By Okoh Aihe
The gathering of stakeholders last week in Lagos to look at policy support for the telecommunications industry, suddenly communicated the painful reality that Nigeria has continued to operate the sector with a document of over two and a half decades, whose relevance has since been overwhelmed by the multiplicity of technological developments and nuanced growth in the sector.
Without giving room to exaggeration, the content has lapsed, the expectations have become too humble, far outstripped by growth that has projected the industry as the major pillar of growth and development in every other sector.
For instance, while the National Telecommunications Policy (NTP) 2000 acknowledged the existence of about 500,000 connected telephone lines at the time, mostly held by the industry monopoly operator, NITEL, for a population of about 120m people, the story has since changed, featuring a liberalised and competititive market with over 185m lines.
The gathering acknowledged the transformative role of the policy and all that it has made possible. Not just because some of the key players who had a hand in the policy like Engr Ernest Ndukwe, Engr Titi Omo-Ettu, Paul Usoro (SAN), and Dr Steven Adzenge were present at the meeting, but for the obvious reason that real achievements, such as the nation has witnessed in the telecommunications sector, don’t hide; they advertise themselves. You can see that in the number of service providers, in the plethora of services, and new ones being spawned everyday, and the overwhelming dependence of almost every other sector on the industry.
Yet the industry continues to ask for more, the demands remain high, new services and new technologies hit the sector daily, making yesterday’s document to be stale, not to talk about over two decades of material which really look just very ancient in terms of technological development.
The Lagos gathering took cognisance of above observation. The opening remarks by Dr Aminu Maida, Executive Vice chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the keynote paper by Hadiza Bala Usman, Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination and Head of Central Results Delivery Unit, provided the guardrails for discussions.
Speaking on the theme, The Imperative of Policy Drivers in Attaining National Objectives and Building Collaboration across Sectors and Segments of Government, Usman recalled that the National Telecommunications Policy 2000 was developed at a defining moment in Nigeria’s reform journey to support and address the liberalisation of the sector, encourage private investment, enable competition and help reform telecommunications from a limited public service into one of the most dynamic sectors of the Nigerian economy.
Like most other people who believe the telecom sector has impacted the country very positively, she affirms as follows: “More than two decades later, Nigeria has changed. Technology has changed. The economy has changed. The expectations of citizens have changed. What was once largely understood as voice connectivity has become the foundation for digital trade, e-commerce, financial technology, digital identity, public service delivery, education, health, agriculture, security, disaster response, innovation, and job creation.”
From the foregoing, it is obvious that the 2000 Policy unleashed a cocktail of sectoral developments but now needs more fuel to refire for the journey ahead. This is why a review has become imperative, and Usman paints the picture of what is expected.
“A policy is not merely a document. It is the expression of a country’s priorities, the framework through which public institutions organise action, and the basis on which government choices are translated into measurable outcomes. It gives direction to regulators, confidence to investors, clarity to implementing institutions, and a standard against which progress can be assessed,” she said.
The two-day gathering which was more of an expanded stakeholder engagement to provide inclusive opportunity for a plurality of opinions and contributions, is expected to be distilled into a document that would influence an avalanche of new growth, as captured by Hadiza.
“A revised policy must therefore balance innovation with responsibility, competition with sustainability, and investment attraction with consumer protection. Nigeria’s digital future depends on our ability to create an environment in which private capital can support public objectives. This requires clear rules, fair competition, infrastructure protection, coordinated taxation, streamlined approvals, and a stable policy environment,” she stated in her presentation.
Maida, who earlier in his opening remarks traced the trajectory of telecom development, noted that “today, we are in a fourth era: the area of advanced regulatory frontiers. The issues before us now include 5G, artificial intelligence, satellite broadband, Internet of Things, cloud infrastructure, critical national information infrastructure, digital trust, network resilience and sustainable investment.
”This is no longer a narrow telecommunications conversation. Telecommunications is no longer just one sector within the economy; it is productivity infrastructure for the entire economy. It supports commerce, agriculture, manufacturing, transport, financial services, education, health, public administration and the everyday productivity of millions of Nigerians,” he alerted.
This demands that discussions be more inclusive to aggregate the opinions of the various stakeholders lucky to play in a sector with the peculiar advantage of impacting operations and developments in every other sector of the economy. The situation demands for a policy that will be fair to the industry and instigate sectoral growth.
“Today, regulation must support broadband infrastructure, digital financial services, cybersecurity, identity systems, e-government, data governnce, consumer trust, innovation and critical infrastructure protection. That requires collaboration with institutions such as NDPC, CBN, FCCPC, NITDA, ONSA, state governments and other public bodies. In this sense, the next telecommunications policy must recognise that regulation has moved from sector oversight to ecosystem stewardship – from managing telecommunications services to enabling Nigeria’s broader digital transformation,” Maida pointed out.
AI supports this position, advising that a telecommunication policy should balance rapid innovation with strict data policy, emphasising the need for public-private-partnership, agile regulatory frameworks, and responsible AI deployment to prevent infrastructure monopolies.
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), on its part, harps on collaborative regulation and inclusive, evidence-based policy-making. Rather than dictating strict, overarching laws, the organisation provides strategic guidance and benchmarks to help nations build flexible, resilient, and competition-friendly digital frameworks.
The ITU position favours Collaborative and 5th-Generation(G5) Regulation – collaborative and holistic approaches which cover health, finance, and transport, among other sectors, to accelerate digital inclusion; Spectrum and Orbit Management – country’s policy that must align with the ITU’s Radio Regulations; Emergency Preparedness which encourages countries to design and implement National Emergency Telecommunications Plans (NETPs), and Harmonisation and Standardisation – which ensures a country adopts global technical standards to enable interoperability across boarders.
Without a doubt, the NCC’s meeting falls within the ITU overarching suggestions although reduced to tiny, little bits to accommodate the nation’s telecoms needs, projections and expectations.
Looking back now, it would seem the National Telecommunications Policy 2000 appeared humble and restrictive, but at the time the projections were bold and seemingly futuristic. Technology has humbled all that, however. This is the reason stakeholders must focus on the big picture to enable them meet Maida’s call – “to build a consensus around policies and regulatory approaches that will strengthen Nigeria’s position as a leading digital economy in Africa.”
