Telecom
Confusion as Senator, Reps Disagree over Controversial NITDA Bill
The controversy surrounding the bill to repeal the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Act raged on at the hurriedly arranged joint public hearing by the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on ICT and Cyber Security held in the National Assembly on Friday.
The event kicked off with formalities such as the declaring the hearing open by the Senate President, Senator Ahmed Lawan, the welcome address by the chairman Senate Committee on ICT and Cyber Security, Senator Yakubu Oseni and his House counterpart, Hon. Lado Abubakar Suleja.
However, immediately the public hearing was called to order by Senator Oseni, a member of the House Committee, Hon. Nkem Uzoma-Abonta raised a point of order.
Abonta, who is the member representing Ukwa East/West Federal Constituency of Abia State called for the public hearing to be postponed to January.
He noted that only a handful of members of the House Committee on ICT and Cyber Security were in attendance.
He also said even those available for the meeting didn’t have a copy of the bill, while the Minister for Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Ali Pantami, and the Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi were absent at the hearing.
The lawmaker stressed that things should be properly done with the Minister and the NITDA boss appearing physically to speak on the bill spearheaded by them, even as members should be sent copies of the bill ahead of time.
The lawmaker opined that the National Assembly should not be in a hurry to host a public hearing on a sensitive bill as members, especially the Christians, were already in a holiday mood but were only sticking around as the 2023 budget will be passed on 28th December.
He said: “This is a bill that will protect the integrity of Nigeria in the Internet space. But the drivers of the bill seem to be running on low gear.
“When the Senate President ably represented here spoke, he talked about people rumouring that we are holding a secret hearing. No, here there is nothing secretive about this, we are here in this hall.
“However, the needed ingredients for us to proceed are not available. I am speaking from the side of the House. We have conferred among ourselves. We have 36 members of the committee and how many of us are here?
“Critically too, we don’t have the required documents here. I can’t find the Director-General of NITDA, the minister is not here. What needs to be done should be seen to be properly done”.
His position was immediately supported by the member representing Ukanafun/Oruk Anam Federal Constituency of Akwa-Ibom State, Hon. Idem Unyime, who stated that he wasn’t sent a copy of the bill which needed to be properly scrutinised and understood by lawmakers due to its importance.
The Senate Committee Chairman, Senator Yakubu Oseni in his response said that members of the House were sent copies of the bill and the notice for the public hearing was properly sent out to members in both Chambers.
According to him: “I want to put it on record that if there are anomalies or any documents that you didn’t see, that should be a fault from your side as House of Representatives members.
“As far as we on the other side are concerned, everything is intact. The bill has been circulated, the necessary documents have been circulated online, that’s on one hand.
“On the other hand, even if the NITDA Director-General is here, he won’t be the one to speak, he has a representative, the legal person will speak on behalf of NITDA. I have not seen anywhere that representatives are not allowed to speak.
“I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t go on with this public hearing. In our end in the Senate we are ready”.
His explanation didn’t stop the murmuring and division among lawmakers present, as another member from the House, Hon Isiaka Ibrahim moved a motion that the public hearing be adjourned based on the issues raised by his colleagues.
Bowing to pressure Senator Oseni announced that the public hearing has been adjourned sine die.
Indications that the public hearing wouldn’t have gone on as usual first came when the Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate and representative of the Senate President, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, cautioned those he accused of describing Friday’s public hearing as a secret meeting.
Abdullahi stated that the National Assembly had no ulterior motive and had followed due process in calling for the public hearing on the NITDA Bill.
Stakeholders in the ICT had raised an alarm over the hurried move by the Joint Senate and House Committee on Information Communications Technology, ICT, to pass a controversial bill to govern the Nigerian Information Technology Development Agency.
They had expressed suspicion that the Committee wanted to pass the bill without substantial public participation.
It was also alleged that the submissions of the industry stakeholders made during its first public hearing, were discarded.
Lynda Saint-Nwafor, chief Enterprise business officer, MTN Nigeria, has assured the network subscribers that the new end-user billing system for the use of USSD services will jot affect them.
USSD, otherwise Unstructured Supplementary Service Data codes are commonly used for banking transactions, airtime recharges, and other mobile services.
The telco said that there is no significant impact or change other than the fact that they will now pay the same N6.98 per session (120 seconds) with their airtime instead of direct bank debit.
Saint-Nwafor, said this during a chat with MTN MIP fellows, explaining that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) have ordered telecom operators to ensure that the new billing model resolves trust issues and ensures transparency in the billing process.
“Our regulator insisted that at the end of every month, we are going to be providing history and statistics on the performance of the service across the board”, she explained.
Saint-Nwafor added that the new billing model has standardized messaging across all operators and ensures consistent communication with customers.
“We will take all the error codes and map them into messages that are standardised across the board. So, if you initiate a transaction, you will know if it is failing. And, when the transaction fails, you will know if it is from your bank or the telco,” she explained.
The U.S. government has recovered $225 million in what is now the largest seizure of funds linked to a cryptocurrency investment scam.
In a statement released Wednesday, June 18, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said the recovery followed an extensive investigation by the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service, using blockchain analysis and other forensic tools. The statement did not confirm whether any arrests had been made.
According to the authorities, the stolen funds originated from fraudulent cryptocurrency investment schemes that tricked victims into believing they were making legitimate investments. More than 400 individuals around the world, including dozens in the United States, were reportedly affected.
The operation involved a sophisticated money laundering network that carried out hundreds of thousands of blockchain transactions to obscure the source and ownership of the stolen assets.
“These scams prey on trust, often resulting in extreme financial hardship for the victims,” said Shawn Bradstreet, Special Agent in Charge at the U.S. Secret Service office in San Francisco.
Bradstreet added that U.S. officials hope the recovered funds can eventually be returned to the rightful victims.
Cryptocurrency investment fraud accounted for over $5.8 billion in reported losses in 2024 alone, according to the statement.
In a rousing declaration that is electrifying minds across the continent, Hon. Nnaemeka Ani, Special Adviser on ICT to Enugu State Governor, Dr. Peter Mbah, has called for a homegrown digital revolution under the banner “Africa Will Rise: By Code, By Courage, By Us.”
Hon. Nnaemeka Ani
The message, part challenge, part philosophical—seeks to galvanize African innovators to move beyond buzzwords and build technology with impact and legacy in mind.
“Let’s stop building for hype. Let’s start building for legacy,” Ani urged while speaking to ICT journalists over the weekend. “Let’s stop waiting for someone else. Let’s start creating the future—on our own terms.”
At the heart of Ani’s vision is a shift from tech consumerism to tech authorship. With innovation hubs sprouting across cities like Enugu, Lagos, Kigali, Jo’Burg, and Nairobi, and a growing community of developers, engineers, and entrepreneurs determined to solve Africa’s unique challenges, the movement is already taking shape.
Ani emphasized that Africa’s future lies not in flashy apps or international admiration but in persistent, intentional solutions that uplift communities—solutions that digitize public services, bridge rural-urban divides, empower women and youth, and build resilience in food and climate systems.
“We have the talent,” he said. “Now it’s time to harness it—to stop building for likes and start building for lasting impact.”
With support from leaders like Ani and rising momentum in Africa’s tech corridors, it seems that a new chapter is being written—one line of code at a time.
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