WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE…

 Sonny Aragba-Akpore contends that the telecom sector is troubled

 The new “National Digital Economy and E-Government bill “ maybe an albatross described in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. And as Coleridge puts it in his master piece “Water,water, everywhere,but non to drink”.That is the irony with our situation now.

 And the Minister of Communications,Innovation and Digital Economy,Bosun Tijani thought differently when he boasted two weeks ago that the new bill when enacted was capable of revolutionizing the nation’s economy with a projected revenue of $18.3 billion by the turn of 2026.

 But this appears to be a mere projection. Does the minister know that like most things and people within a troubled economy,telecommunications is also troubled? And at a time when spirited efforts are needed to cushion the troubles, should a minister be in hot pursuit of a new law that he claims will boost the economy by about $18.3 billion by 2026? There may be other reasons for this new bill other than what we know.

 Perhaps he thinks foisting a new law on the sector which at best would create multiple layers of regulations and more burden for the operators will make a positive difference.

But  stakeholders are worried that a brazen law ,which is viewed as self serving, is the least needed now especially when foreign direct investments and investors are scared stiff about bringing in their money to a wobbling economy.

The new bill, if translated to an Act ,is a potential albatross that will hang menacingly on the necks of everybody including the minister. These fears were made very clear last week in Lagos when stakeholders gathered to review the sector and its needs and concluded that there are bigger headaches than bringing in a new law now.

 It was lamentation all the way and no one saw any light at the end of the tunnel. Even those who were austere with their words couldn’t keep their characteristic cool anymore. We are all victims of poor network services and the operators claim to be helpless citing several reasons especially paucity of funds due to declining investments and recorded losses among others.

 But despite the minister’s obsession to push this bill down the throats of everybody including the legislators,there are more troubling days ahead the telecommunications industry.

 At the Lagos gathering last week, Bolaji Balogun, a pioneer telecommunications revolution leader and one of the original promoters of Econet Wireless Nigeria (now Airtel after several name changes),who worked side by side with Strive Masiyiwa at the Digital Mobile License (DML) bidding in January 2001,told the gathering in Lagos that the sector requires a minimum of $1billion yearly investment if we are to get out of the woods and have  robust telecommunications services. The-well attended event was hosted by Bismarck Rewane led Financial Derivative Limited.

But the Minister was conspicuously missing as stakeholders bemoaned the pitiable state of the sector especially now that foreign investors are scared of  bringing their money. “No investor would be excited in bringing in one dollar and get 66 cents in return, “ one stakeholder lamented.

 It’s as bad as that and one thinks the minister should have been more interested in raising the investment profile of the sector before hurriedly packaging a bill that he claims will be a game changer.

 But the  minister appears to be running a solo race as he had not earned the confidence of the industry players except for those who come to massage his ego. Even those with whom he was in the trenches and pushed very hard for his appointment are now on the sidelines waiting for him to fail.Their excuse is that he has jumped ship so he should swim or sink alone because like one worried stakeholder put it “ the minister went to sleep too early forgetting that so much work is left undone to revive the sector, certainly not his fancy bill”.

The Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) has also echoed these concerns, stating that the telecom industry’s financial health in recent years has been insufficient to support its capital-intensive operations.

 In Its 2024 reports on the Nigerian digital economy ,the GSMA warned that high inflation levels have driven up costs for mobile service providers, further impacting profitability and investment potential.

Balogun who Heads,Chapel Hill Denham emphasized that the sector’s yearly investment of the $1 billion is primarily to meet the country’s service quality standards. “We cannot secure this nation without improving our digital infrastructure,” Balogun stated. “Our digital infrastructure has the power to transform Nigeria’s economy. While significant investments have been made, much more work remains and this requires more funds “.

 The economic downturn has been worsened by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) unification of the foreign exchange market in June 2023, leading to a sharp devaluation of the naira. The currency plummeted from N471/$ before the move to N1,043.09/$ by December 28, 2023, and further to N1,570.99/$ by August 12, 2024.

 This devaluation has inflicted heavy losses on the telecom sector, with Airtel Africa and MTN Nigeria reporting a combined N1.29 trillion in foreign exchange (FX) losses. MTN Nigeria also posted its first loss since its 2019 listing on the Nigerian stock exchange, recording a N137 billion deficit.

 Foreign investment in Nigeria’s telecom sector has also taken a hit, with serious nosediving from $456.83 million in 2022 to $134.75 million in 2023, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

 Writing on the new bill ,a very knowledgeable analyst explained that “in Part XV, under Miscellaneous, which is annotated as Supremacy of National Digital Economy and E-Governance Act, the Bill which is confusingly called an Act, states as follows: “Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law but subject to the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in all matters relating to the digital economy and e-government, the provisions of the Act shall override the provisions of any other Law.; and The Regulatory agency shall establish regulations on the use and adoption of new and emerging technologies as it relates to information technology.”

 Provisions in the new bill will override the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015; Nigerian Communications Act 2003; The National Broadcasting Commission Act Cap N11 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004; National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Act 2007, and, in fact, there is already a very controversial Bill at the National Assembly which seeks to amend the existing NITDA Act. And then, this new one entirely.

“This particular Bill will set up a regulator for the digital space which may be given the rapacious opportunity to swallow up other Acts before it. That may be the only way to accommodate a new regulator in these days that the current administration is trying to trim the size of governance. The dollar sign is only a ruse, a smokescreen that will evaporate at the approach of reality.”

 Another analyst explained that while the bill will enable e-government and boost digital literacy among government workers, section 62 of the draft seeks to override the provisions of any other law in all matters relating to digital economy and e-government. Thus creating imminent power tussles between existing government agencies who already cater to some part of what the bill covers.

The National Digital Economy and E-Governance bill as the Minister explains “will enable government businesses including contracts to be conducted electronically.”

Aragba-Akpore is a member of THISDAY Editorial Board