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Chinenye Anuforo
The contributions of Nigeria’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector to the economy have been on the increase in the last 13 years.
Report has it that ICT sector’s contribution to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), rose from 11.22 percent in the second quarter of 2018 to 13.85 percent in the second quarter of 2019.
According to the report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the ICT nominal contribution to GDP surpassed that of Oil and Gas in the second quarter of 2019.
The figures show that the Nigeria’s GDP grew by 1.94 percent (year-on-year) in real terms in the second quarter of 2019 compared to the second quarter of 2018, after recording a growth of 1.50 percent. The non-oil sector contributed 91.18 percent to the nation’s GDP in the second quarter of 2019 as opposed to the 8.82 percent contributed to total real GDPs by the oil sector.
Though, the Q3,2019 statistics showed that the contribution of the telecom industry to the country’s GDP decreased, NBS figures show the industry’s contribution fell by 3.21 per cent from 14.55 percent contributed in Q2 to 11.34 percent in Q3 of 2019. However, the contribution was 0.79 per cent higher when compared with 10.55 per cent contributed to the country’s GDP last year. Key players in the sector, especially the telecommunications operators also have claimed to paying taxes running into several billions of naira.
In spite of the ICT contribution to the growth of the economy, the sector is still bedeviled with many challenges from poor quality of service, multiple taxation, theft, vandalism of infrastructure amongst others.
But, the one that remained a hard pill to swallow for the operators is the case of stealing and vandalism of telecom infrastructure.
Consequently, there have been calls from several quarters on the need for the National Assembly to pass the Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) Bill amid rising cases of theft and vandalism of equipment owned by mobile operators. The bill, when passed into law, is expected to criminalise any act of vandalism against Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructures since they would then be classified as CNI.
Market analysts have however raised questions over the nation’s harsh business climate. According to them, government’s delay in passing the bill into law is counter-productive, as telecommunications has since become fundamental and a most reliable public infrastructure in the country.
At a forum in Lagos, telecom operators informed the audience that the biggest difficulty that they face remained the frequent cases of vandalism by criminals or people who feel they are entitled to take generators and diesel off Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) for their own personal use.
They noted that although, lots of investments have gone into securing BTS sites, these issues still persist.
To solve the problems of theft and vandalism, they insisted that communities must have a sense of ownership of the sites because the infrastructure enhance their lives and businesses.
Stakeholders are of the opinion that operators’ ability to build capacity and viable infrastructure to support broadband rollout is threatened by government’s undue interference, an attempt to re-regulate the industry in their various states, while undermining the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the telecoms industry regulator that is empowered by the NCC Act of 2003.
For instance, Jide Awe, an ICT expert said the call for CNI is necessary because telecom infrastructure is Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) in view of the society and economy’s acute dependence on telecom assets. Critical segments of the economy as well as the public will be unable to carry out their normal functions in the absence of access to telecom facilities. The declaration is indispensable to the nation’s desire and intention to become a knowledge economy. Telecom is the fundamental, underlying infrastructure enabling the delivery of online and digital enabled services changing the economy and society in significant ways. ICT supported by telecom infrastructure rolled out to support broadband services is essential for growth and development
He said, “in that light, telecom facilities should be considered and protected in the same manner as public power supply, transportation, financial services, public health, oil and gas, etc. The reality is that inadequate security of infrastructure keeps disrupting telecom services. The arbitrary closure of telecom sites by government agencies are a source of concern. Harassment of technical staff while installing or carrying out repairs on telecom equipment is also unfortunate. It is essential to deter such negative incidents. Fibre cuts, vandalism of telecom assets, community issues and hostility of authorities are not only major hindrances to achieving good service delivery but can result in huge losses and disincentives to investors.”
He added that, “Efforts need to be intensified with the National Assembly members to facilitate the passage of a telecoms bill, which seeks to make telecoms infrastructure a critical national infrastructure that must be protected by law. The enactment of an ICT Critical Infrastructure Act is expressly stated as being a core requirement of the NBP.
Government should also raise public awareness about the fact that telecom facilities are critical national infrastructure requiring public protection. There is a need to build a smart culture amongst the citizens and government authorities that appreciates the essence of telecom for digital transformation and does not view telecom strictly in terms of revenue generation.”
Speaking with Daily Sun, the Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, said telecoms infrastructure should be seen as critical equipment just like the oil pipelines, as well as PHCN and NITEL (Nigerian Telecommunications Limited) facilities.
