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Tag: Okoh Aihe

  • A busy week for telecommunications – By Okoh Aihe

    A busy week for telecommunications – By Okoh Aihe

    The telecommunications industry was very busy last week. From Abuja to Lagos, activities were intense as the various stakeholders engaged in actions that could stop the industry from further degradation.

    The Senate at a plenary formally confirmed the appointment of Dr Aminu Maida as the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) after considering the report of the Committee on Communications headed by Senator Ikra Bilbis.

    By Thursday, Maida hopped into Lagos with his team for a much needed stakeholders meeting with the industry. Without doubt there would be so much to talk about a frontline industry whose fortunes have started to dip in a very painful way.

    Also within the week, the Commission told the Senate joint committee considering the 2024-2026 MTEF-FSP that it was unable to meet its revenue projection for 2023 because a couple of the frequencies put out for sale through an auction were snubbed by the industry.

    The Lagos meeting was an opportunity for Maida to introduce himself to the industry but the matter at hand was nearly overwhelming, and the new chief executive dived in straight, am sure, to the delight of the Lagos audience that would appreciate his frankness and boldness.

    He will work with his team at the regulatory commission to reposition the industry that has done well for the nation although it has fallen on hard times recently. He would work on the side of the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy to execute his policies for the communications industry and breathe fresh lease of life on the sector.

    Under him, quality of service (QoS) in the telecommunications industry would be tackled with urgency. The Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) would enjoy fresh attention and be repositioned to function effectively. InfraCos, once hailed as  industry game changer, will be reactivated to play their role. But he pleaded for the cooperation and understanding of the industry players to make his dream come through, he would need the relevant stakeholders to keep his back.

    The industry embraced his enthusiasm with determined caution. In their hearts the CEOs may have been saying: we have seen them all, the absolutely strategic regulator on one hand, and the bozos on the other, who exploited the power of the regulator to manipulate the industry to position of personal advantage. The regulator once reputed for transparency acquired a coat of many colours that wasn’t a pleasant testimony. They have seen them all.

    But the industry had something to say too. It wasn’t just the dumb lamb before its shearers. They were cautiously optimistic about the coming of the EVC and were excited about his seeming sincerity. But they have their own story. The regulatory terrain has been awkward for some time. Call tariffs are no more congruent with the reality of the nation’s economy, not only because of the dollarisation of the entire system but more because of inflation which stood at 27.33 per cent in October. Yet they have to import their hardware and pay all kinds of bills in dollars. The running of the generators at the base stations with diesel has been ceded to the tower operators who remain part of the industry and are paying humongous bills. Call tariffs really are no longer very convenient and competitive to support the huge investment in the industry.

    The operators also expressed the worries that telecoms infrastructure have been subjected to serious and serial vandalisation, sometimes, creating protracted downtime in some instances. They therefore requested that this administration should work towards declaring telecom infrastructure a critical national infrastructure (CNI) in order to send a very strong message to the rogue community of vandals.

    Abuja, the Federal Capital territory (FCT) presents a different industry worry. Previous administrations had made service rollout difficult for operators because of some troubling policies of the government. The result is that telecom signals have remained poor in the territory, thus creating a community of disenchanted and unhappy subscribers. The operators appealed to the EVC to use his good offices to change the narrative.

    An industry source at the meeting told this writer that Maida looked calm, respectful and knowledgeable about the industry, some great qualities the source expects, would support him to do well in the office of the EVC. Although still early in the life of this administration, the industry looks positive about the outcomes he may bring to the sector.

    His focus areas serve an indication that Maida has taken a dispassionate look at the commission and industry, and is sincere enough to x-ray them for good and for growth. Under the last administration the agency lost focus and transmogrified into a contract awarding agency instead of the regulator it is.

    All of a sudden, Nigeria happened to NCC (suffered the faith of the nation where projects fail), losing focus and pursuing inane projects that had little place in the plan of the commission for the industry. It was bedlam, chaos and confusion. Conflict of interest reigned as projects were designed with predetermined personal end results. This is the agency that Maida has come into and on whose platform he went to address the industry last week.

    But the meeting at the National Assembly in Abuja where the agency confessed an inability to meet revenue target should be of considerable interest to Maida, for obvious reasons. One. Previous administration, for reasons very difficult to understand, gave the impression that NCC is a revenue generating agency, which it is not. One of the activities of the Commission is to trade on spectrum on behalf of the government, which money goes straight to the federation account. Appointees who had never imagined that volume of money started to have weird assumptions of their ephemeral positions.

    “Our revenue projection from spectrum fee was N387.4 billion. But we ended up earning N199.8 billion as of September 2023, which is a significant difference from the projected revenue,’’ Yakubu Gontor, Director, Financial Services explained.

    The reason for this default is that the 600MHz and 35MHz offered for sale were shunned by the industry.

    Let me say something about this. The industry ran away from the auctions because the regulator was becoming less transparent in its activities. Yet, the king, in uncontrolled braggadocio, never admitted any fault,  never admitted it was naked!

    For instance, the first 5G auction held in December 2021. In the Information Memorandum, the commission stated there would be no other auction for two years. But the following year, the commission was pressured by politicians into organising another auction, thus breaking its own rules, which immediately sent wrong signals to the industry. There were other spectrum transactions that had become even more controversial on who got involved or who profited. How would any reasonable person fork out hefty amounts for such amorphous transactions that had no respect for rules of engagement?

    Let me also add that the 600MHz band is encumbered at the moment. The band  belongs to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC). Until the digital switchover (DSO) is completed and compensation made to the NBC and its operators, it may not be wise for anybody to make significant investment in them for telecoms operations.

    This writer has the reliable information that although the industry is anxious to embrace Maida, there is likely going to be a wait-and -see attitude to determine whether he will continue in the old ways.

    The NCC remains a regulator but it has a big headache at the moment  which  only sincerity can cure.

  • A DStv package for the new NBC boss – By Okoh Aihe

    A DStv package for the new NBC boss – By Okoh Aihe

    While the new Director General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Charles Ebuebu, savoured the opportunity provided by Africast to introduce himself beyond the shores of this nation, penultimate week, another package awaited him in the office. Not palatable at all.

    Without a moment of grace period whatsoever, frontline pay TV service provider, Multichoice Nigeria, announced an increase in the cost of its various programme bouquets because of the prevailing economic situation in the country, effective November 6, 2023.

    From the premium package to the most pocket-friendly package, the cost ran through, leaving their DSTV subscribers most confused and even very indignant. For instance, the premium bouquets jumped from N24,500 to N29,500, Compact+ from N16,600 to N19,800, while the price of GOtv Jinja bouquet have climbed from N2,250 to N2,700 even as GOtv Lite customers will still pay as little as N1,300, up from N1,100. For those with Explorer, the extra view will attract N4,000 instead of N3,400. No package was unaffected indeed!

    This is the second time in a year. The first was on May 1, 2023.

    Nobody at this time will want to be in Ebuebu’s shoes at all. While Africast focussed on the business of broadcasting, with the communique actually encouraging African broadcast operators to build continental relationships and deploy modern technologies that could help reduce cost, the business decision by Multichoice would really be the first major challenge that Ebuebu would have to deal with.

    The new DG will have to bear the anger and the red face of the various stakeholders. The subscribers would curse the inaction of a regulator that is compromised. That is always the easiest thing to say. Demonisation without proof.

    The National Assembly would send multiple summons for Ebuebu to appear before them and explain why DSTV would dare increase rates under his watch. I do not envy his shoes right now because this would be a very busy period for the new boss and his Commission, spiced by a frenetic level of recriminations and multilayer engagements with the hope of resolving a very serious problem.

    Yes. A very serious problem. Perhaps more serious than the Electoral Act that was haphazardly passed by the National Assembly and then abused and misapplied by INEC, whose head nobody has held for incompetence and fatalistic failure in previous elections, including the off-season elections of last weekend.

