By 
Ayọ̀wándé (Odu) Adálèmo – @wandyvirus, Founder & CEO @Wave5Wireless, has sparked a very important conversation on X (formerly Twitter) on August 3, 2024, with his “Open Letter to His Excellency the President and Grand Commander of the Federal Republic of Nigeria – @officialABAT [President Bola Tinubu].” The piece, which questions the direction of the Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy under Dr. Bosun Tijani, has garnered over 339.3K views. Adálèmo’s letter has ignited a heated debate within Nigeria’s tech community about the value and future of a sector that contributes more than 13% to the country’s GDP.
Open Letter to His Excellency the President And Grand Commander of the Federal Republic Of Nigeria – @officialABAT
Your Excellency,
I write to you with all sense of modesty, understanding that no single human knows it all. I am also aware of how intricately connected your success as a president is to our nation’s continued existence.
I do not envy you Sir. I am a strong believer in this great nation of ours and those who know me understand that there may be no other Nigerian as passionate about my country as I am. This is one of the reasons why I was vehement and loud in my critique of your nomination, screening, and subsequent appointment of @bosuntijani [Dr ‘Bosun Tijani] as your minister for a very crucial tripodal ministry: Innovation, economy, and communications.
RELATED: 3MTT ministerial initiative grapples with financial difficulties and quality concerns
This tripod can change the face of this nation if properly utilized. I had written Sir that I do not believe that Dr. Bosun Tijani possesses the required bandwidth to man this very crucial ministry. I had written an open letter to him about his fixation with Artificial Intelligence (AI). In my letter I outlined low hanging fruits that could set Nigerians on the path of prosperity. I even posited, Sir, that AI is not within the purview of his ministry. That is what the @MinistryofST [Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology] should be concerned about. I am of the view that his tripodal ministry is beyond a few buzz words and fad.
After I wrote that letter, I got a lot of calls and invitation by well-meaning Nigerians who urged that we give him some slack. Some people close to you Sir urged that I delete the tweets and the letter. I did. I do not regret listening to my elders. The recent Draft of the National Digital Economy and e-Governance Bill is why I am compelled to write this open letter. I am convinced that @bosuntijani cannot help you achieve your Renewed Hope Agenda in that Ministry. Why do I so assert?
First, Your Excellency I am not a graduate. I dropped out of the @oou_agoiwoye in my third year to pursue my entrepreneurial calling. I have innovated in this space in the last 20+ years. So, if anyone can understand the power of a digital economy on the psyche of a young mind, it would be me. I epitomize the power of a digital economy. A proud school dropout, who can dream, innovate, execute and birth solutions to life without a degree, with only his @waecnigeria certificate and a collection of technology certificates is the stuff of movies.
Digital Economy is not a virtual version of the economy nor is it separate from it. The Digital Economy is the tooling of the economy for scale using technology and infrastructure to enable either manual or redundant processes.
That boy who dropped out of school is today along with his co-founder, @BiolaAkinyemi_ a second time founder able to raise over $10m in funding, able to employ young Nigerians and give them a sense of purpose; able to give jobs to contractors and vendors who in turn employ others. That is the power of the digital economy.
But it can also be the reality of millions of our young people. While @NELFUND solves a gigantic problem for our teeming young population, there remains questions around curriculum, learning environment and the practicality of what we are taught in class. When I dropped out 20 years ago, I was frustrated by how mediocre and archaic our lecturers were. My distraught father Samuel Odu Adalemo could not fathom it when I said the university did not challenge me, so I dropped out.
Your Excellency, the lure of creating a platform to catalyze a digital economy not only challenged me but inspired me to no end. Seeing the effect of my solution on people and how in turn it helps them conveniently do what was a chore or help them scale gives me a hundred-fold the value of a degree or any certificate whatsoever. I wear several hats today, one as Founder and co-CEO of @Wave5W, an innovative Internet Service Provider, the other as a director at @foundingLAG (the last five years) as they say I am an “OG” in the #telecommunications industry and a veteran in the #tech ecosystem. So, I am speaking from the vintage point of experience as an innovator, an entrepreneur, and a valuable ecosystem player.
