Draft ICT Policy: Vote for Guided Convergence

The diverse responses to the draft national ICT policy clearly show the excitement and eagerness of stakeholders to drive growth in the ICT industry. The policy document is aimed at making Nigeria a knowledge-based and globally competitive society. Incidentally, the vision and mission of the document seem at variance with global realities of business competitiveness. Though, the policy document is still a statement of intent, a peep at the policy reveals yearning gaps that may constitute roadblocks to the attainment of a modern and forward looking Information and Communications Technology framework in Nigeria. The ministry of Communications technology got it wrong from day one when it selected an ad-hoc committee with a narrow scope of terms of reference. The committee headed by Professor Raymond Akwule, a distinguished ICT expert with membership drawn from government institutions, was to harmonize all the policies in the different sectors of the ICT industry. But, the committee’s draft appeared to have gone beyond the terms of reference as it contained far reaching recommendations which undoubtedly, were very limited in scope, content and direction. This is because the committee was not broad based with representatives of the various sectors of the industry, including the private sector which is currently driving the sector and the result is the shallow and almost dictatorial draft policy. For instance, the committee which drafted the policy envisages a converged regulator through a policy framework but the realities of the modern day and happenings elsewhere around the world shows that convergence is function of technology and not by fiat. Bringing all ICT regulatory apparatus under a single converged eco-system, sound, as it may appear ordinarily would in the actual sense drive recent gains made by some sub-sectors backward. Nigeria CommunicationsWeek‘s stand is that convergence is a good policy framework. Implementation could become ambiguous with the various existing ‘autonomous’ regulators seeking to alienate those which functions are expected to be consumed under the ‘converged industry’ eco-system. It is pertinent to warn the immediate collapse of the distinct functions of the separate government entities immediately into one converged regulator will do more harm to the industry than good. How do we intend to work-out the converged framework bringing together postal/telecom/computer and allied sectors under a managed eco-system? While regulatory agency with similar functions like NCC/NBC could converge into a single regulatory framework like the United States’ FCC; the same cannot be said of the postal sector coming under the same framework. Rather, the postal sector could be strengthened with a postal service commission to make it become more effective economic player within the ICT regulatory eco-system. Others like Computers, OEMs, software and allied sectors could also be strengthened with relevant legal/legislative backing to bringing the much needed FDI and drive towards the attainment of Nigeria’s Vision 20: 2020 goal objective. The confiscation and appropriation of regulatory autonomy rings chaos especially with the various ACTs setting up the various agencies. Also wresting powers of the Universal Services Provision Fund (USPF) from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) by the ministry as provided in the draft policy will only create a dysfunctional process. First, government has no business in running businesses. A private sector-like set up like the NCC can run the USPF better that any government ministry replete with inefficiency and corruption. Ministries and the supervising ministers could be changed anytime meaning that adequate monitoring and judicious use of the Fund cannot be entrusted on such erratic offices or officers. The ICT industry is too homogonous to be guided by a policy put together by bureaucratic civil servants who only do as they are told. That why ICT policy did not have any specific prescription on how to rejig the national school curriculum to include ICT education that produce the Bill Gates of this world in Nigeria. The policy also took for granted the issues like cybercrime and lack of laws to govern the Central Bank of Nigeria’s cashless policy. Overall, the general assumption is that a draft policy must contain a rolling plan but this policy being bandied about clearly has no signposts. As long as there are no measurable performance indicators, the policy is floating. You cannot manage what you cannot measure. A draft ICT policy is not also the job of a consultant who takes your watch and tells you what time it is. It must be one that the industry is looking at and monitoring at the same time. Another major oversight underscoring the poor job by the committee is the total neglect of the red flags to the development of the industry including the issues of multiple taxation and security of ICT infrastructure.