    This writer has been informed that the NBC has visited the National Assembly in respect of the increase in DSTV subscription rates. The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has also stepped in and would be fighting for consumer protection without thinking of the escalating cost of doing business in Nigeria. It is a serious matter that needs urgent attention. More serious than the cost of petrol that has moved from about N617 to over N640 and N700 depending upon your location in parts of the country.

    Nigeria is up in stilts, struggling for survival and the people are raging over the cost of television bouquet which has nothing to do with the cost of food all over the country; in fact, which has no relationship with lots of people slipping into multidimensional poverty as a result of unreasoned government policies.

    The stakeholders that gathered for Africast in Lagos noted that broadcasting was expensive. Part of their suggestions to mitigate the cost are as follows: ‘’Africans should reduce their reliance on foreign digital platforms and develop home-grown solutions for monetisation and distribution of content.

    ‘’Broadband infrastructure is not available in Africa. Governments at every level should come together to grant incentives such as tax and financial incentives to telecom operators to encourage them to provide cheap data.’’

    That is in the long term. In the immediate, Multichoice Nigeria is fighting for life like other businesses in the country. “We understand the impact this change may have on our valued customers and partners, but the rise in the cost of business operations has led us to make this difficult decision,” the organisation said.

    The bad news is that the coming of over-the-top (OTT) operators like Netflix has put Multichoice under pressure across the continent. The failing economy has only complicated matters.

    For instance, although the annual performance ended in March this year, with an addition of 1.6m subscribers, the organisation still made a troubling loss in its South Africa operations. The troubled economies of the various markets of operation has also increased the pressure on Multichoice, making desperate decisions like the recent subscription price increase in Nigeria, a survival imperative.

    The good news is that Multichoice, like so many others, hasn’t decided to bail out of the country. Those who say it is not possible because of the money being made in Nigeria should search out a list of the companies that have left Nigeria in recent years.

    An abbreviated list includes: Michelin, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Proctor and Gamble (P&G), Shoprite, Mr Price, Etisalat, Surest Foam Limited, Deli Foods and MZM Continental. These are no good signs at all. In August this year, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) raised a cry that in spite of the heavy population of the country, corporate organisations were taking a flight because of the high cost of doing business and lack of basic infrastructure, including electricity.

    DSTV dwells in the realm of conspicuous consumption, a menu designed for the rich guys in the society who would want to flip their remote to watch CNN or the latest movie flick from Hollywood. For them, Nollywood cannot satiate their voluble entertainment appetite. Instead there has to be a rich mix, the sort prepared by DSTV which, fortunately, actually has packages for the rich and those ailing for a living in our heartless society.

    The regulator has issued so many licences for pay TV operations in recent years but the economy buried them all. And the few ones still operating offer little attraction or worthy alternatives to titillate any subscribers’ entertainment instincts. So, they are right down there struggling for corporate existence.

    Does Multichoice as a business has the right to increase subscription rates? Absolutely yes. Can the NBC regulate or fix prices? The answer is no. Check all the books, including the National Broadcasting Commission Act CAP N11 and the Nigeria Broadcasting Code. Nothing supports the NBC to fix subscription rates or trouble any operator for deciding to do so. Yet, the National Assembly will pressure the NBC to do something to the delight of the subscribers who really would not want to pay for anything.

    But here is a reality check. Multichoice runs a business and has considerable investment in Nigeria. Most of its operations are denominated in Dollars, whether in paying for content, hardware or even satellite space. And without exaggeration, the Dollar which goes for over N1000 is more precious than gold, as the local folks would say. This puts a lot of pressure on a number of organisations doing business in Nigeria; Multichoice has only responded.

    What then should be done? A conversation between the various stakeholders is very necessary at this point in time to achieve some level of persuasion and not coercion. Ebuebu has promised to excite the broadcast environment and make it attractive for operators to do business. Such action has become very urgent.

    This government should forget all obnoxious estimation of the country and begin to fix the business environment which has eaten up so many corporate organisations. The manufacturers are complaining. The international airlines say their funds of over $800m are held down. Telcos are struggling to survive. The Naira has lost the battle against the Dollar and the citizenry are struggling against hyperinflation that has made living a nightmare in their own country. The government should do something urgently. After all, the campaigns are over. This now is reality. People and businesses are seeking the best from a government that promised renewed hope.

    Multichoice didn’t commit any crime but may yet be persuaded to temper their expectations.

  • Nigeria’s AI dream and the agony of hunger – By Okoh Aihe

    Nigeria’s AI dream and the agony of hunger – By Okoh Aihe

    Two things troubled me last Friday to the point of distress. One. My wife, who is the real Government of my life, woke up very early in the morning and was watching a video on her phone. This was unusual. 

    The male voice in the video was lamenting that he never thought a day would come that we would be eating each other in Nigeria. He had read something like that in the Bible but never thought it would ever be possible in our nation. 

    All of a sudden, he just melted and started weeping, the sort that really comes from deep inside the body. At that point I told my wife I needed to see the video. It was an accident scene, a really crazy one. A minibus chewed over by a trailer laden with fuel. There was death all around, so many corpses on the road but providentially, there were a couple of them with life, desperately in need of human kindness to supervene in their situation. 

    But this is Nigeria. The people decided to go for fuel instead of saving lives. The man wept, in similitude to that short verse in the Bible, Jesus wept. No heart would see that and not melt. 

    Two. The story of the Presidency buying a yacht at this point in time. So much uproar since the story broke but only a few could draw a link between the yacht and the first story. The desperate poverty in the nation is bringing out the beast in us, apologies to FELA, but some would still engage in the odyssey of luxury. Pure esoteric bliss, completely incongruous with reality across the nation.

    But why the developments really got on the wrong side of me is that two days prior the world had gathered in the United Kingdom to discuss what would seem to us here the near esoterica or things that flabbergast the mind. 

    The meeting in the UK was at the instance of the British Minister, Rishi Sunak, who is pushing his country to play a central role in the world of artificial intelligence (AI) and be involved in examining its safety, relevance and even the dangers that could be far reaching. 

    The UK AI Safety Summit which was hosted symbolically at Bletchley Park, home to Second World War Codebreakers, attracted tech experts, global leaders, and AI promoters and developers, including Elon Musk, who had a one hour interview with Prime Minister Sunak, discussing AI. 

    In a world at war in several places, while large populations are plunging into multidimensional poverty, Rishi Sunak rose above the mundane to provide leadership to his people in a rare field that would have a pronounced effect over the future of the world. That is the way the leader reasons – looking far into the future. 

    While Sunak was plotting an appearance on the global stage to position his country as an emerging power on AI, President Joe Biden of the United States had a few aces up his sleeve. October 30, 2023, just before the Vice President, Kamala Harris, would leave to represent her country at the UK Summit, Biden issued an Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial intelligence. The order places American life at the centre of benefits from this unfolding genre of technology while providing safety buffers to ensure protection from its dangers that may be lurking out there.

    For instance, the Order requires that developers of the most powerful AI systems share their safety results and other critical information with the US government. Developers are to develop standards, tools, and tests to help ensure that AI systems are safe, secure, and trustworthy. 

    Having secured the voluntary commitments from 15 leading companies to drive safe, secure and trustworthy developments of AI, Biden with the Executive order hopes “to ensure that America leads the way in seizing the promise and managing the risks of artificial intelligence (AI).”

    This was a big deal at the UK Summit and some say it whittled the beat of the conference. Kamala Harris also used the occasion to make some announcements concerning the Biden administration’s efforts in ensuring that AI delivers its best to humanity.  

