounting to a revenue loss of over N16 billion. The industry is expected to record its first utterances loss in many years when the figures for March come in.
The situation has seen operators employ different tactics to stem the loss in revenue. For example, MTN is currently engaged in a battle with commercial banks over a plan to reduce USSD commission from 4.5 percent to 2.5 percent. Prior to then, the telcos had threatened to cut off USSD services should banks not pay a debt of N42 billion they claimed was being owed by banks. They later agreed to allow telcos collect N6.98 from every bank transaction via USSD.
Pantami’s jihadist perception is one more burden the industry may not need at the moment, according to sources who spoke with BusinessDay. They all agree that the negative public perception would likely not drive investors away because Nigeria is a huge market and despite the problems it faces, has huge potential for high returns.
“I don’t think that will be so. Those who invested in the telecommunications industry have a long term view of their investments and will look beyond this episode,” one of the sources says.
The source continues, “This government has two years to go. Buhari’s image as president is not the best. Pantami serving as his minister may be just one more poor judgment. Those who are still investing in Nigeria have already discounted what I will call the Buhari-risk.”
Another source says it increases the risks of investing in the sector. Pantami’s continued stay in office even with the overwhelming allegations some of which he has already confirmed and renounced could be interpreted by investors as the absence of checks and balances in the system.
“There will also be investors who will see the risk as too much for their appetite and they will go to the next market,” the source states.
But Eyo Ekpo, a risk expert/CEO, Excredite Consulting Limited, notes that the well regulated nature of the industry means what is happening to the minister has little impact on players.
According to Ekpo, no investor would refuse to do business with operators in the industry simply because the minister was a former fundamentalist or spiritual adviser.
“The real influence in the industry is exercised by NITDA and NCC. The minister and Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy does not exercise day-to-day authority over the ICT industry. So, if it was that the VC of NCC did the things that Pantami has admitted to doing, which would be a really big problem for the industry. Quite frankly, I doubt that the Pantami issue will significantly affect the functioning of Nigeria’s growing ICT industry/digital economy. This is a Nigeria problem. Not an ICT problem,” Ekpo states.
Shares of telecom operators like MTN and Airtel have remained unaffected on the open market despite the news. MTN opened at N165 and closed at the same price on Thursday.
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