The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, says that it has established the Nigeria Office for Developing the Indigenous Telecoms Sector (NODITS), designed to help guide the implementation and promotion of indigenous content policy, recently presented by President Muhammadu Buhari.
It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, recently presented the National Policy for the Promotion of Indigenous Content in the Nigerian Telecom Sector .
The Policy (tagged NPPIC) seeks to accelerate the pace of indigenous digital capacity development and thereby enhance national competitiveness and prosperity for indigenous/local players in Nigeria.
Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman/ Chief Executive Officer, NCC, disclosed this while delivering a keynote address at the maiden edition of the Policy Implementation Assisted Forum on the National Policy for Promotion of Indigenous Content in the Nigerian Telecommunications Sector (PIAFo-001), organised by Business Metrics.
He explained that the establishment of NODITS was part of action plans, the Commission developed to help guide the implementation of the National Policy.
According to him, “the new Office is saddled with the responsibility of implementation of the NPPIC 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.
“Other Departments within the Commission are equally saddled with responsibilities that help to inculcate indigenous participation in the telecom sector”.
The EVC further noted that 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, corporate social responsibility, etc. as the need arises.
He equally added that the commission has plans towards direct intervention in line with subsisting policies e.g., in the local production of corrugated optical ducts (COD) to cater for fibre requirements in Nigeria and ultimately for export.
Prof Danbatta further stated that the Commission will harness local resources in Nigerian institutions of learning for the benefit of the industry.
To achieve this, he noted that the commission through its Research & Development Department, sponsored research efforts in several universities across the country.
“Notable areas of research conducted include “Development of All Weather Solar Systems For Energy Optimization in a Mobile Communications Base Stations” (at Ekiti State University of Technology), “Design and Fabrication of Meta-material Inspired UWB/MIMO Antenna for the 5G-Sub 6GHz Application” (at Taraba State University) and “Intelligent Autonomous Multi-UAVs (Multiple Drones) Swarm Monitoring for Effective Surveillance and Situation Awareness in the Nigerian Telecommunications Industry” (at Gombe State University).
“Through R&D, the Commission has also successfully initiated Professorial Chairs in Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), University of Ibadan, Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO) and Bayero University Kano.
“This is informed by the need to establish concrete local linkages to deepen the relationship between the telecom industry and the academia in Nigeria; and to provide the missing integration and collaborative partnership required to galvanise qualitative indigenous solutions in telecommunications in Nigeria.
“R&D also supports the development of local Tech-Hubs and hackathon initiatives aimed at supporting indigenous upstarts, App developers and ICT innovators in general,” he concluded.
