The Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson recently disclosed that he National Economic Council (NEC) had endorsed guidelines for the implementation of strategy and roadmap to facilitate the achievement of five-fold increase in broadband penetration by 2017 under the federal government’s Connect Nigeria Programme.
She mentioned this in her keynote address delivered at the opening of the Second Meeting of the National Council on Communication Technology held in Akure, Ondo State capital.
According to the minister, the strategy was developed by the Presidential Committee comprising network operators, ICT infrastructure providers and representations from the states of the federation in order to ensure successful implementation of the plan.
The Minister said the plan had been approved and endorsed by President Goodluck Jonathan sequel to which a Broadband Council chaired by her had been inaugurated to oversee the expeditious implementation of the plan.
“We are working to remove any bottlenecks to the speedy rollout of this infrastructure. We have collaborated with the Federal Ministry of Works to streamline and standardise the processes and pricing of Right of Way (ROW) on federal highways across the country”, she said.
The minister said the action of the ministry had been adopted by the National Council of Works and is now applicable to state highways. She said the NEC was also committed to streamlining and standardising the levies that are charged on telecoms infrastructure.
Working with the Ministry of Environment, Johnson said the ministry had finally been able to align with the relevant agencies on base stations.
Earlier in a goodwill message, the Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, decried negative impact of multiple regulation and multiple taxation by various levels of government and agencies on the telecommunications operators.
“We are alarmed at the worrisome direction the quest for internally generated revenue is taking, particularly at the State and Local Levels. Our members are constantly harassed, their Base Stations and Offices locked indiscriminately by Government agencies, due to alleged refusal to pay taxes and levies that are unrecognised by law.
“Telecoms operators who are our members have brought documents evidencing requests for taxes and levies that are, in our view, outside of what is prescribed by law. We hear also with evidences from our members, instances where State and Local Government Authorities have physically invaded offices, locked up Base Stations and employed other unwholesome tactics to enforce these taxes and levies”, he said.
Declaring the meeting opened, the Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, said the development of ICT is a major pre-occupation of the state.
“Right from inception, the present administration has embraced the idea of ICT roll-out in all our governmental processes. We remain convinced that through effective utilisation of ICT tools, we can bridge, not only the digital divide between the government and the governed, but also keep pace with modern trends in public service delivery”, he said..
The governor said a major demonstration of the government’s commitment to ICT was the introduction of the Ondo State Residency Card project (otherwise known as Kaadi Igbe Ayo) which was envisioned as a veritable platform for multi-purpose welfare services management for all citizens and residents in the state.
“Kaadi Igbe Ayo is being deployed towards strategic planning and development in the State; efficient record keeping and management of human resources in the public and social sectors. In particular, the platform is a veritable tool in the scaling up of qualitative and quantitative delivery in our people-oriented sub sector such as health, education, transportation and agriculture”, he said.