By Monibuola Sulaiman

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said it remains committed to its regulatory role of continually implementing requisite reforms to strengthen the communications sector in Nigeria.

The Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management at the NCC, Adeleke Adewolu, stated this while addressing stakeholders at the combined second and third quarters 2023 meeting of the Industry Working Groups (IWG) on multiple taxation and regulations in the telecoms sector.

The meeting, which held in Ibadan, Oyo State on Tuesday, was convened as a precursor to a more elaborate Regional Stakeholders Workshop on Multiple Taxation and Regulations, scheduled to take place in the State on Wednesday.

Addressing the meeting, attended by senior executives of telecom licensees and their umbrella body, the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), as staff of the Commission, Adewolu said the IWG’s activities are geared towards ensuring fair tax policies and eliminating every incident of multiple taxation and regulations impacting the Nigerian telecommunications industry.

He stated that a lot of milestones have been recorded by the industry since the establishment of the IWG over two decades ago, as the platform has proven to be effective in articulating industry concerns in this area and also proffering solutions to these issues.

“Considerable industry gains have been recorded lately, particularly as it relates to the issue of multiple taxation. For instance, His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu recently signed Four Executive Orders designed to curb multiple taxation in the Country.

“Key amongst them is the Executive Order for the suspension of the five per cent Excise Duty on telecommunication services as well as Excise Duties escalation on other locally manufactured products,” he said.

Left-Right: Lagos Zonal Controller, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Henry Ojiokpota; Assistant Director, Financial Services, NCC, Chika Anohu; Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, NCC, Adeleke Adewolu; Head, Compliance Monitoring, NCC, Isa Olatinwo; Executive Secretary, Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria, Gbolahan Awonuga and Ibadan Zonal Controller, NCC, Dr. Olubunmi Bamijoko, during NCC’s quarterly meeting of Telecom Industry Working Group on Multiple Taxation and Regulations in Ibadan, Oyo State, on Tuesday September 5, 2023.

He described the gains as laudable as, according to him, they continue to serve as inspiring landmarks for the industry, underscoring what can be achieved when the entire industry comes together harmoniously to speak with one voice on existential concerns undermining the economic health of the communications industry.

However, the Executive Commissioner said there remains a lot of work to be done as the industry was still beguiled by arbitrary Right of Way (RoW) charges, hidden nuisance taxes, and unauthorised regulatory encroachment into the communications industry.

As such, he said the Commission has continued to work assiduously to ensure harmonisation of RoW charges across the country.

He said aside several existing agencies the Commission has been working with, it is also collaborating strategically with sister agencies such as the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), in line with the National Economic Council (NEC) resolution of 2012 and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

“We are also working with the Nigerian Mainstream and  Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), all in a bid to ensure the regulatory actions taken by the agencies are well synchronised with the regulatory objectives of the Commission, in a manner that boosts market development and industry sustainability,” he said.

While tasking telecom licensees to continue to bring burning issues on multiple taxation and regulation to the attention of the Commission as they experience in their daily operation, Adewolu also assured them of NCC’s decision to always make necessary regulatory interventions to boost industry growth.

“The Commission is always inclined to executing the requisite reform that will strengthen the Communications Sector and deepen market development,” he said, as he urged all stakeholders at the IWG meeting to deliberate frankly and productively in highlighting pressing and key issues that require urgent attention.

Rashidat Okunlade Writes

Digital solutions provider, Globacom, has expressed gratitude to the government, its subscribers, business partners, and other stakeholders for their support of the network in the past 20 years.

The company, which marks its 20^th anniversary on Tuesday, August 29, commenced operations in 2003 with the rollout of innovative and affordable telecommunication services.

In a press statement in Lagos on Monday, the company said it had been two decades of transforming the telecommunications landscape, fulfilling dreams, and positively affecting the lives of millions of Nigerians.

Globacom has since 2003 remained committed to providing its customers with world-class communications and digital services through constant deployment of latest technologies in line with the corporate promise to build a robust fully integrated ICT network infrastructure that would consistently deliver value to its esteemed customers.

Glo has been at the forefront of revolutionary changes in the telecommunication sector in Nigeria. It crashed the cost of acquiring SIM cards in the country from about N25,000 to just about N200. The network also disappointed bookmakers as it launched operations on a Per per-second billing platform, a feat others had described as impossible to achieve until another five years.

Prominent among the innovations Glo pioneered in Nigeria are Blackberry, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), Magic Plus, Glo Direct, Glo Fonepals, Africhat, Glo Mobile Internet, GloFleetmanager, M-Banking and Glo Mobile Office. Glo was also the first to launch 2.5G, 3G, and 4G LTE networks. It also singlehandedly built an international submarine cable, Glo 1 to connect West Africa directly to the United Kingdom and the rest of the world. It also connects 12 nations in the West African sub-region, including some of them that are landlocked.