    Especially since the launch of ChatGPT nearly a year ago, governments have become increasingly concerned about the growing infinite possibilities of AI, including posing existential threat to humanity, and are seeking inclusive ways to regulate it. Without doubt, AI is pushing its ways into nearly every aspect of human life, from health to education, from retail services to entertainment, including restaurant operations, from housing to hoteling, and from business to some of the most well kept secrets of human operations.

    Responsible world leaders don’t want AI to get into rogue hands or rogue states who may deplore it for biological warfare and threaten humanity. Even on its own AI could pose dangers without proper trimmings and regulations. 

    This underlines the presentation of Kamala Harris where she stated that the Biden administration of which she is an inseparable part, has announced the setting up of the American AI Safety Institute. No doubt America wants to lead in this realm by rallying global coalition. The administration had earlier stated in its Executive Order that, in building a home agenda for AI, it is working with allies and partners abroad on a strong international framework to govern the deployment of AI. That is leadership.

    Globally, AI safety remains a major concern. At the opening of the Summit on November 1, Sunak announced the Bletchley Declaration on AI signed by 28 countries, including the US, UK, China, India and Nigeria, as well as the European Union. The countries pledged their commitment to the development of AI but also ensuring international collaboration in mitigating the risks. 

    “Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents enormous global opportunities: it has the potential to transform and enhance human well-being, peace and prosperity. To realise this, we affirm that, for the good of all, AI should be designed, developed and deployed, and used, in a manner that is safe, in such a way as to be human-centric, trustworthy and responsible. We welcome the international community’s efforts so far to cooperate on AI to promote inclusive economic growth, sustainable development and innovation, to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms, and to foster public trust and confidence in AI systems to fully realise their potential,’’ the document stated. 

    Without doubt AI will be disruptive and its hold on knowledge and human activities far reaching. In the chat with Sunak, Elon Musk who is a significant player in the AI sector, said this, among others: “There will come a point where no job is needed. You can have a job if you want to have a job for personal satisfaction but the AI will be able to do everything.”

    Oh like the entire humanity is heading willy-nilly towards redundancy. Not so fast!

    It is a thing of joy that Nigeria is actively involved in the global discourse on AI. Nigeria is listed as one of the countries in President Biden’s global coalition on AI. Nigeria is also listed among the signatories of the Bletchley Declaration. 

    Global engagement and consultation on AI may likely intensify. In a 31-page document released recently, Dr Bosu Tijani, Minister for Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, listed AI as one of the focus areas of the ministry under him, saying that Nigeria should achieve a Top 50 ranking in AI Readiness by 2030. The country is currently occupying the 96th position. 

    It is also gladdening to observe that leaders of powerful nations are offering themselves to lead the world in the pursuit of responsible use of AI. But first, they do it for their national interest before the rest of the world. Especially in science, they hardly contemplate a free for all. 

    In his famous Man on the Moon speech to congress in 1961, President J.F. Kennedy challenged his country to land a man on the moon within a decade. It was achieved in 1969. 

    In April 2020, President Donald Trump declared the 5G industry was so powerful that America would never allow other nations to out compete her. His position immediately affected the fortunes of China which had maintained a clear lead in the technology. And, perhaps, still does.

    Again both President Biden and Prime Minister Sunak are now providing leadership in the field of AI. 

    Nigeria’s efforts will be more daunting because it has hunger to cure before technology. However, she seems to have a good place at the AI table and should take advantage of all arising coalitions and declarations to further position herself for the good of the nation and the growth and responsible deployment of AI. Leadership is needed. Leadership.

  • For telecoms and broadcasting, let the eagle perch and services improve – By Okoh Aihe

    For telecoms and broadcasting, let the eagle perch and services improve – By Okoh Aihe

    Those who bragged that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu wasn’t feeling the heat from the cases at the Supreme Court, became lying knaves last week when the president, in a relieved response to his victory, told some of the political appointees who came to celebrate with him that they too should be happy because their jobs are now secured.

    What a very sincere response! Just the classical case of ‘’monkey sweats, Leje, but only the hair on its body’’, as Prof Femi Osofisan would put it in one of his plays. As it turned out now, the president was sweating profusely but had enough braggadocio to cover up his worries. This time, we go back to Chinua Achebe, who, in his characteristic way, put it very succinctly: ‘’Let the kite perch and let the eagle perch too. If one says no to the other, let his wings break.’’

    Can there ever be such peace in our clime or Pyrrhus has simply gone on a battle? Always, I am for peace. Let those who advocate the contrary have their wings broken, as Achebe has said.

    However, my motivation for writing this material is to state very clearly that three of those appointees who should enjoy a whiff of relief because of the security of their new positions are: Bosun Tijani, the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Aminu Maida, Executive Vice Chairmen of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Mr Charles Ebuebu who is the DG of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).

    They attract my interest because they feature in the strategic industries of telecommunications and broadcasting where I have worked and maintained sustained advocacy over the years for a better ecosystem where all stakeholders could earn and retain their shared values and dues.

    Before the security of their jobs last week, it is heart-warming to alert their boss, the president, that the three aforementioned have already hit the ground running,  as the cliche runs in Nigeria, except that so many top government functionaries have hit the ground running in the past without tangible results. From some of their statements, there is a likely awareness of the exigent times which demand a deep core commitment to right so many things that are in deficit in order to make their respective sectors better.

    One of the troubling headaches of the telecommunications industry at the moment is poor quality of service. Especially in recent times when telecoms regulation went in abeyance, it is difficult to sustain a call (conversation) for about three minutes without a drop. Of course there are so many reasons to adduce: challenging operating environment which includes poor economic decisions, insecurity, very clumsy forex management, poor regulatory decisions, Right of Way (RoW) challenges, multiple taxation and a receding trust in government’s commitment to obeying investment decisions, especially foreign direct investments (FDI), among others.

    The flipside is that for an industry that has operated at peak level for twenty two years, it is difficult to continue to plead excuses. As my old man would say, it is only the lazy farmer that would attribute failure to his farming implements. The telecoms subscribers in Nigeria need action and improved service delivery and not excuses about the Nigerian operating environment that has nearly turned inside out.

    The comforting development is that both the Minister and the EVC have already identified poor quality of service as a major industry concern and have pledged to tackle it frontally and deliver relief to the subscribers.

    Speaking to the senior management team of the NCC, Maida said: ‘’As such, we would align with this aspiration to increase broadband penetration to 70 per cent and to cover 90 per cent of the population by 2025. Therefore, we need to build a reliable telecom industry with impressive quality of service (QoS) indicators with the quality of experience (QoE) as our watchword and ultimate goal. This also requires us to address a number of issues such as the Right of Way (RoW) challenge, ensuring security of our telecom infrastructure, among others. Efforts must be made to significantly improve service delivery by ensuring the NCC is performance driven.”

    While I wish the EVC luck, I want to observe that his position is purely aspirational as the foundation figures upon which his expectations are built, are products of guesstimate from a regulator that was becoming reckless with facts.

    However, Maida’s position seems to flow directly from the Minister’s plan for the ministry and industry released in a 31-page document. Under the section of National Policy on Telecommunications, he observed that core issues such as spectrum management, convergence, universal access, broadband penetration, net neutrality and Quality of Service (QoS) have morphed significantly from when the last policy was issued while pointing out that a digital economy such as the present administration promises, requires a deepening of access to telephony and broadband services for the underserved and unserved.

    The Minister pledged that his ministry will drive the review of the Telecoms Policy to account for these core issues.

    This is good thinking from a ministry and a regulator that had worked across purposes with a vauntingly ambitious minister swallowing up the regulator in a most audacious display of greed, shame and crowning incompetence. Both Tijani and Maida have promised to work with each other to enable the nation benefit from the ever expanding opportunities in the telecommunications industry.

    They are both young and learned. They have set targets for themselves as a clear departure from amorphous postulations of the past. One can only pray, may this not be hope deferred!

