The two development funding organizations within the Federal
Ministry of Communications Technology is currently being restructured to deploy
incentivize the universal access for Nigerians.
These organs are the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF)
and the Nigeria Information Technology Development Fund (NITDF).
According to the Federal Minister in-charge of
Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, the two funding arm of her
ministry, USPF and NITDF would pave the way for a motivated stakeholder players
by offering an incentive to boost universal access when the available funds
within their reach is deployed to incentivize the sector at the end of the
present restructuring going on in the new ministry.
Presenting a roadmap for the Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) Development (ICT4D) in the country at the 17th presidential
investiture of Sir Demola Aladekomo-led presidency at the Nigeria Computer
Society (NCS) in Lagos, recently, Mrs. Johnson noted that President Goodluck
Jonathan responded to calls from concerned stakeholders for a Ministry of ICTs
and created the new Ministry to utilize ICTs as a tool for national
development.
She explained that the Ministry has five agencies under its
supervision, including the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), National
Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Nigerian Postal Service
(NIPOST), Galaxy Backbone plc, and Nigerian Communications Satellite
(NigComSAT) as well as two development funds organizations, which are USPF and
NITDF.
Mrs. Johnson pointed out that the Universal Service
Provision Fund and Nigeria IT Development Fund and the creation of the Ministry
led to a revelation of overlaps and duplication in the roles of some of these
agencies of government.
She reassured that the ongoing restructuring and refocusing
of agencies under the Ministry will lead to clarity in terms of roles,
responsibilities and accountability.
As said by her, in a bid to make the agencies under the
Ministry more effective and to mitigate unnecessary duplications, they have
been streamlined and realigned to their functions.
“The Nigerian Communications Commission NCC now regulates
the ICT industry; NITDA provides IT support and development; NIPOST
provides postal service delivery and access infrastructure while Galaxy
Backbone is the vehicle for ICT infrastructure provision for federal government
and its agencies and NigComSat is responsible for commercializing satellite
bandwidth,” she said, even as the National Frequency Management Council NFMC
facilitates prudent and co-ordinated allocation of frequency resources.
Additionally, she said that the Communications Technology
ministry has concluded plans to put the harmonized national policy on
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on its website for public
consultation, saying that Nigeria is underserved as far as broadband is
concerned.
She also said that the document as harmonized would be on
the ministry’s web from January 9, 2011.
“We have concluded the harmonisation of the national ICT
policy and we will put the policy on our website on the 9th of January at
www.commtech.gov.ng for public consultation and input,” she said.
Mrs. Johnson, therefore, encouraged stakeholders to go to
the website on that d-day, look at the policy and ensures it’s in line with
what customers envisaged even as he hope they would use the cost of industry
going forward and make comments.
The ICT policy, mini, she said, would be the
overarching guide of what is to be do in the industry.
“I really believe that with the new policy we will be well
on the way to making the ICT industry what it should be in a country as
large and as diverse and as important as Nigeria,” she said.
As said by her, there are many challenges that are ahead of
the Ministry and knew that the one that most people are most conversant with
both within and without the ICT industry is the cost of quality of service of
telecoms business.
She decried the state of poor quality of service, saying “I
will say it is bad, we all know that it is bad and the operators know that it
is bad.”
Her ministry, Johnson said is working with the Nigerian
Communications Commission (NCC) to ensure that this issue is no longer a
problem.
She maintained that there are many issues the operators were
facing and that the number of base stations and infrastructure that are
available; but her ministry is working hard to ensure that QoS is an issue of
the past.
The NCC, she observed, has published quality of service
indicators and they are enforcing same vigorously and holding the operators
responsible for QoS indicators.
“I have met with a number of those operators and I can
assure you that they are doing all that they can and we will continue to
put them under pressure to ensure that they give out the quality of service
that we deserve for the kind of prices that we pay.
The second priority, Johnson pointed out that the
penetration of broadband in the country is dismal, insisting that Broadband is
really about getting fast internet all over Nigeria in both urban, semi urban
and rural areas.
“We have decided within the Ministry that this country is
really underserved when it comes to broadband,” she declared, stressing that
there is no body that is properly served in this country as far as internet is
concerned.
Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
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