NCC’s InfraCo Policy Meant to Promote Local Investments – Danbatta

Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), is vigorously promoting local investment in digital infrastructure and competition in the provision of accessible high speed broadband infrastructure, according to Professor Umar Danbatta, executive vice chairman of the Commission.

Prof Umar Danbatta, EVC, NCC

The EVC made the remark in his keynote addresses titled: “Establishing Rules and Laws for the Effective Implementation of Local Content Promotion Policy in the National Telecoms Sector”, at the inaugural edition of Policy Implementation Assisted Forum (Piafo-001) on National Policy for Promotion of Indigenous Content in the Nigerian Telecommunications Sector held recently.

Danbatta, who described ‘Indigenous Content Policy’ as generally refers to “any policy that encourages the development of indigenous skills, technology transfer, use of indigenous manpower and indigenous manufacturing”, said that with advancements in technology, administrations have come to recognise the need for their indigenes to participate actively in exploitation and transformation of their resources into goods and services aimed at economic growth.

“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.

The National Telecommunications Policy (Cap 13, National Telecom Policy 2000), posited that the domestic production of telecommunications hardware and software is desirable for national development.

It further states that, Government shall encourage domestic production of telecommunications equipment, components and software to meet local and export demands”, he said.

He said that in giving legal backing to the above policy direction, the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003 identifies, as one of its primary objects the encouragement of local and foreign investments in the Nigerian communications industry.

“With the steady evolution of Telecommunications in Nigeria, the industry and its infrastructure are appreciated as the infrastructure of infrastructures, positioned to drive growth and efficiency in every other sector (both private and public) by supporting the optimization of institutions and processes in the ecosystem. Accordingly, the development of effective local participation at all levels of the value chain becomes a sine-qua-non to the overarching national economic development and market success”.

While giving updates on Indigenous Content Valorization in the Nigerian telecom industry, the EVC said that the Federal Government recently reinforced the local content agenda by putting in place Executive Order 003 of 2017 and Executive Order 005 of 2018 titled Support for Local Content in Public Procurement by the Federal Government and Development of Local Content in Science, Engineering and Technology respectively.

“The Commission instituted several measures and strategies towards ensuring compliance by the industry to the aforementioned Executive Orders, these include building local capacity through various initiatives and innovations which are aimed at encouraging digital skills and entrepreneurship as well as building local investment (infrastructure).