    The new boss of the NBC, Ebuebu, who brings up the rear had a most fortunate introduction into regulatory responsibilities, courtesy of AFRICAST which held in Lagos. Just within a week of his appointment, he was speaking to the West Africa Broadcast Regulatory Authority Network (WABRAN) at a pre- Africast event where he canvassed the importance of cooperation and coordination among the broadcast regulators in the sub region.

    The lawyer in him was quick to point out that “Drafting Guidelines for Social  Media Regulation in West Africa,” will pose serious challenges and may elicit both positive and negative influences.

    However it was the AFRICAST opening ceremony that provided him with the veritable platform to put his NBC agenda on display. Speaking to broadcast operators, equipment manufacturers, equipment  vendors, exhibitors, content creators and consumers, Ebuebu stated as follows: that the NBC, under his stewardship, would embark on a transformative journey that is focused on enhancing the entire value chain – from content creation, all the way to consumption; establish a regulatory framework that fosters innovation and growth in the broadcast sector; forward looking regulation to ensure that content creators are appropriately rewarded; eliminate of entry barriers into the broadcast industry; work with other relevant government agencies to development regulations that can curb the excesses of the Social Media, and ensure the completion of the Digital Switchover (DSO) process.

    There is no doubt that Ebuebu connected with the right words and may even soon begin to build a strong following, thanks to the AFRICAST platform. But there are quite a few areas that will blow right on his face and spew up a welter of controversies.

    For all three of them – Tijani, Maida and Bosun, they all seem to have a clear definition of their assignment. But as they say, words are cheap. What seems to be the immediate challenge however, is for them to transcend the lure of words and focus on the low hanging fruits that may yield immediate results for a people that are too tired waiting in the queue for promised dividends of democracy.

  • For the new DG, AFRICAST 2023 presents an opportunity for a pitch – By Okoh Aihe

    For the new DG, AFRICAST 2023 presents an opportunity for a pitch – By Okoh Aihe

    As you read this material AFRICAST 2023 is running in Lagos. It began yesterday after a most underserved but ignoble hiatus which remains a manifest display of inertia to scholarship by some people in the broadcast regulatory Commission.

    Africast is the intellectual creation of the Commission aimed at harmonising the understanding of the various stakeholders of the sector in order to create an industry that caters for their taste and also serves the interest of society. It is good news that the event has returned to the international circuit of the broadcast calendar. 

    But something more fundamental supervened last week as the final details of the programme were being put together. Mr Charles Ebuebu was announced as the new Director General in place of Mallam Balarabe Illelah whose period at the NBC was a most uninspiring interregnum. You know, like a pause in the history of the organisation, nothing really happened, except a most repugnant degradation. So, like most of the heads of parastatals in the Muhammadu Buhari administration, Illelah leaves with no cheers. 

    But that is the fate of those who work in government. A flight can end midway, giving opportunity to new hands to introduce new ideas while the old lieutenants simply go home with the expectation that history will be fair to them. From Africast 2023, Ebuebu will start to pen his own history even as Illelah will already begin to rue the missed opportunity to write an inspiring story for posterity. 

    The theme of the programme is; Broadcast Content: Synergy, Finance and Market. Around this theme are so many sub themes which include: Succeeding in OTT screaming Business – The SWEET TV Franchise, Producing Quality “Home-Grown”With Universal appeal – Ways to success, The convergence of Media and Data: What Does A Win Look like?, The Dynamics of Making And Distributing A Daily News Podcast For Africa – An Evaluation, Satellite Platform – Using It To Deliver Content Everywhere – Cost Effectively!, Accelerating Universal Delivery Of Fully Digital Broadcasting Services To All Nigerians and Examining The Drivers, Dynamics And Opportunities offered In a Fully Converged, Digital Ecosystem, among others. A stellar cast of industry personalities, industry practitioners, equipment manufacturers and vendors within and outside the country, have ben assembled to shine the light of understanding on these various issues. 

    It actually looks quite tantalising to have the opportunity to listen to all these personalities. Since broadcasting was deregulated in 1992, so much has changed. Content production has moved from analogue to digital, Transmission has been terrestrial, then satellite and ultimately digital broadcasting which Nigeria has not been able to green light, 

    Within the period, Nollywood has gained global ascendancy while the popular variant of Nigerian music export, Afrobeat, has taken the world by storm and now even winning Grammys by way of marking a crowning acceptance by the global community. 

    It is fitting to observe here that these growth trajectories in entertainment and technology will put enough concerns on the plate for experts and industry practitioners to sort and be able to situate broadcasting as a veritable platform to harmonise all of them and deliver something refreshing for the industry and its customers.

    At the centre of the Africast programme is Charles Ebuebu, who I will want to describe as one of the luckiest political appointees today. In less than two weeks in office, he has been offered the international platform which Africast provides, to market himself and make a direct pitch with the expectation that he is able to deliver something from the guts. It is Ebuebu’s responsibility to carry the worries of the industry on his shoulders for the next five years and he needs the wisdom of the biblical Solomon to achieve a delicate balance between the industry, the people and government. 

    The regulatory Commission which Ebuebu comes into has been in tatters, especially under the Muhammadu Buhari Administration. Leadership has not been stable because of the meddlesomeness of government. The Commission has a chain of litigations around its neck as a result of poor regulatory decisions and a badly coupled Code – Nigeria Broadcasting Code. The Digital Switchover (DSO) has been on ice so that its failure can remain fresh and very stubborn. Most regrettably, staff morale is down to nearly point zero. The NBC workers used to be a very rambunctious bunch. But Illelah destroyed all that, turning the workers against each other while demonstrating a most superficial understanding of broadcast regulation. 

    It is Ebuebu’s concern to address all that, which is why Africast 2023 presents an opportunity for a pitch. If I had the opportunity to write that speech, I would know what to do. It would have been an opportunity to address a plethora of fears, And they are indeed many. 

    The story of the deregulated broadcast industry is nothing new to the new Director General. As they say in my part of the world, broadcasting is where he has cut his legal teeth. He has been head of Legal at Continental Broadcast Service, broadcasters of TVC. He has also worked with some organisations that had serious business relationships with NBC.

    In picking Ebuebu for the NBC job, this administration has only addressed a provision of the National Broadcasting Commission Act which says that “The Drector-General shall be a person with wide knowledge and experience in broadcasting.” 

    Ebuebu is an industry person. There is no doubt about that.

    He has a history; that everybody knows. But he has been given a transcendental opportunity to transit from working for an individual to working for a nation. It is expected that he will bring his legal training to the bargain and purge himself of previous relationships and be able to deliver on a job that is not only very sensitive but has often been the flash point between the government and industry.  

    Industry regulation in Nigeria has suffered a punishing relapse. You only need to look at the telecommunications and the banking industries under the previous administration and be guided appropriately. 

    What will Ebuebu do differently? Will legacy relationships free him to make a positive and immediate impact at the regulatory Commission which needs a messiah right now? Let me tell a little story which is not an answer to the foregoing question. Heading towards the final moments of the Buhari administration, the NBC had placed a fine on TVC as it did to some other organisations. Former minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, flew into a rage. Why would you place a fine on TVC? Lai was working for the federal government but could not stomach anything that could jeopardise his relationship with his former boss.

    I do not envy Charles Ebuebu who has been given a very challenging job to do. He has a choice. Either to do a damn good job for the nation or suffer the entrapment of legacy relationships which could throw him in the dustbin of history, like some of his predecessors in office. 

    There are too many sordid controversies in the broadcast industry at the moment. My expectation is that the DG should provide the leadership that can lay them to rest one after the other. Like a guy walking on eggshells, Ebuebu should tread with caution in order to save the regulator and the industry from further damage.

  • EVC Maida, hear what they are saying – By Okoh Aihe

    EVC Maida, hear what they are saying – By Okoh Aihe

    On the day that a new Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) was appointed for the Nigerian communications Commission (NCC) by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in the person of Dr Aminu Maida, I made a call to a source within the Commission to gauge the pulse of the regulatory agency.

