Absence of Senators, Minister, NITDA DG, Others Stalls ICT Bill

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja
 

A public hearing organised by the National Assembly Joint Committee on Information Communications Technology on a Bill for an Act to Repeal the National  Information Technology Development Agency Act No. 28, 2007 and Enact the National Information Technology Development Agency Act, was truncated at the federal parliament yesterday.

The Bill, according to the Chairman of the Joint Committee, Senator Yakubu Oseni, was also to provide for the administration, implementation and regulation of information technology systems and practices as well as digital economy in Nigeria and for related matters.

The parley was stalled due to the absence of the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Mr. Isa Ali Pantami, and Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, among other stakeholders.

Only the Chairman of the Senate panel, Yakubu Oseni and Ibrahim Hadejia were present while four House of Representatives members- Hon. Isiaka Ibrahim, Samsudeen Bello, Zaiyad Ibrahim, and Idem Unyime were in attendance.

The invited stakeholders were Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal and State Governments, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), and the entire business community among others

Stakeholders and members of the general public who were invited by the joint Senate and House of Representatives committees attended the event except the Heads of critical MDAs in the communication sector.

The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, who was represented by the Deputy Whip, Senator Aliu Sabi Abdullahi, declared the event open.

Stakeholders had described the bill as important to the Nigerian economy but also controversial on the basis that it arrogates the powers of existing government agencies to NITDA as an agency.

They argued that the Bill seeks to make NITDA a mega regulator of regulators in the country, going by the provisions in the Bill and this has been a subject of controversies among stakeholders.

The Bill had earlier been considered by the House of Representatives and consecutively passed the first and second readings on the floor of The Senate on December 12 and 13 respectively.

The public hearing was convened yesterday to take memoranda and inputs from stakeholders including MDAs, CSOs business community and members of the public.

At the public hearing, members of the Joint Committee from the House of Representatives raised objections to the continuation of the public hearing.

They cited the absence of the minister and the NITDA DG, non-availability of materials on the Bill and the fact that the event is coming at a time the National Assembly members are already on ‘holiday mood’ as factors why the public hearing should not hold.

This observation also pitched the members of the Joint Committee from both Houses against each other as Reps members expressed disappointment that there was no apology received either from the minister or the NITDA DG while none of their representatives were also at the public hearing.

The House members also observed that the panel seemed not to have enough representations in terms of forming quorum from the Senate and House members of the Joint Committee.

Hon. Isiaka Ibrahim moved the motion for the adjournment of the public hearing to sometime in the middle of January.

THISDAY observed that some clauses in the bill had raised concerns among stakeholders, which they said usurped powers of other agencies of government.

One of the controversial aspects of the bill is Clause 10, which empowers NITDA to fix permit fees and charges, and collect fees or penalties as may be necessary for the exercise of its functions.

The bill also established the National Information Technology Development Fund, which shall be funded by a levy of one per cent of the profit before tax of companies and enterprises with annual turnover of N100 million and above.

It listed the affected companies’ pay levels to include mobile and fixed telecommunications companies; information technology companies, gaming companies, and e-commerce companies; foreign digital platforms targeting the Nigerian market; banks, financial institutions, Fintech companies, insurance companies among others.