The #DigitalEconomy is not some utopian ideal that we need to attain. It is not a virtual version of the economy, nor is it separate from it, the Digital Economy is the tooling of the economy for scale using technology and infrastructure to enable either manual or redundant processes. It is the implementation of policies, programs and interventions that ensures digital tools are adopted for and used by businesses be it Government or Private. It is in the background, enabling, innovating, upgrading. It is not the focus. The economy is. The SMEs are. The telcos are. The ISPs are. The MDAs are.
So, you can imagine my consternation as I watch your appointee stumble from one policy to another.
From the 3MTT to the $2bn 90,000km fibre plans and now to this digital economy and e-governance bill, Dr. Tijani has demonstrated to those who should know that he is struggling. Let me start with the latest instalment.
The Digital Economy bill
I have read the draft bill about three times and the 35-page document which passed the first reading in @nassnigeria leave me wondering if this document really originated from the Executive arm of the @NigeriaGov and sent to the @nassnigeria [National Assembly].
The Bill seeks to “enhance the use of digital technology to grow Nigeria’s economy. To create an enabling environment for fair competition to promote innovation, growth, and competitiveness for the Nigerian Digital Economy. To create export-oriented capacities in Nigeria’s digital economy to improve Nigeria’s balance of trade and services. To encourage and improve service delivery, openness, and accountability for delivery of public or citizen digital services. To provide a legal framework to support international digital trade and investments using digital means. To create a framework for the enhancement of digital economy governance amongst the Ministries, Departments and Agencies.”
This is laudable but when you read the bill Your Excellency, you will be left wondering if the copy of the bill you have has been altered. The entirety of the bill reads like a memo trying to enforce the use of and acceptance of electronic signatures, documents, and communication as valid and legal. It also stipulates penalties that would accompany any MDA or company that would do otherwise. The shocking part of this bill is the insistence that where the law requests an original document it should not insist on paper versions as an electronic version would suffice if the integrity of the electronic form can be ascertained.
NITDA in 2019 produced a comprehensive framework called the Nigerian Government Enterprise Architecture (NGEA). This 130-page document is the most comprehensive policy aimed at correcting all the anomalies in government processes, information management, and deployment/implementation of ICT projects across the government in the next five to ten years.”
NIPOST has deteriorated since you became President and Commander-in-Chief. NIPOST is the ONLY organization in Nigeria that can accurately carry out an address verification exercise which will match verified addresses to NIMC and other identity management systems. Another low hanging fruit with respect to security, credits, censors, and identity management.
Your Excellency we live in the age of misinformation and manipulation. There is no electronic version of anything that the integrity in transmission, storage and retrieval can be trusted. Not even blockchain technology is immune to manipulation. The question is how big the reward if that information can be manipulated? Terrorist, saboteurs, and the opposition (within and without) will do anything to manipulate data. Your Excellency, think of what this will mean for our elections, our financial Institutions, our Tertiary institutions.
What was @bosuntijani thinking?
To make matters worse, this very pedestrian document in part XIII speaks to the “Supremacy of National Digital Economy and E-Governance Act.” “Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law but subject to the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in all matters relating to digital economy and e-government, the provisions of this Act shall override the provisions of any other Law.”
For a document that lacks the “how” and leaves a lot of questions unanswered, it will supersede the electoral ACT, the @NgComCommission ACT 2003, the @NITDANigeria ACT, and all other acts.
This is sinister, Your Excellency.
It is worthy of note that the prime agency for IT policy making and Implantation @NITDANigeria [National Information Technology Development Agency] in 2019 produced a comprehensive framework called the Nigerian Government Enterprise Architecture (NGEA). This 130-page document is the most comprehensive policy aimed at correcting all the anomalies in government processes, information management, and deployment/implementation of ICT projects across the government in the next five to ten years.
[The NGEA] is so granular and so detailed, yet it is ONLY a guideline/framework not even a policy under NITDA. Why not elevate that 130-page document to a policy document as it is a much more thought-out document than this drivel that was sent to the [National Assembly]
It is so granular and so detailed, yet it is ONLY a guideline/framework not even a policy under @NITDANigeria. Why not elevate that 130-page document to a policy document as it is a much more thought-out document than this drivel that was sent to the @nassnigeria [National Assembly].