    The response was jolting. The source wasn’t happy with the appointment at all, asking: What experience is he bringing to run a huge organisation like the NCC? The source claimed to be aware that Maida’s CV had been in the political power mongering circuit in the past few months, adding that even then, the appointment has still come as a surprise because the appointors may not have taken a number of things into consideration.

    I have spoken to at least six persons within the period. The line goes through the middle. While half is clearly against the appointment, the other half is accepting it with some little caution, saying that time has come to try a totally new set of people with the hope that they bring good to the industry with fresh thinking in government.

    Quite unfortunately, the President doesn’t have to take permission from anybody before making key appointments as it is his prerogative to search for requisite human capital that can help him fulfil his campaign promises to the people. In the past few days, the President has done exactly that, making a rash of appointments that is manifestly indicative that he is ready to get his administration going in spite of bruising cases in court and image and credibility crisis.

    In fairness, Maida is not coming empty. Not a basket case unable to hold water. He holds a Masters in Systems Engineering from Imperial College, London in 2002, and a PhD in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Bath, also in the United Kingdom. His Post Graduate Diploma is in FinTech from the University of Cambridge.

    Maida honed his academic credentials with practical experience, working with large multinationals like the BT group and Cisco. Before his appointment as the EVC, he was the Executive Director, Technology and Operations at NIBSS – the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc, a central switch company owned by the CBN.

    Maida is not coming empty handed. He is not a basket case.

    Maida has also been saying the right things. “I am deeply honoured to have been appointed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission. As I resume my role, I am fully committed to supporting the Honourable Minister, Dr Bosun Tijani’s vision for a thriving digital economy. In this digital age, we will work tirelessly to expand broadband access, ensure affordable and accessible communication services for all Nigerians while fostering innovation and sustainable growth in the telecommunications sector. Together, we will advance the nation’s digital transformation agenda,” he said on his X handle, formerly Twitter.

    Quite unfortunately, this will not assuage some minds at the regulatory agency. For them, neither age or academic qualifications matter any more. They have witnessed the best of times building up an organisation from scratch, and they have also watched the same organisation taken down to shreds within just eight years. Maida should therefore understand the kind of mixed feelings that will greet his appointment and resumption.

    His predecessor, Prof Umar Danbatta came with everything – age, big academic documents sans industry experience. It took him only eight years to shake down the industry, from the nirvana of industry performance to the nadir of shame and failure. With all the support that he had, he brought the industry to total chaos and left a fractured regulatory agency.

    Without even a little fight, Danbatta submitted the NCC to an opprobrious regulatory capture by an over ambitious, power thirsty minister who wanted the entire telecommunications industry to listen to his voice alone. The results were catastrophic for the regulator and the industry.

    Under Danbatta, there was no growth. Instead, wrong regulatory decisions weakened the industry progressively to the extent that it became so palpable to point at operators that were dying because of failed regulatory support or orchestrated favouritism that did the entire industry harm.

    Employment was done without reason or plan; without any advertisement at all, hundreds of people were employed to fill the place. Tribesmen and politicians’ children took over the NCC, and quite a number of them have no motivation to work. A source lamented last week that for the first time since the year 2000, people are employed at the NCC, and for one year they have no job descriptions (JDs), office space or even tools to work with. This flies against the corporate culture of the past when a worker was handed everything on the day of resumption.

    This is the organisation that Maida walks into, flatulenced from the top by a chief executive that was supposed to steer its growth. Really no red carpet is expected as he walks into the NCC because of deep-seated suspicions sowed by a past not too salutary.

    Without intruding so much into your time, let me give some unsolicited advice that you may find useful. While admitting that you have worked in high profile corporate settings, I wish to point out that government agencies like the NCC, come with a basket of challenges.

    For the above reason, I will want to recommend that you read the Nigerian Communications Act 2003, from cover to cover even if for a superficial understanding of regulations and the industry. I can say without water in my mouth that your predecessor didn’t have time to do this. So, even before day one, he suffered internal capture and never recovered from self-imposed hallucinations until his removal last week.

    Before day one because, he came into the Commission without being cleared by the Senate and started to take actions that would impair the agency with time. You don’t need to follow the footsteps of a predecessor that stumbled miserably.

    Some people have told me that the NCC is more than just regulating the telecommunications industry. From your position, you will be representing Nigeria in so many international organisations, including the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) where so many weighting decisions are taken. You need to have the legacy knowledge within the agency to achieve results. You need to be properly armed with the right lieutenants to attend such high profile meetings.

    This advice has become expedient because of the situation at the NCC at the moment. Your predecessor introduced strange administrative practices into the system, uprooted knowledge to the extent that incompetence was incongruously exalted to the shame of knowledge and experience.

    Dear Maida, the NCC is haemorrhaging internally and you need to be dispassionate to locate the causes.

    What therefore should occupy your immediate attention? Refocusing the workforce of the NCC and realigning the agency on the path of regulatory competence. NCC is a regulator and not a project office. But most recently, it was easier to award a contract in billions than to have just a million Naira available for regulatory responsibilities. This is the reason some of the workers don’t have tools to work with. You also need to quickly mend relationships with the industry as some operators are still reeling from the regulatory inconsistencies of your predecessor

    I can see your enthusiasm in wanting to work with your new immediate boss, Tijani. You may already have been friends. A clear line has to be drawn, however. Tijani is the policy maker while you are the regulator executing those policies to create a more successful industry. A minister taking over the responsibilities of the regulator is called regulatory capture. That doesn’t have to happen again.

    I can see what the President is trying to do. By your appointment and that of the minister, he wants to recreate the telecommunications industry in the image and likeness of the younger generation. While such an idea can be pleasing to behold, it can also be fraught with danger. I want to observe here that there is residual knowledge at the NCC and the ministry which can help you and your boss. The President is also advised to tap into industry knowledge and experience in forming a new Board for the regulator. That is, if indeed, he wants to bring together the fragments of a decoupled industry and create a more promising one that can serve as the superstructure of his economic policies.

  • For the Communications Minister, a document long overdue – By Okoh Aihe

    For the Communications Minister, a document long overdue – By Okoh Aihe

    The year 2001 is generally regarded as the tipping point of the telecommunications industry in Nigeria. That was the year the industry was democratised for ordinary folks to have access to telephony. It has been over two decades of celebrating achievements in the sector and this has literally blinded us against blights and failures in the industry.

    However, the 31-page document released by Dr Dosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, acknowledges such legacy growth and developments in the industry but says that time has come to reload and head to the future with new hopes and aspirations in order to take the industry and the general economy to a new level of growth that is more inclusive.

    The document is very aspirational and articulate. Titled, Accelerating our Collective Prosperity through Technical Efficiency (A Strategic Plan for the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy), the document is a ‘’strategic blueprint” which “articulates a vision for Nigeria that builds on the transformative power of digital technology and innovation to diversify and deepen our economy.”

    In order to properly mobilise his workforce and align them with his new vision, the minister contextualises the mandate of the ministry, which is to “accelerate the diversification of the Nigerian economy by enhancing productivity in critical sectors through technological innovation.”

    The workforce are domiciled in the ministry and its various agencies, namely: Galaxy Backbone, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigeria communications Satellite Limited (NigComSat), Nigeria Data Protection commission (NDPC), Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), National information Technology development Agency (NITDA), and Universal Service Provision (USPF).

    It will be remiss not to quickly point out to the minister that USPF is not an agency but a department or unit of the NCC which is empowered by the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 to have its own board because of its peculiar nature of being a fund that has to be properly managed in handling intervention projects.

    The former minister, Dr Isa Pantami, tried to elevate USPF to the level of  an agency for very selfish and less altruistic reasons. Tijani should look at Part IV of the 2003 Act, titled: Universal Service Provision Fund, and not dive in the mire!

