Stakeholders Call for Effective Implementation of Nigeria’s Local Content Policy

Emma Okonji

Stakeholders in telecommunications who gathered at the maiden edition of the Policy Implementation Assisted Forum (PIAFo), which focused on National Policy for Promotion of Indigenous Content in the Nigerian Telecommunications Sector, have stressed the need for effective implementation of the policy.

The virtual forum, organised recently by Business Metrics Nigeria, with the theme: Facilitating Policy Implementation to Deliver Value in the Nigerian Telecoms Sector, was designed to ensure proper implementation of the indigenous content policy in the telecoms sector beyond verbal commitment.

In his keynote address, the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, who was represented by a deputy director at NCC and Team Lead, Nigeria Office for Developing Indigenous Telecoms Sector (NODITS), Babagana Digima, said NCC would continue to promote local investment in digital infrastructure and competition in the provision of accessible high speed broadband infrastructure.
According to Danbatta, “President Muhammadu Buhari, recently presented the National Policy for the Promotion of Indigenous Content in the Nigerian Telecom Sector. The policy seeks to accelerate the pace of indigenous digital capacity development and thereby enhance national competitiveness and prosperity for indigenous/local players in Nigeria.”

Danbatta who highlighted NCC’s roadmap for implementation of the policy, said the commission established the Nigeria Office for Developing the Indigenous Telecoms Sector (NODITS), in order to address the timely implementation of local content policy.

“The office is saddled with the responsibility of implementation of the local content policy as well as the Executive Orders 003 and 005. Relevant portions of the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2020-2025 as well as the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) are also under the purview of this new office called NODITS,” Danbatta said.

With the constitution of the NODITS, the industry should expect new guidelines and regulations bothering on indigenous content, local manufacturing of telecom equipment, outsourcing of services, construction and lease of telecoms ducts, succession planning in the telecoms sector, corporate governance, and corporate social responsibility, as the need arises, Danbatta further said.
The Executive Director, Broadbased Communications Limited, Mr. Chidi Ibisi, spoke on the need for the support of local industry players through interventionist funding windows of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to further drive policy on local content.

Focusing on the key objectives of the National Policy for the Promotion of Indigenous Content in the Nigerian Telecom Sector, which include enabling the indigenous telecom industry to contribute significantly to the overall development of the telecom industry; creating a conducive environment for companies and service providers to participate in the telecom industry, Ibisi cited foreign intervention funds that are driving national development. He listed such foreign intervention funds to include: the USA $65 billion Broadband Fund; UK £30 Broadband expansion program; Germany $14.5 billion Digital Infrastructure Fund, among others.
The Divisional CEO, ipNX Business, Segun Okuneye, spoke about the imperatives for interventionist policies that will drive local content policy.

He described interventionist policies as carefully designed system of guidelines adopted and implemented, monitored with feedback for control and acceleration by a government. He said such interventionist policies, would help regulate, affect or interfere with decisions made by individuals, groups or organizations, regarding economic and social matters in a country. He added that it would also help to correct market failures, protect sectors or industries of interest, promote the general
welfare of the people, maintain competition in the marketplace, and above all, create an enabling environment for resources to be optimally allocated.

“The Nigerian telecoms sector has experienced an unprecedented growth over the last years, and has been a sector of interest for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Considering the current relatively slow pace of infrastructure development in the country, interventionist policies by the government have become necessary in order to give telecoms

operators the required leverage to support the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (2020 – 2025) as well as to resolve challenges that impede their ability to deliver seamless services to subscribers,” Okuneye said.
Chairman, Organising Committee of PIAFo, Mr. Omobayo Azeez, said: “Our desire is to change this order of poetic policy pronouncement and prosaic execution by creating a midpoint interface between the government and private sector players, where policies can be dissected, digested and driven to effective implementation, and later appraised using measurable metrics to assess their success over time.”