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Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani, the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, is meeting with stakeholders from the telecoms/ICT industry in Abuja this week. The aim is to address the pressing challenges impacting the telecom industry.
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The invitees include members of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON).
This gathering marks the first time the minister is formally engaging with industry stakeholders since assuming office eight months ago in August 2023, raising concerns about his perceived distance from the industry and its concerns.
According to an operator in Lagos who spoke to IT Edge News, there is a sense that the minister has not sufficiently connected with the industry. This lack of robust engagement has contributed to apathy among operators, particularly regarding investment in the telecoms sector.
“He is not connecting with the industry sufficiently enough. That robust bonding as earlier anticipated hasn’t happened and explains why there is still strong apathy as per investment in the telecoms sector,” one operator in Lagos told IT Edge News.
Operators have reportedly requested an upward review of tariffs, but the Ministry has remained unresponsive, leading to speculation that the lack of policy clarity stems from uncertainty about the sector’s direction.
“We have asked for upward review of tariff but the ministry has remained bland as no one is communicating anything and operators believe the policy aloofness is because the ministry appears unsure of what direction the sector should take,” the operator said.
Part of the agenda for the Abuja meeting includes an engagement session with the ministerial committee to review operational conditions for telecommunications operators in Nigeria. Some operators hope that this meeting will initiate much-needed attention on the telecoms sector, which accounted for approximately 16% of Nigeria’s GDP in the second quarter of 2023.
However, concerns have also been raised about the minister’s focus, with some operators suggesting that attention should be spread across all sub-sectors within the industry. There is a perception that the minister is overly fixated on startups, potentially neglecting other critical segments. Questions have also been raised about the effectiveness of initiatives like the 3MTT (Three Million Technical Talents), prompting calls for greater stakeholder involvement.
Another operator complained: “This minister appears unduly focused on startups that you could begin to canvass for a Ministry of Startups. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this except that other critical segments that make up the sector are ignored. And can we say, we have achieve any significant traction with the 3MTT in the light of all the complains by the hubs and so-called partners? It is time to get stakeholders involved in the scheme of things and not just telecoms.”
Meanwhile, Hadiza Bala Usman, the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Coordination, revealed that the federal government is conducting periodic assessments of cabinet ministers and the agencies under their supervision.
The government aims to evaluate ministers’ performance using empirical data to ensure tangible achievements align with the ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’ as it enters its first year in power.
The government is planning to reshuffle its cabinet later in June, this year.