This new bill triggers a lot of question, and the feeling is not right. If this bill is passed, 2027 elections and all other off-season elections are in danger. If electronic data is manipulated what will that mean for our country? For the continent? especially as the veracity of the data stored is dependent on a simple assurance that it has not been significantly altered (see section 27(2) under part V).
“For the purposes of sub-section (1)(b)(iii), the criterion for assessing integrity shall be whether information contained in the electronic transferable record, including any authorized change that arises from its creation until it ceases to have any effect or validity, has remained complete and unaltered apart from any change which arises in the normal course of communication, storage and display.”
Why reinvent the wheel and instead of a wheel we get something worse than a semi-circle? This should not be a bill your excellency, it should be thrown out by our legislators. It is nothing but a memo within the same department of the ministry. The Minister should dust the NGEA and use that AS A GUIDELINE for all MDAs and private businesses doing business with the MDAs.
Bosun [Tijani] is setting a trap with this pedestrian bill. If he needs to enforce e-governance, @NITDANigeria has all the tools, he has all the authority. A new bill is not required Your Excellency.
3MTT
Your excellency when Dr. Tijani announced this program as a policy direction of the digital economy, I chuckled.
- It was the easiest thing for him to implement coming from his CChub antecedents. Gather a few kids together, coin a training or development lingo and raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants and development monies. It is good for his business but does not move the needle as far as development is concerned. Beautiful PowerPoints are nice, but they are hollow in outcomes and only pander to the guilty consciences of their Silicon Valley Lords.
- Digital skills do not translate to digital jobs. I hear the comparison with India every time and it is annoying. We have not put in a quarter of the thinking that India put behind theirs to begin to compare or use that as a reference point, nor does it appear we are willing to do so. If you give three million youths digital skills, some will get jobs, the majority will have to develop other skills to survive. Training three million people for digital skills when your communication networks are under lots of strain, when we do not have a single affordable local cloud service infrastructure, when the cost of data is high; yet the MNOs are groaning under heavy losses, is very counterproductive. We do not even have the capacity to train 100,000 people virtually. Congestion is a real problem as is sabotage and vandalism in the communications industry. We have not seen any groundbreaking home-grown innovation since @GloWorld per second billing changed the game over 20 years ago.
- To train millions of young people for digital skills will require thinking and execution beyond a shallow 3MTT program. It is not in his purview to implement. To a carpenter, every problem looks like a nail. The 3MTT cannot be what he implements to show he is working; it is not a shiny toy your son gets from the neighbor and runs to show daddy. It must be a deliberate multi-stakeholder approach. The @NigEducation MUST be at the core of this both at the federal and state levels. Partner with MNOs and ISPs to ensure there is some form of internet access at public schools. (As an example, @Wave5W we have vowed that we will ensure every public primary and secondary school close to our PoPs will get free @AtmosphereWiFI internet access. Our first of such is in Sabo Yaba Lagos).
- He then works with the ministry to rejig the curriculum from primary four to include the skills required spaced into modules for lifelong learning. By the time that child is in SSS3, we would have a soldier digitally equipped for global relevance. There is a lot to this including at what point does the system determine when a child is better fit for technical education? Or do we not need excellent artisans anymore? Once we use technology to sort that, the @LabourMinNG can take charge of ensuring these competent hands are first line of contacts for Federal and state jobs. The Ministry then works with @NigeriaMFA for exported Labour. Make this into a bill and take it to the @nassnigeria. In Six (6) years Your excellency, we will have an army of Nigerians with the right kind of skills for both the white- and blue-collar jobs.
- The bottom-line is that we can catalyze the 3MTT or 40MTT with the right foundations. It is the foundation of a digital economy; it is NOT a low hanging fruit.
- Furthermore, what we need technology to help us solve in the immediate are soft skills. With the right kind of incentives, we can encourage our officialnyscng [National Youth Service Corps } members to take immersive soft skill trainings. That will create more jobs in the short term than 3MTT. The mindset of our teaming young is skewed and needs reorientation. With the @FMINONigeria [Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation], we can help millions of young people position themselves for opportunities.