    The minister’s Strategic Blueprint rests on five key pillars which include: Knowledge, Policy, Infrastructure, Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Capital (IEC) and Trade.

    “Knowledge is the cornerstone upon which innovation thrives, and is built upon the bedrock of sound policies. Infrastructure provides the essential backbone for a thriving digital economy, while innovation and entrepreneurship drive economic diversification. Trade, the fifth pillar, represents our commitment to global collaboration and partnerships, recognising that innovation knows no borders,” Tijani states explicitly.

    Before 2027, the minister plans to work with other stakeholders to train 3 million technical talents and prioritise their placements within the local and international economy. This is the beauty of the document which has created pillars, set out actions and measurable targets that can be achieved within defined periods of time. He has placed a thumb on building technical skills in Nigerian youths in order to accelerate the growth of Nigeria as a global technical talent hub and net exporter of talent.

    Most auspiciously the minister recognises the place of Policy in his bold plan to reimagine and transform the Communications Ministry and the relevant industries. This is very much in line with the position of the Act in Section 23, which empowers the minister to give the general policy direction for the communications sector.

    The document states that “effective policy provides regulatory clarity and necessary incentives for an environment where businesses and innovators are empowered to grow. Over the next four years, our policies will focus on encouraging investment, research and development and the protection of intellectual property.”

    Such policies will cover the Nigerian National Broadband Plan, National policies on Digital Public infrastructure, National Policy on Telecommunications, National Blockchain Policy, National Data Strategy, National Artificial Intelligence Bill, National Digital Economy Bill, Nigeria Startup Act and National Digital Literacy Framework.

    The minister is in good company when he says, “As telecommunications continue to evolve in line with new technology and associated opportunities, it is critical to revamp our national approach to account for changing imperatives and to situate broadband development at the core of our national policy for the next 20 years. Core issues such as spectrum management, convergence, universal access, broadband penetration, net neutrality and Quality of service (QoS) have morphed significantly from when the last policy was issued.”

    The current policy was revised in the year 2000. Situating the ever mutating telecoms sector under an inclusive umbrella that will create a home for the restless productive lot, seemed to have been overlooked by the previous administration that was more interested in appropriating regulation than providing a shelter for growth. It will be a welcome development for the minister to produce policies that can ignite growth in the industry.

    The minister wants to “connect communities and businesses by implementing our broadband strategy to ensure that everyone is carried along. Managing our spectrum efficiently will create pathways for the growth of new technologies and improve access to government services,” he said. The minister is very much on point.

    Quite a few things need to be looked at here and I think the minister may have been supplied some wrong data in some instances which formed the basis of underlying optimism and assumption in some of the measurable outcomes. The nation suffers infrastructure deficit in every respect, whether in power generation and distribution, water supply, road infrastructure or service roll out in telecommunications, the nation is in shouting deficit. There is really no reason to paper them over in order to build hope that will evaporate in smoke.

    For instance, I am persuaded not to believe that the nation has a broadband coverage of 50 per cent which the minister wants to boost to 70 percent by 2025. My simple explanation is that fibre roll out in the country has been slow and also suffered greatly from policy inconsistency between states and the federal government. This results in high charges for right of way (RoW). Furthermore, a majority of the base stations for mobile operations in the country are mostly 2G and 3G and that really hasn’t done so much for broadband nor will it be able to achieve expected results by subscribers.

    Instead of a hyped sense of achievements by some agencies under his ministry, the minister should be encouraged to study the challenges confronting operators in the telecommunications industry and try to find lasting solutions to them with his policy thrust.

    Being a young man himself, I can see that the minister harbours no thoughts that Nigerian youths are lazy. Instead he wants to affect their lives through technology training and adoption. However, there are low hanging fruits. I will suggest that the minister take an inventory of the digital installations by the NCC, NITDA and USPF, and reactivate and upgrade the centres for effective use by the various communities and institutions.

    With the various buildout and energies properly appropriated, I believe it is possible for the minister to meet the various targets he has set from himself, including top 50 global ranking (currently 96) in AI readiness and adoption across metrics (Computing power, Skills, Data Availability, Ethics and Governance) by 2030.

    The minister also needs to embrace some reality. There is nothing happening at NigComSat at the moment, not to talk of achieving targets that will not be feasible. NigComSat needs complete overhaul, industry redemption and rehabilitation.

    Although this has already been said, it needs restating. The minister needs to understand the status of USPF and be ready to put it to proper use, instead of making it a sinkhole as we saw under the previous administration. Besides, I see a few faces around him who had a hand in the failure of his predecessors.

    Above all, I like a guy who leads from the front and mobilises the rest of us to follow his example. He has not claimed to know it all. Instead he has put out a ministry’s document he calls a roadmap and has invited generous input from other stakeholders. Perhaps, this should be the minimum demand from ministers, to release documents that will demonstrate an understanding of the ministries they head, and how their activities affect the various industries inclusively.

    Bosun Tijani has floated a standard with his document. My little appeal is for others to see the good in what he has done and do the same.

  • In Imo State, a beautiful tech programme attracts a berating – By Okoh Aihe

    In Imo State, a beautiful tech programme attracts a berating – By Okoh Aihe

    I watched the Tech Walk in Imo State last week and was obviously elated as the mass of young people headed to the government house for a celebratory rendezvous with the Governor, Hope Uzodinma. My excitement derived from the fact that a seemingly young project which began about a year ago has gotten so much traction with the targeted population to the point that it is almost becoming a movement. A digital army is being created and the young men and women are only so proud and willing to wear the digital code as apparel.

    I was privileged to see the concept papers for The Digital Imo Agenda and, at the time, one could only wish the young Commissioner, Dr Chimezie Paulinus Amadi, well in his efforts to introduce a new narrative to a state that was understandably deficit in public image.

    Good ideas can be very commonplace sometimes, but planning and execution could be in the precincts of rocket science. The idea of The Digital Imo Agenda wasn’t new at all, much like what has been implemented in some other parts of the world, to give their youths a reason to live. Somebody needed to spin something new in a nation where university students could be at home for one year because government would not settle industrial dispute with the lecturers, where those who graduated have no jobs and have turned to weapons in the hands of manipulative politicians and, in fact, in an environment where being a young child growing up has become nearly a curse. A reasonable mind needed to give meaning to such young minds trampled into the ground by wicked hearts.

    One of the primary pillars of The Digital Imo Agenda is the SkillUpImo Project which, in three years, is ambitiously aimed at training and equipping 300,000 people with digital skills and knowledge, get them off the streets to be more useful to themselves and the society.

    Such youths will be trained in the fields of Computer Appreciation, Data Analytics, UI/UX, Web Design, Digital Marketing, Content creation, Phone Repairs, Video Editing, Programming and a host of other fields of digital appreciation. The graduates of such training will not only be able to function within our borders but will be knowledgeable enough to work remotely in other parts of the word.

    The students are trained in Cohorts or tranches, if you prefer the latter word. Cohort One graduated 5,000 on February 22, 2023. Last week, September 27, 2023, to be precise, Cohort Two graduated a whopping 15, 000, bringing the total figures to 20, 000.

    The programme isn’t doing badly at all. Coming from a very poor background, I know the colour of hope. That very day, I could see hope walking on the streets of Imo as they marched towards the governor’s office. TV images can  also tell the story of hope which is in short supply in our nation as poverty bestrides the environment like a demonic colossus while the Naira cringes before other international currencies. Life is degraded so massively that only those with sincere relationship with the ordinary folks, can relate the horror story that life in Nigeria has become.

    Then it happened. Governor Uzodinma, in a euphoric moment of political orgy, told his appreciatively delirious youths that jobs have been secured for as many as 4000 of them with the European Union, and then in Canada and other parts of the world.  By December he will enjoy the honour of handing out the appointment letters by himself. The politician in Uzodinman has spoken. The ecstasy at that moment was overwhelming in the extreme.

