Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman/ Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says that the commission is committed to the promotion of local content agenda of the Federal Governement, which is aimed at encouraging the development of indigenous skills and use of indigenous manpower.
Prof. Danbatta disclosed this 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.
The virtual event which was themed: ‘Facilitating Policy Implementation to Deliver Value in the Nigerian Telecoms Sector‘ was held on Thursday, August 12, 2021.
Speaking at the event, the EVC, said that the commission will faithfully promote the National Telecommunications Policy which posited that domestic production of telecommunications hardware and software is desirable for national development.
It would be recalled also that the policy further stated that, Government shall encourage domestic production of telecommunications equipment, components and software to meet local and export demands.
According to him, “As we are all aware, the Federal Government has put in place very robust policy and legal framework for local content within the oil and gas sector.
“Similarly, the advent of local content in the Nigerian Telecoms sector is probably as old as the Nigerian telecoms revolution itself.
“Indigenous Content Policy generally means any policy that encourages the development of indigenous skills, technology transfer, use of indigenous manpower and indigenous manufacturing.
“With advancements in technology, Administrations have come to recognize the need for their indigenes to participate actively in exploitation and transformation of their resources into goods and services aimed at economic growth”.
Speaking further, Danbatta noted that the commission is vigorously promoting local investment in digital infrastructure and competition in the provision of accessible high speed broadband infrastructure.
This, he noted will in turn enable the Commission to deliver on the stipulated targets in the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2020-2025.
Earlier, Mr Omobayo Azeez, Managing Editor of Business Metrics and Chairman, Organising Committee, PIAFo-001, assured that participation of stakeholders across the concerned sector has been secured to chart a way for the effective implementation of the policy which seeks to stem $2.6 billion annual capital flights in telecoms industry by promoting alternative solutions that come with ease of doing business.
According to him, the forthcoming forum combines the criticality of the telecoms sector as an enabler of the economy and that of promotion of local contents which is an economic catalyst to bridge the policy implementation vacuum in Nigeria.
“The general impression expressed by people on a daily basis that Nigeria is only good at policy pronouncement but often fails in implementation is about to become a thing of the past.
“PIAFo is dedicated to stimulating, implementation and tracking progress with measurable metrics.
“We have discovered that policy execution failure which has been experienced over the years is ascribed to many factors such as poor awareness, shallow stakeholders’ engagements, lack of monitoring and poor periodic assessment to track progress.
“To change this narrative, PIAFo is equipped with strategic objectives to serve as a brainstorming platform for policy assimilation; to identify demands of government policies from individual stakeholders involved; to coordinate multi-stakeholder efforts towards achieving policy objectives; to ensure effective policy implementation and to assess implementation level of policies over time,” Mr. Azeez said.
