chidi Nduka Aja

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says it will vigorously pursue the Connect 2020 global framework set by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to foster sustainable change in the ICT sector by year 2020. The Commission made this known in an 8-Point Agenda document released by Umar Garba Danbatta, the executive vice-chairman of NCC to the media during an International Press Conference in Lagos. The Connect 2020 is hinged on three key goals that are part of the proposed 2016-2019 ITU Strategic Plan, which sets high-level impact representing the change in the ICT sector.

Chinese investors are on the verge of investing $15 billion investment into Nigeria’s information communication technology sector, says minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu. Shittu, who was in China last week for a conference on space technology, where he marketed the potential of Nigeria’s cyberspace and telecommunications sector to foreign investors, said the money, when invested, would help diversify the sector into new areas of interest and create over 40 million jobs, especially for the tech savvy youths in the country. He added that the investment would further open and deepen the sector to automatically accelerate its contribution to national GDP. “I am happy to announce to you that we are in advance discussion with the Chinese investment communication. They have seen our investment potential and are ready make about $15 billion investment to the ICT sector,” Shittu told stakeholders in Ibadan, Oyo State at a two-day Nigerian communications sector retreat.

The Director General of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN)  Alhaji Bature Umar  Masari has urged Nigerians to key into investment opportunities in rural areas for job and wealth creation. He gave the advice while addressing State House Correspondents after   briefing Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on the activities of SMEDAN.The Vice President is the Chairman of the National Council on MSME. Masari said that the federal agencies involved in MSME development had done a lot to provide skills and jobs for millions of Nigerians but added that a lot of potential in the rural areas had yet to be explored.  “But still there is a very huge employment need in that sector because of the potential in Nigeria. “There is no local government you go to in Nigeria that does not have a product that we can begin to add value on and begin to produce for local consumption and for international markets. “We are imploring on ...

Gbenga Adebayo Telecom operators in Nigeria have threatened to close down their operations in seven states over what they described as excessive harassment by government officials. The states include Ogun, Ondo, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Osun and Kaduna states. At a press conference in Lagos by the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), an umbrella body of all telecom operators in Nigeria, the President of the association, Gbenga Adebayo accused the states of seeing telecom as an extractive industry, thereby imposing myriad of taxes on the operator and in most cases closing down base station, when the operators are unable to pay. “We maybe be forced to shut down network services in seven states over closure of Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) by the state governments,” he threatened. Adebayo urged President Mohammadu Buhari to intervene and declare telecommunication infrastructure National Security and Economic Infrastructure as contained in t...