    The young souls before him only hunger for the best and anything could stand for truth and the possible, especially if it is coming from a political leader.

    But the world outside was aghast, unable to understand why the governor that should be the one creating jobs and retaining talents should be the one organizing their departure. I have watched on television the sandbagging and flagellation of the governor and my sympathy for him is slim, for the simple reason that I feel pained that such a beautiful moment has been drowned in an ill-timed political exhilaration.

    Beyond that political ballyhoo, has the governor done well with The Digital Imo Agenda? Before providing an answer I want to ask another question, why is it difficult for our politicians to work quietly and let the results speak for them? Some other countries of the world allow the results to do the talking.

    May 25, 1961, President J.F. Kennedy delivered his Man on the Moon speech at a joint session of the Congress, where he challenged his country to land a man on the moon within a decade. The idea was not the subject of politics. By July 20, 1969, after spending about $28bn ($283bn in today’s inflation) with over 400, 000 people working on the Apollo project, America’s Apollo 11 landed three men on the moon – Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins. Armstrong became the first man ever to walk on the moon. They left a message on the moon: ‘’Here men from planet Earth first set foot upon the moon. July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.’’

    At some point, China felt overlooked and underestimated by the rest of the world and went insular to build capacity and technology. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China exhibited its wares to the rest of the world that has not stopped asking for more. China is antagonized for being a clear leader in 5G technology. This was not the subject of politics.

    India contemplated the poverty of its people and decided to build a health sector that could take care of the ordinary folks. The country built up a modern health sector which could handle a major heart surgery for a cost less than $10, 000, and inadvertently built up a health tourism sector for the rest of the world. No politics. Perhaps our politicians could achieve more if they talk less.

    But back to our question, has the governor done well with The Digital Imo Agenda? I will project answers in parables. The plan was to create a digital army from the hungry youthful population who would be challenged enough to use their talents to disrupt their local environment and create something for themselves and the rest of the world. The governor’s effort has attracted major industry players like Cisco, Huawei and Microsoft, including the National Examining Board for Technical Education (NABTEB) for certification and value optimization for its various programmes. In this respect, the governor has scored well.

    Speaking at the graduation ceremony in Owerri, the Imo State capital, an obviously excited Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy admonished the young tech graduates to hold on strongly to the value that has been added to their lives, saying: “Everywhere you look in the world, there is not enough technology talents. This shortage, I want to remind you is an opportunity for young Nigerians like yourselves to fill the gap, not only in Nigeria but also globally. To take up opportunities that are not only financially rewarding but opportunities that create lasting impact for the society.’’

    The minister readily used the example of two young Nigerians who are doing great things for themselves and the tech ecosystem in general. A young man of seven years ago, Kenechukwu Udoeze, has become a lead designer of Icare in the Netherlands, while Inyioluwa Gboyeji who discovered the power of digital technology and digital skills, has featured in the heart of two major unicorns, Andela and Flutterwave. The two companies are worth over $5bn within ten years. Without doubt, the minister is in full support of what is happening in Imo State and has promised to work with the government.

    In less than one year, the Imo State government has created a digital army of 20, 000 personnel. That is huge by any standard and should be critically appreciated beyond the appurtenances of politics. What is also very clear is that some of these young people could be global citizens in the months and years ahead based on what the state has bequeathed to them through SkillUpImo. These young people have something to brag about. They have skills. They have hope. And they now have a future.

    The governor should allow them pursue their dreams and be cautious in flaunting figures that are doing great disservice to the great work he has done with The Digital Imo Agenda.

  • For telecoms, an industry perennially challenged – By Okoh Aihe

    For telecoms, an industry perennially challenged – By Okoh Aihe

    While the President of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was speaking at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 78), last week, releasing sound bites and rallying the international community to the plight and potentials of the African continent and the need for them to pay more attention to  the well-being of the continent, especially Nigeria, for the good of the entire human race, the national power grid again went down, the second time in less than a week. This time it was reported that the amount of power available to the entire nation was scandalously 42.7 MW as against the 273 MW of the previous week. 

    Before the trip to the United Nations, the President was in India to attend the G20 New Delhi Summit which was equally a landmark meeting for him and there have been lots of claims concerning achievements or non achievements thereoff. But almost everybody with a sense of the past can testify there is a new wave of international diplomacy for Nigeria and the results arising therefrom remain in the realm of conjecture. 

    As I made the rounds the following morning trying to log off the miles, I saw the grim  reality of what was happening around the nation with the entire population struggling to get a little of the miserly 42.7MW. Not many could any way, so the generators at the GSM base stations were humming away in what seems a sorrowful dirge for the nation. 

    There is a particular one within a church premises which seems to enjoy the grace of its host. But this very morning, it joined the dirge. 

    I stood listening to the sound as the sweat ran down my back from the long walk. My mind flashed back to Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart in reverse order. In one of those moments, Unoka, Okonkwo’s father, was looking for a solution to his misery and poverty stricken life and had to resort to the help of the Oracles of the Hills and the Caves (Agbala). Without listening to his windy story, the oracle rebuked him for overt laziness and pointed out that while other men of brave hearts were covering long distances of seven rivers looking for virgin lands to farm, Unoka was hovering around his home, sacrificing and demanding miracles from overused land. The oracle gave one firm instruction: ‘’Go home and work like a man.’’

    In the case of present Nigeria, the President is travelling far and wide looking for solutions to the problems that ail the country. Making promises, making claims of achievements already in the bag. If the location was to return to Achebe’s Umuofia, perhaps the oracle would have told the President the same thing: Go home and work like a man. 

    Perhaps you will permit me to add some sheen to the interpretation: go and find local solutions to the problems confronting your country. Yes. We do not need the world to cure the problems of perennial power failure in Nigeria or stem the overwhelming descent into total security nightmare. The cliche would advise that we take the bull by the horn and deal with all the attendant consequences. 

    I am standing not too far from this communication tower and listening to the suppressed sound emanating from the generator which is not so good for the ears, but which is even worse for the pockets. The situation in the country has made life difficult for the people, and has made planning impossible. How does a family of four, for instance, plan with Thirty Thousand Naira (N30,000) minimum wage?

    Still very early in the morning, my mind tried to create a mental picture of what could be happening across the nation where power transmission has failed miserably and I tried not to do the mathematics. There are about 35,000 communication towers carrying over 127,294 base transceiver stations (BTS) across the country. At the tipping point of the industry, the transmission infrastructure was rolled out by the service providers. However, some years ago, some operators thought it wise to focus on only service provision and ceded infrastructure management to some specialised companies. It was a welcome licensing opportunity for the regulator of the industry, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), which quickly licensed a number of companies which include: IHS, American Tower Company and Communication Towers, among others. 

    A new business has been created requiring the Tower companies (TowerCos) to buy over the tower facilities from the mobile service providers, including MTN, Airtel and 9Mobile, apart from Globacom which still keeps that genre of business. The companies would provide towers, power and security while the Telcos would only come in with their equipment to install on the towers. It is a very specialised type of business with a lot of risks. In this arrangement , Towercos are the passive service providers while the operators have become the active service providers as they interface with the subscribers. It is worth observing here that IHS operates in several other  African markets while American Towers came into the nation’s telecoms ecosystem with vast experience from operations in the United States. 

    There is a new thinking in the industry. Collocation, an industry source told this writer, is the name of the game, as operators scrambled for survival by installing their radio equipment on the same towers, forgetting the nastiness of competition.

