Afrigather 
The Nationwide Meeting Joint Committee on ICT and Cyber Safety just lately placed on maintain a public listening to on the Nationwide Info Expertise Growth Company, NITDA, Invoice 2021, when it couldn’t type a quorum.
For the reason that postponement of the listening to, a number of business stakeholders and significant onlookers have described the event as an try to frustrate the invoice figuring out the imperatives of the digital economic system on nationwide progress and growth.
Surprisingly, it was instantly adopted by a collection of intentionally orchestrated, biased and uninformed criticisms not solely of the NITDA Invoice but in addition of Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Financial system. A lot of the obscure postulations hinged on the misconstrued assumption that the proposed invoice would override the independence of the Nigerian Communications Fee (NCC) on its mandate.
After learning the draft NITDA Invoice 2021 and NCC Act 2003, 2007 critically, I make daring to state that there’s completely no foundation for such reasoning or perception besides after all the intention of the critics is to pursue a sinister agenda. Whereas the armchair critics tried to cover details in plain sight, the recurring query they’ve failed to handle convincingly and empirically stays, the place is the conflict of mandate between NITDA and NCC?
The details are apparent within the historical past of each the NCC and NITDA Acts.
The mandate and authority of NCC is derived from the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 (NCA 2003), which was signed into legislation, after having been handed by each Homes of the Nationwide Meeting, by President Olusegun Obasanjo on July 8, 2003.
The NCA 2003 applies to the supply and use of all telecommunications providers and networks, in complete or partly inside Nigeria or on ships or plane registered in Nigeria. (see truth on the NCC web site through this hyperlink: https://ncc.gov.ng/accessible/licensing-regulation/authorized/nca-2003)
The legal guidelines that information and allow the operations of the Fee embody: NCC decree 75 of November 1992, the Nationwide Telecoms Coverage (NTP) 2000. (New one below evaluation), Wi-fi Telegraphy Act , 1990 and Nigerian Communications Act 2003.
The key mandates of Nigerian Communications Fee – NCA 2003 embody to facilitate telecom funding and entry into the market, shield the rights and pursuits of service suppliers and customers; Administration, monitoring and use of scarce nationwide telecommunications assets and guarantee environment friendly and qualitative telecom providers and advise the Minister on the formulation of insurance policies and different issues.
In a nutshell one can perceive that the important thing operate of NCC is to control and oversee the telecom business in Nigeria.
In the meantime NITDA was commissioned by the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo by the perfection of a invoice designed to supply for the institution of Nationwide Info Expertise Growth in 2007 (NITDA Act). Operations of NITDA began in 2001, six years earlier than the invoice was handed into legislation.
NITDA is due to this fact mandated by its Act to determine Requirements, Pointers and frameworks for the event, standardisation, and regulation of Info Expertise practices in Nigeria. The company is due to this fact empowered to function and implement the Nationwide IT coverage; to make sure that all the citizenry is empowered with Info Applied sciences by the event of a important mass of IT proficient and globally aggressive manpower; to enter into strategic alliance with the personal sector in addition to worldwide organisations for the actualisation of the IT imaginative and prescient; to develop and regulate the Info Expertise Sector in Nigeria; to create IT consciousness and guarantee common entry so as to promote IT diffusion in all sectors of our nationwide life; and to make sure Easy, Ethical, Accountable, Responsive and Clear (SMART) governance, utilizing the instrument of Info Expertise.
As well as, NITDA is empowered by legislation to encourage native manufacturing and manufacture of IT parts in a aggressive method so as to generate international earnings and create jobs; to function a clearing home for all IT procurement and providers within the public sector and to empower Nigerians to take part in software program and IT system growth.
NITDA has since its institution, offered the authorized framework for info know-how and pioneered growth initiatives in areas of capability constructing, provision of entry to info know-how items and providers, bridging digital divides, boosting digital literacy in addition to job creation and nationwide safety (see truth on NITDA web site: https://nitda.gov.ng/nitda-act/).
Why NITDA Invoice 2021?
On the twenty third of October 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari accredited the re-designation of the Federal Ministry of Communications because the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Financial system.
The first objective of the re-designation was to create a coverage organ that might oversee the event of the digital economic system for Nigeria.
The Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Financial system has developed the Digital Financial system Coverage and Technique (NDEPS), which focuses on the event of the digital points of Nigeria’s economic system, thus creating the necessity for a evaluation of the regulatory framework.
The Nigerian Nationwide Coverage on Info Expertise was accredited in 2001 with the imaginative and prescient of creating Nigeria an IT-capable nation by 2005. Nonetheless, now we have lengthy gone previous that imaginative and prescient as Nigeria is now greater than an IT-capable nation. The NDEPS has a brand new imaginative and prescient of creating Nigeria a number one international digital economic system. The present mandate of NITDA is targeted on the imaginative and prescient of the preliminary IT coverage. NITDA wants a brand new mandate to refocus its regulatory and developmental mandate for competitiveness within the 12 trillion-dollar international digital economic system.
Due to this fact, there’s a must evaluation the mandate of the Company in keeping with the present realities in cyber and know-how house. Moreover, NDEPS requires a extra sturdy method to rules, requirements setting, and tips growth for the nation, with a give attention to digital and rising applied sciences, and NITDA is finest suited to implement this mandate.
It’s in opposition to this backdrop that the Company seeks to repeal and re-enact the NITDA institution legislation to enhance the regulatory house and encourage Nigerians to reap the advantages of the digital economic system whereas supporting the event of indigenous options for financial profit to the nation.
NDEPS is ready to develop the digital economic system by 8 distinct pillars which embody Developmental Regulation, Digital literacy and expertise, Stable Infrastructure, Service infrastructure, Digital service growth and promotion, Gentle Infrastructure, Digital society and rising applied sciences and Indigenous content material growth and adoption.
The NITDA Act is among the Principal Devices to implement 8 key pillars of NDEPS above.
The place is the conflict of mandate?
The proposed draft invoice is ready to consolidate the Company’s regulatory energy to incorporate rising applied sciences and digital economic system growth; to supply administrative enforcement powers; to cut back the variety of governing board members for the company and to adequately develop rules on points of ICT and Digital Financial system.
The invoice if handed will deepen initiatives to bridge the digital divide and digital participation and facilite funding into the digital economic system, modern entrepreneurship and rising applied sciences.
From the above analyses one can see that the anticipatory act will go a great distance in constructing platforms for native and international collaboration within the sector and enabling indigenous content material growth to serve native and Worldwide markets.
With out an iota doubt, the draft NITDA invoice 2021 doesn’t battle with, nor usurp the facility of every other company of Authorities. As an example, whereas NCC’s powers largely consider the telecommunication sector, NITDA’s duties give attention to Info Expertise.
It’s on this foundation that one can say the legislators owe Nigeria a patriotic responsibility to help the NITDA Invoice which is geared in the direction of guaranteeing that Nigeria faucets into the multi trillion greenback ever evolving ICT and digital economic system. On the finish of the day, its advantages could be positively felt not solely on the tech ecosystem however by Nigerians who leverage on know-how to eke a residing proper out of their cell and different digital gadgets.
Abbas Badmus, a workers author with TechDigest, writes from Abuja.
