How NCS, ALTON, ATCON, Others Stopped the Passage of NITDA Bill

Emma Okonji

Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), the umbrella body of all Information Technology (IT) professionals in Nigeria, has revealed how NCS and other industry groups like the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) and the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), stopped the passage of the bill that seeks to repeal and re-enact the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Bill 2021.

The former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ibrahim Pantami, had in his last days in office, pushed for the passage of NITDA Bill at the House of Representatives and the Senate, with a plan to ensure that former President Muhamadu Buhari signed the bill into law before leaving office on May 29, 2023.

Industry stakeholders however vehemently fought against the passage of the bill, which according to them, did not represent the interest of industry stakeholders and Nigerians.

Citing Q4 2022 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which puts ICT contribution to GDP at 16.22 per cent, the stakeholders are of the view that Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is sustaining Nigeria’s economy through its contribution to GDP growth, insisting that critical bill like NITDA Bill should represent national interest.     

NCS President, Prof. Adesina Sodiya, who told THISDAY how industry stakeholders stopped the passage of NITDA Bill, said: “Initially the bill was passed by Senate, based on the pressure from the same forces that were pushing for the passage of the bill, but NCS and other industry stakeholders immediately challenged it and gave reasons why the bill should not be passed, by writing to the Senate and the House of Representatives. During the public hearing, the number of organisations that kicked against the bill was more than the number of organisations that supported the bill, but the committee handling the bill, worked with the former minister to get more illegitimate organisations to support the bill and that was the basis on which Senate passed the bill.

“When we noticed it, we quickly wrote to the Senate, to the House of Representatives and to the Presidency, stating why the former president should not sign the bill into law, and we are happy that the NITDA Bill was not part of the eight bills that the former president signed before leaving office. Stakeholders are happy that the bill was not signed because that bill did not represent the interest of industry stakeholders.”

Sodiya therefore called for the withdrawal and review of the bill, in the best interest of industry stakeholders and Nigerians. He said: “We want a total review of the bill and we want that bill to be withdrawn and sent back to the committee for total review, where the interest of industry stakeholders will be considered as part of the bill.”       

Sodiya explained that industry stakeholders were not carried along in the drafting of NITDA Bill, and that the former minister went ahead to push for the passage of the bill and also ensured that former President Muhammadu Buhari signed the bill into law before leaving office on May 29, 2023.

He however expressed happiness that the bill was not signed by the former president.

According to Sodiya, “The former minister is an IT professional, and he did well during in his tenure but he refused to listen to stakeholders, especially in the area of NITDA Bill. We expected the former minister to have collaborated more with NCS and other industry stakeholders, but he did not consider such collaboration as important to him, and he preferred to work alone, especially in pushing the NITDA’s Bill.”

“We were also informed that the same forces that were pushing for the signing of the NITDA Bill are also pushing for the new government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to sign the bill. We will also resist it the way we did before because the bill did not contain stakeholders’ input and as such, does not represent the interest of industry stakeholders and Nigerians at large, “Sodiya said.