90,000 KM Fiber optics network
Your Excellency, while this sounds laudable, it is a disappointment. The problems bedeviling the communications sector is NOT a fiber optic problem. To have a robust and thriving economy run by digital tools, our telecommunications network must be resilient, always available, always on. It does not have to be cheap. It must be robust enough for productivity. In fact, Sir, there is no 3MTT, AI, or Multilingual large language model without an excellent communication infrastructure.
If this bill is passed, 2027 elections and all other off season elections are in danger…. Bosun [Tijani] is setting a trap with this pedestrian bill. If he needs to enforce e-governance, NITDA has all the tools, he has all the authority. A new bill is not required.
The issues we have now are NOT related to fiber optics infrastructure. As I write today we have over 40,000 Km of fiber across the country with over 60% of this capacity underutilized. Most of the Base Transceiver Stations in urban areas are linked via fiber optics. We are confronted with sabotage, vandalism, brain drain (which leads to design problems), maintenance, high energy costs, (that is a crisis now) and funding. The solutions are in some instances political but in most cases collaboration. While @bosuntijani feels at home with NITDA (this is understandable, it is the easiest thing to do), he should be much more involved in the telco/ISP/National carrier space. How does @NigComSat1R [NIGCOMSAT Ltd], @Mainoneservice [MainOne] @GloWorld [Globacom]
and all the myriads of data centres take up the underutilized fiber capacity for use in rural Nigeria? How do we raise less than $2bn to catalyse the infraco [Infrastructure Company] license holders? Can we sit with the @DangoteGroup [Dangote Group] and @info_NRC [Nigerian Railway Corporation] to see what we can do with the rail line right-of-way held by the group? Can we sit with TCN and @Phase3telecom [Phase3Telecoms] for the powerline right-of-way?
If the infraco licensees can get offtake monies and we can revisit the terms of that license, can we consolidate all fiber infrastructure across the country and have NSCDC as the security agency responsible for the protection of these critical national infrastructure?
Internet Access to 774 LG secretariats equals zero innovation and productivity
Why deploy internet access to the 774 local government secretariats where innovation and productivity will be zero?
Our universities, polytechnics and colleges of education need huge bandwidth as they are all implementing learning Management Systems (LMS). About two-thirds of our tertiary institutions are in Rural Nigeria. If we deploy resources there, we will see not just innovation catalysed but we will also see rapid adoption and consumption of internet services across rural areas. We have seen this happen on social levels across Nigerian schools. Our students stay mostly off campus. The institutions are accessible by the community.
Your Excellency, we need someone who can take long term decisions now while at the same time take advantage of low hanging fruits.
NIPOST and missed opportunities in digital economy
One major low hanging fruit that can generate billions of Naira NOW is
@NipostNgn [NIPOST]. I use the service every week, Sir, and I can tell you it has deteriorated since you became President and Commander-in-Chief.
Meanwhile @NipostNgn can become an engine room for the digital economy TODAY. In five months, @NipostNgn can turn around its reputation, handling, shipping times and coordination. It will take a lot of guts, but @NipostNgn
can be your crowning glory in the digital economy space. Again, the technology and the human resource to change things are available. @NipostNgn
will move from what it is now to being the centre of an overarching delivery system that delivers millions of parcels each day across Nigeria, securely and efficiently.
@NipostNgn is the ONLY organization in Nigeria that can accurately carry out an address verification exercise which will match verified addresses to
@nimc_ng [National Identity Management Commission] and other identity management systems. Another low hanging fruit with respect to security, credits, censors, and identity management.
My cofounder @BiolaAkinyemi_ suggested that we also deploy internet and Renewable energy to every @NipostNgn office close to our Points of Presence. We were advised against it. Yet these offices need critical infrastructure that partnerships and collaboration like ours can provide.
I needed to speak at this point because we are running out of time. It is no longer a luxury you have Your Excellency and eight years is a very short time.
Please get Bosun back on track, create a new ministry for him, or ship him out. Whatever you do Sir, get that ministry working again.
Please accept, Sir, the assurances of my highest consideration,
Ayọ̀wándé Adálémọ