He said that the telecommunication industry supports many other economic sectors of the economy and is also the first layer of critical infrastructure for socio-economic development and security and so it is pertinent for telecoms facilities to have first-level protection om government.
Adebayo said: “Telecommunications development in Nigeria is playing an integral role in the country. Telecommunication services have greatly improved our quality of life as a people. From basic voice call to Internet services to numerous value-added features offered by our members. But despite the progress made, we are still facing a number of environmental problems in particular on the issues of interference with the smooth operations of telecom services.”
He said incidents of closure of ALTON members’ sites and other telecommunications infrastructure on the excuse of non-payment of arbitrarily imposed taxes and levies imposed by states and local government authorities in the guise of internally-generated revenue (IGR) is having adverse effects on quality of service.
“We hereby appeal to the President for a presidential declaration of telecom infrastructure as critical national security and economic infrastructure, as provided by the cybercrime law of 2015,” Adebayo said.
NCC’s effort
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has made a lot of efforts towards sensitizing consumers both at local, state and federal government on the need to protect telecom infrastructure.
Just recently, the Commission once again appealed to telecom consumers to join hands with it, in its efforts to ensure the protection of telecom infrastructure. The NCC wants citizens to take interest in the security of telecom infrastructure within and around their localities because safe and secured infrastructure is a correlate of good quality of service (QoS) delivery.
Venny Eze-Nwabufoh, Zonal Controller, Port Harcourt Zonal Office of NCC made the appeal on behalf of Prof. Umar Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman, NCC.
She made the appeal at a sensitisation exercise organised by the zonal office in Effunrun, Delta State recently while discussing the factors affecting QoS delivery in the telecom industry.
She stated that one of the cardinal objectives of the Commission is “to promote the provision of modern, universal, efficient, reliable, affordable and easily-accessible communications services throughout Nigeria.” Eze-Nwabufoh affirmed and added that these infrastructure are essential physical assets designed for telecommunications networks and they connect cities, towns, highways in Nigeria and also link Nigeria’s telecom with other countries to ensure seamless services.
However, the telecom industry has experienced a lot of setbacks as a result of a number of factors that are negatively disruptive to the infrastructure.
She stated that these factors include willful damage to the infrastructure in order to extort money from service providers, communities and individuals barring technical staff of the service providers from installing their equipment or carry out maintenance at the sites, destruction of telecom infrastructure due to road construction projects in urban and semi-urban areas, as well as as vandalism or outright of components of infrastructure.
She explained that the sensitisation was designed by the Commission to create awareness on the critical implication of vandalism of telecom infrastructure and the need for its protection by all in order to ensure good quality of telecom services and to consolidate the growth of the telecom industry.
Minister intervention
However, with the help of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Dr Isa Pantami, the demand by these operators may soon be granted.
Only recently, the Minister took it upon himself with his call on Nigerians, particularly states, to protect communication infrastructure across the country with a view to preventing them from being vandalised by criminal elements.
He also called on state governors to ensure that all agencies and residents within their domains desist from vandalism.
Pantami said that vandalism was capable of undermining national security.
“Our attention has been drawn to very serious, unpatriotic and corrupt activities of some criminal elements within the public service who have continued to engage in acts capable of undermining national security.
“We have received several complaints from Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), about the unfortunate incidences such as forced closures or outright destruction of Telecommunications Infrastructure in some parts of the country
Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) and other telecommunications facilities are reportedly being vandalised and MNOs, are hindered from delivering the requisite services to the consumer by state-owned agencies in some parts of the country,’’ Pantani noted.
The Minister said that the office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) had also emphasised the serious, security implications of such vandalism.
He said that such action constitutes a violation of relevant laws of Nigeria and a threat to national economic development, adding that most businesses depended on services provided by telecommunications operators.
“In line with the provisions of the Cybercrime Act of 2015, telecommunications infrastructure is designated CNI and therefore, any act of vandalism or deliberate obstruction of service delivery is deemed unlawful and punishable by law.
“In an era where development is tech-driven and the Federal Government is making concerted efforts to digitalise the economy, the action of these unscrupulous elements undermine the President’s Digital Economy Agenda and indeed, the overall development of the country.
“This wanton destruction and total disregard for CNI must be stopped forthwith,’’ the minister warned.