Glo1 is credited with crashing the cost of internet services and is today the preferred cable system by global OTT providers. It connects thousands of kilometres of national fibre to all parts of Nigeria.

“As we celebrate our achievements these past twenty years, we wish to acknowledge that Globacom’s huge success is a result of the support of millions of Nigerians. We wish to thank them for their love and patronage and for the unprecedented confidence they have consistently shown in the company”, the statement noted.

Globacom restated its commitment to the provision of world-class communications and digital services in line with the corporate promise it made at launch to build a world-class communications and technology infrastructure that would consistently deliver value to its esteemed customers.  “We will remain a catalyst for socio-economic empowerment not only in Nigeria but also in Africa. We will continue to invest massively in new technologies to exceed customer expectations,” the statement concluded.

The network currently has over 61 million subscribers. Its massive investments in technology, array of value-added services, and strong and unique marketing initiatives have made it the first choice network for millions of subscribers.

Rashidat Okunlade Writes

The Nasarawa State government and the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) are set to partner on a lithium processing policy that would ensure that Lithium mined in the State is processed locally instead of exporting it raw.  

The processing policy is in line with NASENI’s drive to encourage the processing of Strategic Solid Minerals and particularly to ensure that batteries are produced locally for both electric vehicles as well as other energy storage applications.

This was disclosed when the Executive Governor of Nasarawa State, Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule paid a courtesy visit to Dr. Bashir Gwandu, the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NASENI at the Agency’s headquarters in Abuja at the weekend. Nasarawa state is one of the states acknowledged to have potentially the largest deposits of lithium in Nigeria.

Recently NASENI has made headlines for its efforts to encourage investors and Nigerian lithium offtakers from around the world to come and partner with it to process various combinations of lithium into batteries locally. This will include lithium processing from mineral crushing and extraction all the way to final products that can be used both locally and also exported to other countries.

Left-Right: Dr. Bashir Gwandu, Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), and Governor Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule, when the Governor paid a courtesy visit to the NASENI Headquarters on Friday 18th August 2023. PHOTO: NASENI

Some companies from China have already started visiting NASENI as a response to the call. Dr. Gwandu disclosed that NASENI will partner with other government agencies such as Rural Electricity Agency (REA), Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA), and other investing institutions on this effort.

He said he was pleased that the Nasarawa state governor is coming to collaborate with NASENI in this regard. A number of companies have indicated interest in investing in Nasarawa state to process lithium in various quantities ranging from 1,000-3,000 tonnes per day. So far, almost 6,000 tonnes per day are projected to be processed daily in Nasarawa alone.  

On his part, Governor Sule said the companies have already indicated interest to process the 6,000 tonnes per day in Nasarawa state, adding that other states such as Kebbi, Kwara, etc., might also attract such kind of companies and investments, and there is need for proper coordination, and for all hands to be on deck to ensure that Nigeria takes its place by being recognized as one of the largest lithium producers in the world.

The Governor added that there is something happening that is akin to Gold Rush which he termed ‘Lithium Rush” happening in his state and this is because lithium price in the world market has jumped from $6,000 per metric tonnes to $78,000 per metric tonnes. “Nasarawa state has a large quantum of Lithium and hence the need to have a better working synergy with NASENI for purposeful exploration, extraction, and processing.”

According to Engr. Sule, NASENI is him, considering the number of projects that are adding value to the economy of his state, urging that the NASENI Solar in Gora may be used as lithium processing and battery production plant considering its proximity to the raw materials and also the proximity to the NASENI Solid Minerals institute which is also located in Nasarawa town in the same state.

While promising to give the Agency necessary support, he called for more collaborations with the State as it plans a second economic summit that would be tagged “Lithium Rush Summit”.

The EVC stated that during recent visit to Nasarawa, he had encouraged the Institute to allow the use of its machines by the local communities and small companies for efficient utilization and capacity building and for economic development.

The governor who stated that he heard that the Agency was planning on building an airport, urged it to utilise the State’s cargo airport for the evacuation of its products.

While responding further to His Excellency Governor Sule, Dr. Gwandu disclosed that NASENI does not have any plan to build an airport but is working on establishing an MRO/ARO as part of our efforts to develop capacity for both maintenance and eventual aircraft parts production to service aerospace industry which is likely to be sited in Abuja in view of its location and electricity supply.

He promised that NASENI will actively participate in any conference by the State with regard to lithium. He said NASENI Institutes have industrial machinery and other equipment and workforce that were readily available to lead Nigeria to industrialize and achieve a diversified economy but doing this requires huge funds outlay to fulfill the Agency’s mandate.

He requested the governor to be one of the ambassadors of NASENI in NGF. He said NGF holds the key to the release of NASENI’s held-up funds. 

Moreover, he said the governor’s support is key to enabling the Agency to carry out its work in the areas of science, technology, and innovation (STI), geared toward industrial development in the States.