By Favour Unukaso
THE Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, Wednesday, hinted that the tariff hike to be approved by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) should be between 30 and 60 per cent threshold.
Tijani said the ministry would not approve a 100 per cent hike, stressing that it would be a burden on the people at a time the economy is struggling.
The minister, who said this, noted that the final decision on the hike is still based on the outcome of the Sustainability Report conducted by KPMG and Simon Cooper, which according to him, should be made public anytime soon. He noted that it is nor for the ministry to decide, “But I am sure the Nigerian Communications Commission is working on that. This is about sustainability of the sector cum the economy. The tariff hike shouldn’t be anywhere more than between 30 to 60 per cent.”
Speaking on ChannelsTV Politics Today (yesterday), he said the ministry is doing everything possible to ensure Nigeria experienced improved connectivity across all devices.
Tijani said he’s engaging the industry to ensure that all players within the layers contribute their quota to developing the country adequately. He said it is very important to keep the sector going because of its immense contribution to the economy.
While assuring that services will also improve when tariff is increased, the minister said operators will not be allowed to take Nigerians for granted. He said the ministry has brought the issue of evidence and facts by using data to justify decisions.
According to him, the telecoms sector is a critical industry for the country, saying a sector that is contributing between 14 to 16 per cent to the country’s GDP, employs over 15,000 people directly with millions of people benefitting from the sector, should not be allowed to sink.
He said it is very important to keep the sector alive, stressing that technology is the heartbeat of any economy, “but it is also important to ensure that our people can access meaningful connectivity, which is a minimum of 25mbps if you live in the urban area and a minimum of 10mbps if you stay in the rural areas.”
He however, informed that the operators are going through a lot in ensuring services are up and doing, infrastructure is in place, including data centres, base stations, towers, among others. He noted that telcos still face issues of vandalism, theft, rising energy cost, foreign among other challenges in the country.
According to him, the mobile network operators (MNOs) are critical to achieving Nigeria’s $1 trillion economy by 2030. “This is the reason why we must encourage them to invest. The telecoms sector is critical to attaining that target.”
Speaking on the broadband sector, Tijani noted that foreign direct investments (FDIs) would not be enough, stressing that local operators need to also invest. He said this to say that the Federal Government is committed to investing $1 billion in ensuring the success of the 90,000km fibre project, which according to him, should begin by Q2 into Q3, 2025.
According to him, the 90,000km fibre project has also received backing from the World Bank and other international organisations.