    The TowerCos power the generators and ensure adequate security at tower sites. In the case of national power grid failure like we witnessed recently, it is their headache to buy diesel for their generators. Like everything climbing up, the cost of a litre of diesel has hit One thousand Naira (N1000). I was told that it would cost about Five Million Naira to run a generator for one month. Each site houses two generators. I didn’t want to do the maths of multiplying that cost with 34, 862 tower sites. It is alarming, if not very frustrating.

    So many things are running through the head of this writer this very morning, a cogitation into the state of things in an industry we have always bragged about. There is a failing associated with fussiness in regulation and the plethora of taxes piled on the operators. Quality of service (QOS) has slumped miserably across all networks, like the operators were just learning to roll out again. Some advise the NCC has to reinvent itself instead of glorying in legacy achievements and the very mundane that means little to the subscriber expecting good services. 

    But what is coming to the fore is the primacy of some industry top players whose contributions have remained in the shadows, glitz, glamour and a much hyped success of the telecommunications industry but whose failure, is capable of ruining not only the industry but actually also taking the nation’s economy down substantially. Oh, attributing too much importance to them?

    Speaking to this writer Monday night, President of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Engr Gbenga Adebayo,  lamented the plight of the TowerCos, describing it as a time bomb waiting to explode. 

    “The TowerCos are not in the equation when you discuss the industry yet they remain the engine room of the sector. They are the ones who carry the weight of the industry, they face intimidation from states, local council and area boys and face closure from different government agencies. They are owed huge debts by the industry. In the face of all these problems,  they must still meet service level agreements (SLA) with the Telcos. They are facing a big, big challenge and the government must do something urgently to address their problems. After all, they are no charity workers,” Adebayo warned. 

    An NCC source confirmed the words of Adebayo, saying, “the TowerCos are very important in the service value chain of the telecommunications industry.”

    Like the chameleon with a fabled big head to carry the worries of the world, the Towercos have developed a big head to carry the problems of an important industry which they may not be able to carry much further. But what troubles them and the entire telecommunications industry, like most Nigerians, are local issues which demand home made elixir. President Tinubu should look inwards, much closely, before attracting the deserved attention of the global community.

  • Does the Communications Minister know? – By Okoh Aihe

    Does the Communications Minister know? – By Okoh Aihe

    Early October, Bosun Tijani, the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, will be releasing a roadmap for his ministry apropos the communications industry. Obviously, this will be eagerly awaited as too much staleness and odium had dogged that industry which in recent past fell victim to personal idiosyncrasies and kindergarten hubris.

    A much refreshing breather will be awaited not only because the Minister is a young man with proven personal achievements and notable international connections, but more because he is coming into the ministry with a pure, unencumbered mind and such an enthusiasm capable of rallying a failing sector into action, once more. But, in here, is the danger, embedded in a most surreal way.

    My little role here is to point out to the Minister that all that glitter is not gold. In that cliché is a truism that is as ageless as time and history. It is even more referential in the telecommunications industry where figures, statistics and claims enjoy more hyperbole than precision.

    This writer is aware that, as tradition demands, the minister has been receiving briefings from the parastatals under him to apprise him with details of developments in the organizations and in the various sectors they superintend. There will be a little coating of the truth and some more application of a measure of salt here and there to sweeten a tale that may not be too salutary. I expect the minister to handle that well by seeing through razz matazz, sweet talk and pure smokescreen.

    One of the biggest achievements of the previous administration is the introduction of Fifth Generation Technology (5G) which was expected to come with a bang but ended in a whimper as it has not delivered any of the expected miracles. We did not expect a miracle and have expressed our opinion on this page.

    November 2, 2023, we wrote: ‘’Nigeria is in dire straits. She needs money for daily runs and is bungling on the edge of extreme desperation. Desperation can lead to selling of metal scraps for survival or even selling off national assets, as proposed in the 2023 Budget, what in the case of an individual, is pawning, selling off personal assets to meet exigent needs. It is not an enviable status to endure.

    ‘’Under this condition, there is a desperation to scratch for everything, including low hanging fruits, which always present an attractive offer. Frequency or Spectrum for telecommunications services occupy prime place in this consideration, It is therefore no surprise that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the telecommunications regulator, announced last week, that it was putting out for sale in December 2022, some frequencies for 5G services.’’

    Nigeria went for the money and within two years raked in over $800m although that is a far cry from the $19bn which India raked in from creative auction of 5G frequency sale at about the same time. MTN, MAFAB Communications and Airtel are the beneficiaries. Both MTN and Airtel have launched services which is more in name than reality.

    Nigeria took an interesting route of managing cost of roll out by encouraging operators to cohabit 5G installations with 4G and end up with speed below 5G projections. An industry source told this writer, ‘’the route we took is non stand alone, working on 5G signaling. If we were to go on a full blown 5G – the millimeter wave, which is the higher frequency, from 37GHz upward, the rollout will be too expensive, and it will be difficult for operators to recoup their investment. Expansion will be slow, uptake slow and return on investment very low.’’

    It may also be relevant to point out that the paucity in roll out has pushed the cost of devices beyond individuals and, unfortunately, there are not too many companies buoyant enough to have a good go at the few devices in the market. So, the 5G sector has really not worked as expected. It will be a primary responsibility of the minister to introduce policies that will make the industry work.

    The other day the minister was with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Indian and at the moment, he is also with him at the 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 78) in New York. Concerning his activities in New York, the minister in a statement, titled: Driving Nigeria’s Economic Growth through Global Partnerships in Innovation and Technology, disclosed that he would be seeking partnerships for the country’s Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), AI Training and Economic Diversification through Technology.

    Well said and very refreshing that he has not gone to look at the beauty of New York, where the people hardly sleep, like many others, or to see what is happening at Ground Zero. But I would like to inform the minister that he has a counterpart war chest at home in the form of our variant of the USPF which is funded by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and domiciled at the NCC.

    Like most of the agencies and parastatals under his ministry which were recreated in the image and likeness of a former minister, it is advised that the minister should clean up the entire process and reconfigure it for performance. USPF is designed to provide services for mostly the underserved and unreached areas of the country but one cannot vouch that has happened recently, no matter the beautiful figures and claims of achievements. There should be a pool of fund there to put on the table to draw the attention of international partners instead of waving a begging bowl.

    One other matter which I think is inter-ministerial is an appeal for the minister to assist his counterpart at the Information Ministry to execute the Digital Switchover (DSO) process. The reason being that the minister heads the National Frequency Managhement Council (NFM)) which allocates to the ministries frequencies for use by the various operators. One of the attractions of the DSO sanctioned by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), is for broadcasters to relinquish spectra that will have to be sold at a higher cost for telecoms operations while the broadcasters would go into digital broadcasting. It was initially suggested that the National Broadcasting Commission should get some benefits from the sale of frequencies so relinquished by broadcasters, to fund the DSO process.

    The foregoing has not happened. Frequencies are being sold and the NBC is left in the lurch. There is no budget for DSO and Nigeria is falling far behind the international community. The nation has become a laughingstock and needs help desperately. The minister can extend a well-informed and benevolent hand to his colleague.

    This writer is aware that no matter the presentation made to the minister, he has one refrain as response, which is to create jobs for the youths. And that is the embedded danger which I harped on at the beginning of this article. The minister is within his good thinking but my humble suggestion is for the minister to clean up the entire Communications Ministry and its parastatals in order to attract further interests, investments in, and expansion of the industry. The advantageous fallout will be availability of jobs similitude to what happened in the industry at the tipping point in early 2000, and low cost rollout of hubs and innovation centres that can challenge and accommodate the enterprising spirit of our youth.

    My final appeal is for the minister to give life back to the ministry and its parastatals and agencies. Does the minister know that under the previous administration, the minister turned otherwise very brilliant Chief Executives and Director Generals into mannequins that could hardly reason on their own and, in the process virtually ruined a very robust industry? The minister should introduce a redemption song that can liberate the entire sector and thus be able to accommodate and rehabilitate the frothing creative enterprise of our young minds.