Page 4 Report
PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2013
A new drive for ICT penetration in Nigeria By Chris Alu
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n the quest to promote Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in Nigeria, a lot has been done over the years. Yet, the country cannot be said to have developed technologically today. In fact, ICT penetration in the country is still very low, especially in the rural areas. However, all hope is not lost for the country as efforts are ongoing by relevant government agencies saddled with the responsibilities of developing ICT. One of such is the Universal Services Provision Fund, (USPF) an arm of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), which was established specifically to provide telecommunications and ICT services to un-served, underserved and deprived groups and communities in the country. Having completed the implementation of the first phase of its Strategic Management Plan (SMP) for ICT between the year 2007 and 2011, the Fund has unveiled a new SMP covering another five years: 2013-2017, through which it intends to achieve equal access to ICT across the country. To fast-track the new plans, the USPF recently organised a one day stakeholders’ consultative forum in Lagos, to provide stakeholders with an opportunity to make inputs and help properly define the direction of the Fund’s activities in the next five years. Speaking at the event, Minister of Technology Communication, Mobolaji Johnson, who is also the Chairman of the Fund’s board, revealed that the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 placed significant responsibilities on the Universal Service Provision Fund, to not only facilitate universal access to communication and applications services, but to also promote greater social and cultural development in Nigeria. According to her, “The USPF’s role has never been more crucial as Nigeria is poised to create an Internet and broadband revolution, so the programmes considered by USPF could give our country the push it needs to become a truly digitized nation.” In shouldering that responsibility, the USPF developed the new SMP which it is sharing with renowned strategic management partners, KPMG to ensure fast achievement of target aims. One of the goals of the
Partner, Management Consulting, KPMG, Mr. Joseph Tegbe speaking during the one day stakeholders’ consultative forum in Lagos
five-year plan by the USPF is to facilitate an enabling environment for ICT, by identifying the market efficiency and access gaps and design incentives that would promote the rollout of sustainable ICT services in rural, un-served and underserved areas. To achieve this, the Fund is to carry out relevant research and studies to determine the market efficiency and true access gap for different categories of ICT services within the country and also consult with key players in the telecommunications industry to identify the barriers/ issues which prevent the market from functioning effectively. The second goal as contained in the draft plan is to promote universal access and universal service that facilitate connectivity for development
by facilitating the availability of transmission infrastructure and connection to the national backbone in all LGAs. The Fund is also meant to drive increasing access to community-based data and voice services on a shared basis and provide a platform for universal service. Strategies and provide subsidies or other forms of incentives to telecom operators and eligible service providers to extend ICT transmission infrastructure to identified unserved and underserved areas. Institutional development came as the third goal with the objectives of strengthening the capability of the Universal Services Providers institution to effectively deliver on its mandate. This it intends to achieve by ensuring alignment of the
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In the quest to promote Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in Nigeria, a lot has been done over the years. Yet, the country cannot be said to have developed technologically today. In fact, ICT penetration in the country is still very low, especially in the rural areas.
Executive Vice-Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission, Eugene Juwah
USP Secretariat’s structure and functions with the vision and strategic goals of the USPF; identifying and executing capacity building initiatives which will equip the USP secretariat with the relevant skills required to drive the achievement of the USPF’s strategic goals. Presenting the roadmap, tagged: “Overview of the SMP 2013-2017”, Partner, Management Consulting, KPMG, Mr. Joseph Tegbe said the aim of the USPF’s strategic plan was to ensure that Fund continued to stimulate creative use of ICT in the country. He added that “in response to some of the challenges faced by the USPF in implementing the SMP 2007 – 2011, emphasis will be placed on carrying out the following key activities in the execution of the new SMP: holistic approach to project selection, engagement of stakeholders, qualification of minimum allowable subsidies, and subsidisation of operational cost, among other issues.” He however admitted that central to achieving these goals, would be to identify the market efficiency and access gaps as well as design incentives that would promote the rollout of sustainable ICT services in rural, un-served areas and underserved areas. In the same vein, while speaking on the 2013-2017 SMP, Senior Manager, Management Consulting at
KPMG, Mrs. Yetunde Kanu, said the fund would be coming out with three major programmes aimed at achieving the strategic management plan. They include Research Study and Survey, Awareness Creation, and Subsidy Incentives. According to her, USPF would carry out a research study in rural and underserved communities to find out the difficulties they face with ICT penetration, with a view to finding a lasting solution to identified challenges. It would also create awareness campaign on the need to deepen broadband and ICT infrastructure penetration in underserved and unserved areas. The essence, she said, was to identify areas of market efficiency gap and access gap, and seek ways to close such gaps. Stakeholders at the forum could not but commend the Fund for the implementation of the 2007-2011 SMP and for coming out with the new fiveyear plan. However, they advised the USPF to be more diligent and focused on the implementation. Useful inputs also came from the industry players such as the telecom operators, Internet Service Providers among others. And according to the USPF Secretary, Mr. Abdullahi Maikano, the views expressed by the stakeholders would be harmonised to form part of the plans and implementation strategies.