Written by Roseline Okere and Adeyemi Adepetun
THE Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has put the total investment in Nigeria’s telecommunications sector at $40 billion (N6.4 trillion).
The BPE’s Director-General, Benjamin Dikki, identified the deregulation of the telecommunications sector and the participation of private telecoms firmss like MTN, Glo, Airtel, Etisalat, Visafone as some of the country’s achievements in the last few years.
Besides, the sector is said to have contributed 4.69 per cent to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) within the last four years.
The GDP contributions was made known Thursday, in Lagos, by the Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Eugene Juwah, while addressing stakeholders in Lagos at the 2014 Telecoms Executives and Regulator forum, organized by the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON).
Juwah said the telecommunications sector, which hitherto contributed 4.56 per cent to GDP in 2010 now contributes 9.25 per cent.
The NCC EVC, who said the telecommunications sector has provided the foundation for operational efficiency in other sectors of the economy in the country, disclosed that the rampaging Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), which has killed thousands of people around the globe has also hindered faster completion processes for the Infrastructure Companies (InfraCos) expected to further drive broadband penetration in the country.
According to him, the commission is behind schedule in its completion processes for the InfraCos because the foreign consultants hired for the implementation processes are scared of coming to Nigeria because of Ebola.
“However, I shall be travelling out soon to meet them. We are hoping to complete the process as soon as possible. Remember we are starting with Lagos and the North East. The InfraCos will help strengthen Nigeria’s broadband drive”, Juwah stressed.
The EVC also informed that the Information Memorandom for the auctioning of the 2.6Ghz spectrum will be out today, stressing that the licensing should be done before the end of the year.
Meanwhile, the BPE DG said Nigeria is enjoying over 123 million active telephone lines compared to 450,000 lines before the reform. “The sector now employs over One million Nigerians and has attracted over $40 billion in investments”, he said.
Dikki, in a statement, urged transparency in the disbursement of funds held in trust for the people.
He said: “Governments ought to owe the ultimate owners of the resources an explanation on how the resources have been used in developing the people.”
Dikki said: “The articulated development objectives of the state were unambiguously spelt out in Sections 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 24 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended. These include: that for development to take place, the state must guarantee the security of life and property; that the state must guarantee education to the people; that the state must provide healthcare to the people; that the state must preserve and sustain the environment; that the state must preserve the culture of the people; that the state must ensure consistent improvements in the resources of the people; and that the State should strive to ensure respect for life and well being of the people.
Others are: that the state must guarantee the rights of the people; that the people must respect the constitution, laws and policies of the state; and the people must carry out their civic duties to the state.
He noted that the role of accountability in governance was to build confidence and trust between the government and the governed and ensure optimisation in the use of resources through dialogue and consultation and meeting of the actual needs of the people.
Others he said, was to encourage the practice and culture of financial system checks and balances that ensure consistent good behaviour of those entrusted with the nation’s collective resources from one generation to another and to also ensure public understanding of government policies and support for them.
Dikki pointed out the critical role the BPE had played in enthroning accountability and good governance in the country.
He said these include the formation of the national Pension Commission (Pencom) which ensured accountability of workers’ pension deductions which he said has accumulated over N4 trillion in stable deposits now ready for development investment.
He said the setting up of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has increased accountability and has assisted in reducing theft of government fundsadding that the deregulation of the telecom sector and the participation of private telecom companies such as MTN, Glo, Airtel, Etisalat, Visafone has alo given the economy a big boost.
“Today Nigeria is enjoying over 123 million active telephone lines compared to 450,000 lines before the reform. The sector now employs over one million Nigerians and has attracted over $40billion in investments,” Dikki said.
The unbundling of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) into 18 successor companies and the successful privatisation of the Electric Power Sector has taken the sector out of government budget, adding that the revenue shortfalls in the power market could easily be calculated.
The ATCON forum, which threw up so many germane industry issues including spectrum management; Local Content development in the telecommunications sector; InfraCos processes, saw the EVC mentioned that the challenge of the troubled Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operators revolved around poor funding.
“I must say this, the challenge with the CDMA operators is that they are under capitalized. They are limited by capital. They borrowed heavily and most have failed to pay”, he stated.
Juwah listed some of the steps taken to have repositioned the telecoms sector to include the introduction of open access model; launch of industry corporate governance code; prevention of anti competitive tendencies in the industry; planned restructuring of the Value Added Service market; auctioning of spectrum (2.3Ghz spectrum in February) among others.
Speaking on the open access model, Juwah said the process is meant to address challenges plaguing the sector, especially in regards to broadband penetration, adding that it will also encourage different players to participate fully in uplifting the status of the sector.
On the Corporate Governance, he said the code is expected to ensure the sector is run appropriately, stressing that operators will need to abide by it, though not compulsory yet.
Earlier in his welcome address, the President of the ATCON, Lanre Ajayi said the forum was put up to enhance the relationship between telecommunications players and the regulator in the country.
Ajayi, who said ATCON would be 20 years by December, said local content development in Nigeria, especially in the ICT sector should be about value addition.
Culled from http://ngrguardiannews.com
No comments :
Post a Comment
we will love to share your experience: