Joshua’s journey…
In the Bible, the story is eloquently told of how the Almighty had called up one of the servants of Moses at the death of the latter, who led the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, to prepare to take over the leadership of the journey, which Moses began, into the Promised Land.

Joshua, in spite of receiving God’s assurances of direction and protection, must have wondered why the Almighty told him, three times, that despite these assurances he needed to be strong and of good courage.

Why would He Who has given you every assurance of support, protection and provision consistently remind you of the need to be courageous and strong? The Almighty is full of wisdom, He is infallible in all ways; certainly He knew the journey He had sent this untested young man would expose him to the most vicious of enemies, the most daring of empire seekers and even the most rebellious of soldiers. Thus, the warning became absolutely necessary lest he lost focus when it mattered most and fail in the all-important mission.

Yar’Adua’s journey…
The task of rebuilding the nation of Nigeria in the 21st Century is akin to leading the stubborn children of Israel into the Promised Land in the day of Joshua. While the children of Israel had the unique attribute of being the Chosen people of the Creator in their time, Nigeria as a nation has one of the most blessed land masses of modern civilisation.

Each day that passes by sees Nigeria draw closer to that promise of becoming a great nation; yet despite how close it seems to getting there, the road before these people appears tortuous and strewn with dangerous debris and harmful weapons making the journey ultimately longer. Could it be a mirage?

Only the Israelites who passed through that rigmarole journey to the Promised Land after they left Egypt might understand the turmoil Nigeria is passing through. Take for instance, the issue of power that has travelled through several governments and yet, it remains a defying subject to a nation with the amount of intellectuals that Nigeria has.

Like the children of Israel of old, who had to go through the long and arduous route to the Promised Land where the journey would have been done in a shorter time but because of their disobedience, the Nigerian story is complex. Greed, avarice, inept leadership, apathetic followers and an apparently general visionless drive have all combined in various dimensions to make the country a difficult estate to manage.

Several times in the past, the people of Nigeria have come to the edge of the precipice only for a twist in fate to change the entire fortune of the people and return them back to the path of continued journey to the Promised Land. And in the days leading to 2007, the nation once more treaded that same old dangerous path. The hue and cry of who would bell the cat filled the air. Everything promised to go wrong. Oh! Yes, some did go wrong.

Then from nowhere, a man born into a certain royalty appeared on the scene and he asked to be sent where none have been found worthy of praise and honour. The emergence of Yar’Adua as president of Nigeria in 2007 is still an evolving story, like the man himself.

Not even those who think they know something about the man know well enough about him to predict correctly what his moves are likely to be in any given situation. As someone put it jocularly, ‘if Nigerians bring too much and unnecessary pressure to bear on the man, he is likely to throw-in the towel and quietly return to his farm in Katsina.’ That is how far the citizens of this country think they know of Mr. President.

Yet the events of the last 12 months have revealed somewhat a different man, altogether. He has stood firm where most other persons would have caved in to pressure from within and without. He has remained resolute in his commitment to the agenda he read out to Nigerians a year ago. Who can fathom the infinite capacity of this modest man who admits not knowing much of his country, even as a governor? Yar’Adua certainly knows more than he needs to succeed as Nigeria’s leader.

The weighty question, which perhaps only Yar’Adua can answer remains: what is Yar’Adua’s ICT Agenda? This question remains unanswered, and continues to dog his administration’s every move, 12 whole months after.

Some Hints About Joshua

Joshua, born in Egypt, was a Biblical Israelite leader who succeeded Moses. His story is told in the Hebrew Bible, chiefly in the books Exodus, the Numbers, and Joshua. He was one of the 12 spies sent on by Moses to explore the land of Canaan who would later lead the conquest of that land.

Joshua supposedly lived sometime in the late Bronze Age, around 1200 BC. However, he is associated with problems concerning the evidence for the Exodus from Egypt. Various reconstructions of the Biblical data about the Exodus have not yet matched the archaeological evidence. Accordingly, archaeologists dispute the historicity of the many details in the Biblical account of the Exodus and often treat it as legendary embellishments of an earlier (still unidentified) event.

However, others have taken the account to be legitimate and have based their scholarship on this, including Richard A. Gabriel who has viewed Biblical narratives from what he calls a "military" perspective, including the Conquest of Canaan by Joshua. Still others refer to the ancient letters of appeal by Canaanite leaders to Egypt seeking assistance against the invasion of the Hapiru, who some scholars dispute, are the ancient Hebrews.

According to the Bible, Joshua was the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, which would become known as the most militaristic of the tribes of Israel, largely through Joshua's campaigns. He was born in Egypt during the Israelite enslavement, and was probably the same age as Caleb, with whom he is generally associated.

Joshua shared in all the events of the Exodus. He was Moses’ apprentice, and accompanied him part of the way when he ascended Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments (Exd. 32:17). He was also one of the 12 spies who were sent on by Moses to explore the land of Canaan (Num. 13:16, 17), and only he and Caleb gave an encouraging report. He was commander at their first battle after exiting Egypt, against the Amalekites in Rephidim (Ex. 17:8-16), in which they were victorious.

Joshua was appointed by Moses to succeed him as leader of the Israelites upon Moses’ death. The first major part of his book is when he commanded the subsequent conquest of Canaan. As the Israelites came to the Jordan River, the waters parted, as they did for Moses at the Red Sea. The first major battle was in Jericho, a heavily fortified city just five miles west of the Jordan River, northwest of the Dead Sea, which he took by following God’s instruction, ordering his host to march around the city for seven days, whereupon the city walls fell, just as God said they would.

The Israelites then slaughtered “every living thing” inside Jericho and completely destroyed the city except for Rahab and her family, who had aided the two spies sent by Joshua to check out the city. Although they had been forbidden by God to take any of the spoils, Achan disobeyed and took some garments and silver, hiding them in his tent. When Israel tried to conquer Ai, a small neighbouring city just West of Jericho, they were defeated and 36 Israelite warriors were killed. Achan's sin was exposed, he and his family and his animals were stoned to death, and the favour of God was again restored towards His people.

Next, through clever ambush tactics, Joshua defeated Ai. The Israelites faced a Southern alliance of the Amorite kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon. At Gibeon Joshua defeated them by causing the Sun to stand still at Gibeon, and the moon in the valley of Ajalon, so that he could finish the battle in daylight. Then Joshua faced a northern Canaanite king, Jabin of Hazor, whom he defeated at the Waters of Mermon, possibly referring to Lake Huleh.

Yar’Adua: 12 Months After

So much appears to have happened in the last 12 months, yet it seems like yesterday since the President promised to turn around the misfortunes of Nigerians. The President Yar’Adua scorecard is a bag of huge expectations. Where is the former Katsina State Governor leading Nigeria to, especially in the ICT sector? BY DENNIS ONWUEGBU and SEUN IGBALODE

Although the politician in former President Olusegun Obasanjo did not permit him to openly admit, his eight years rule recorded its highest success in the telecommunications industry. The world recognised that those years were the Nigerian years where the country stood out among nations where telecommunications was concerned. With the benefit of hindsight, it would seem plausible to say that Nigeria just started its telecom journey in 2001!

At his second inaugural speech as president, Obasanjo celebrated the various successes of his first four years; curiously and inexplicably telecom did not get a mention even though this remained the best window to the wall for his eight-year reign. Unfortunately, the former President like most leaders especially from the Third World, hardly recognise the immense value that Information and Communications Technology in general brings to the life of their people and economy.

It is clear that with higher teledensity and telecom penetration and access, a country’s GDP gets correspondingly higher boost. Similarly, effective and efficient communications system reduces the cost of doing business in a country. These factors have manifested clearly in Nigeria and other Third World countries, where ICT has taken a strong foothold – even if not as it is already in the Western economies in the last decade.

For a country that once wore the ignoble robe and reputation as one of the world’s most corrupt nations, doing business in Nigeria before now was more difficult than the Camel passing through the eye of a needle. But this has changed somewhat since the telecom revolution took off in 2001 and the attendant successes recorded in the sector ever after. Efficiency in keeping business appointments, greater transparency in certain areas of doing business with government, due largely to ICT deployment, and simpler processes in increasing number of state institutions are fast becoming the order of the day in Nigeria.

Computerisation of tax processes in a number of states, computerisation of the civil service operation at the federal level and in some states, and the planned harmonisation of the nation’s citizen information data bank through the National Information Management Commission (NIMC), are signs that ICT is changing the face of government and business operations in Nigeria.

However, all the mentioned gains and such other benefits that can be seen in the activities of the private sector are achievements founded in the last eight or more years when the enthusiasm and euphoria of democracy was burning as never before. What has become of that passion of ICT in the last one year of President Umar Musa Yar’Adua?

Like Obasanjo, President Yar’Adua did not have any blueprint for ICT in his programme as President of a sovereign Nigeria in 2007 when he came to power. There was a seven-point agenda upon which the President rode to Aso Rock; but that too hardly made at the time. Even if those points meant anything to the politician and the electorate, there was no any mention of ICT, its gains or any plan to consolidate on those gains.

Perhaps, a clear indication that Nigeria could be in for a slow march with its new President in the ICT sector was exhibited during the electioneering campaigns for the office of the President in 2007. While most of the candidates for that election reflected on the gains of the time and advertised on functional websites, where they interacted with the people, even if some of the sites were behind time in terms of the information posted, there was no known website for the Yar’Adua campaign.

The only medium through which the electorate would get to meet their future President was the television adverts and radio jingles, newspaper advertorials and feature articles, handbills and posters; traditional methods of campaign that have since given way to much more modern and far reaching and cost effective methods like the Internet, SMS, etc.

Even those perceived by many to be among the “most unserious” of the candidates were hoisted on the net. Early birds like former Jigawa State Governor, Saminu Turaki, who later stylishly dropped out of the race, had a website up and running and he ignited the Presidential race through his campaign on the mobile phone with its recharge card refund for every listener to his campaign recorded in the country’s major languages. What happened to that of the man who would become Mr. President? There was none and there was no explanation for it even after he was declared winner of the Presidential Election.

Much has been said about the man said to have been drafted to the race at the last minute drafting and how his integrity record speaks for him; but nothing so far has been said of his love or disdain for ICT. Rather, in this all-important aspect, the Nigerian President seems to have drawn a blank. Perhaps it was the President’s avowed pledge to tackle Nigeria’s power and energy problem that kept his attention from putting ICT on the drawing board; after all, if Nigeria solves the power and energy problem, ICT can find its feet, that perhaps might have been his thinking.

One Year After:
In the last one year, activities in the nation’s priced sector, ICT, have continued to attract global attention. Financial records regarding the sector may have continued to look up with more and more Nigerian banks and other financial institutions willing to lend to players in the sector. Yet, the aggressiveness that accompanied the sector in the Obasanjo years seems to have slowed down tremendously.

Earlier investments made in the sector and expansion programme of various operators are purely private and have enjoyed little or no government nudge. And this has left many questions unanswered over what the government’s intentions may be with regards to the sector that has performed so well in the past.

Ironically, the only few times that the government have made utterances concerning matters in the sector, it has always been followed almost immediately with rebuttal or leaving the situation with more crisis than the government may have intended. Is this a function of ill-advised government decisions or none advices at all?

Power Sector
At inception of President Umar Yar’ Adua he announced his intention to declare a national emergency over the energy sector of Nigeria after his first 100 days in office. Hailing the new President, Nigerians were quick to say that this President may after all, have the magic wand to the lingering power and energy crisis that has bedevilled the nation for so long. The excitement of the citizens is understandable. The electricity supply situation has reached such a high level of national embarrassment that it seemed only a national emergency can turn around the misfortune of the sector.

However, one year after, the President has still not declared any emergency on the sector. Instead, he has recanted his earlier position to provide 30,000 megawatts of generated power in his four years in office. In the new thinking of the President, only about 11,000 megawatts of electricity is feasible in four years. What are the things that informed the President’s new thinking?

One of the only few outbursts made by President Yar’Adua since becoming Nigeria’s leader was on the power issue. An obviously disturbed President announced to the nation that his predecessor, President Olusegun Obasanjo spent a whopping $10 billion on the energy sector in his eight years in office. A few days after, the President was countered by a former senior special assistant to the President on electric power reform, Folusake Somolu who said the actual amount spent was $5 billion not $10 billion as the President had told the nation.

The final straw that broke the camel’s back came from the Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole who said both the President and the former aide were wrong with their figures. The Speaker said the real sum spent in the sector for those eight years was closer to $16 billion than any of the earlier two figures. And from that point, things have been rowdy with regards to how the nation spent this much money on the sector without much to show for it.

Even though the figures have continued to change from one former official to the other, the exposition from the probe of the House Committee on Power is clear that there is more work than the President may have anticipated when he made his promise of 30,000 megawatts in four years. Even the new target set by the President is still a doubtful figure given the enormous work involved in building new power plants and upgrading the infrastructures to carry generated power.

Since the beginning of the Yar’Adua administration, the National Energy Council that the President waited to define a proper roadmap for his government to follow, has not been able to proceed as fast as it was anticipated. Concerned with the slow pace of work by the NEC, the President set-up a Presidential Committee on Power with a mandate to submit its report within a 30 days period. Predominantly made up of private sector players of the Nigerian economy, the committee handled its assignment with the urgency that it required and three days ahead of its deadline, the report was submitted to the President who has since promised to swing into action with the report now ready.

Notwithstanding the speed with which the report was made available to the President, there are several contending issues in the sector that observers believe will slow down the speed at which the Government will proceed with its reform programme. And these issues must be sorted soonest if the country is ever going to maximise its economic potentials in no distant time.

One of such factors is a debt burden of nearly $300 million owed by PHCN to suppliers like Agip and AES, among others. Similarly, PHCN has been accused of ineptitude when it comes to fulfilling its financial obligation to partners including privately generated electricity that is fed into the national grid. Such an attitude is seen as part of the greatest discouragement to investors in the sector, an action the government must correct if it will attract genuine investors to the sector. Other subjects that the Yar’Adua government must deal with include properly funding and supervising the Independent Power Projects, commitment to the proposed Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO) which will attend to the issue of proper pricing and encourage more participation in the sector, and a drastic improvement in PHCN tariff collection from the company’s present 70 per cent.

Among the sectors that feel the impact of the inefficient power system most is the telecommunications companies which subscribers continues to increase in geometric progression while power supply diminishes in geometric regression. For instance, a rough calculation shows that the telecom operators in Nigeria spend well above N4 billion every month. This year alone, if nothing drastic is done to improve on the situation, the figure may exceed an average of N5 billion each month as new players join the market and networks expansion continues to meet the subscribers’ need.

According to the Chief Executive of Celtel Nigeria one of the leading operators in the country, Bayo ligali this cost is different from other capital outlay involved in the provision of infrastructure. “This cost is aside from the capital outlay for acquiring the generating sets, which by the way is changed every two years, logistics involved in delivering the products as and when it is required and the cost of maintenance.”

Similarly, the chairman of Nigeria’s Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), a telecom Engr. Gbenga Adebayo thinks it is time for government to take drastic action towards the resolution of the power sector crisis. “Our economy and the industry cannot continue with the state of public power supply system. We hereby call on the government to solve with immediate effect, all problems associated with problem of electricity supply, as the economic cost and associated loss on the operator and the nation as a whole is too high.”

Every telecom operator in the last six years for instance, have shown clearly that more than 40 per cent of their running costs goes into providing alternative sources of power. Instead of power generating sets being the stand by for electricity, the reverse has been the trend. Indeed, in most cases, operators have shunned completely the use of electricity because in most areas where they have installations, electricity supply is not even available.

For every installation, two or more generators are provided to do an endless relay system that is if the network must keep running. And for each of such locations, several millions of naira worth of diesel must be provided to fuel the generating sets, each week. And for each of such installations, a commensurate number of personnel must be engaged as security and maintenance operatives. These simply means that the companies are investing in areas that ordinarily should not concern them. By implication, the national power company, Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) loses revenue that ought to accrue to it and ultimately, the government loses the most from shortfalls experienced by the operators in the form of taxable income.

The statistics of the nation’s appalling power situation is equally appalling. Between 1999 and 2007, the figure showing total power generated has consistently fluctuated between 1,800 Megawatts to 4,000 megawatts; with so much doubt as to whether the nation actually ever attained the latter. The same statistics clearly indicate that industries and various levels of consumers lose several billions of Naira in revenue to stoppages and damages caused by inadequate power supply.
The on-going probe by the House of Representatives into contract awards for the various National Independent Power Projects has further heightened existing doubts to how much the Yar’Adua government can do to achieve its electoral promise. How much more money would the government spend to meet the electricity demands of the people? While the House Committee has been probing the spending of several billions of naira in the sector without much results, in the 2007 budget, a total of N104 billion was provided for the power sector alone.
An equally huge appropriation was made in the 2008 budget. But, even all the money in the 2008 budget is not capable of solving the problem of the sector. More than the capital outlay that is required to deal with the crisis created by power, the new government under the leadership of President Yar’ Adua will require more political will to surmount the enormous task ahead of it.

Transcorp/NITEL/M-Tel Imbroglio
Before the inauguration of the Yar’Adua administration, it was obvious to keen followers of the telecom industry in Nigeria that the relationship between Transcorp, the Nigerian conglomerate that acquired 51 per cent equity holding in NITEL in 2006 through a transaction with the Bureau for Public Enterprises and the telecommunications operating firm was still strange and far from cordial.

And each passing day saw this relationship deteriorate leading to strikes and threats of strikes, constant change in the management of the two telecommunications businesses and a clear lack of direction and initiative to bring the companies out of the woods. While Transcorp may have had good intentions when it bought into the business, good intention alone is not enough to make a business succeed; so NITEL/M-Tel were obviously a bad business in the hands of Transcorp.

The issues were quite clear. The management of Transcorp lacked the competence to manage telecommunications operations. The government armed with a 49 per cent equity it is supposedly holding in trust for Nigerians could not wean itself of the bureaucratic tendencies with which it has run aground state institutions, so every decision on NITEL/M-Tel by Transcorp must wait until the government is ready.

More problems were that the combined staff of NITEL and M-Tel are put at 11,000 nearly unproductive lot who are brought up in the old civil service culture and have consistently over the years become irredeemably unproductive. They must be paid and that became the lots of Transcorp.

And before long, Transcorp itself became a victim of the foisted strange bed fellows that were its directors. No sooner has the company commenced operation that some of its directors began to withdraw from the organisation. Then set in doubts and loss of confidence from Nigerians who have been enthusiastic about their first national conglomerate. To this day, Transcorp has not recovered from these setbacks as its stocks continue on a slide at the Nigerian Stock Exchange notwithstanding that the NSE Director General, Professor Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke is the company’s Chairman.

That is the summary of the company that President Yar’Adua inherited from his predecessor, President Olusegun Obasanjo. A national monument, there is no doubt that most if not all of NITEL/M-Tel,s problems to date are borne out of sentiment and political manipulations.

And this became manifest when the Yar’Adua government became engulfed in the same old pattern that has trailed the two operators’ subject in the last decade or so. Concerned with the epileptic services of NITEL/M-Tel and the two companies constant failure to meet set targets and obligations to business partners; President Yar’Adua could not hide his contempt for this sloppy business especially where other operators who only recently came into Nigeria are making huge returns on investment even while providing world class services.

After a meeting with the Information and Communications Minister, Mr. John Odey and principal officers of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) including its Executive Vice Chairman, Engr. Ernest Ndukwe, the President agreed with the regulatory agency to allow NITEL/M-Tel till June this year to either improve on its services or lose its operating licences.

A justified threat; the two companies have consistently failed severally to meet on promises they have made to their existing customers and the general public. The last one was last year when the Transcorp Chief Executive, Mr. Tom Iseghohi promised a 100 days from August 2007 when the companies’ operations would have returned to normalcy. Iseghohi’s 100 days elapsed with no explanation and nothing ever changed.

But, hardly has the government threat to withdraw NITEL/M-Tel operating licenses gone down when the real bomb was exploded by the Information and Communications minister, Mr Odey that government has decided to cancel sale of the two companies to Transcorp. The crisis reached a head with this pronouncement and in less 48 hours, more than four versions and interpretations of government position were all over the place. This included denials from various quarters.

However, on Friday February 22, 2008; an amicable resolution was reached by officials of Transcorp and the Federal Government represented by the minister of Information and Communications and the Director General of BPE which handed over NITEL/M-Tel to Transcorp in 2006.

According to the new arrangement, the Government and Transcorp agreed to invite a new investor to acquire 51 percent equity in NITEL/M-Tel and with this agreement, the new structure of the national carrier will automatically change.

A statement to this effect signed by the minister of Information and Communication, Mr. John Odey for government and Mr. Tom Iseghohi for Transcorp, read: “The Federal Government and Transcorp representatives met this morning on NITEL/M-Tel and deliberated on management issues and agreed as follows:

“To bring in a new core investor that is a player in the telecommunications industry with requisite focus, technical expertise, managerial experience and financial capability to take over the controlling share of the Nigerian Telecommunication Limited (NITEL) and the Mobile Telecommunications Limited (M-Tel).

“To do everything possible, following due process and the rule of law to resuscitate NITEL and M-Tel into a viable and profitable world class telecommunication company that would provide quality service to Nigerians.

“To reconfirm the earlier mutual agreement between government and Transcorp for both to relinquish shares sufficient enough to give comfort and interest to a new operator/investor in line with December 2007 agreements.

“And that the decisions taken are in the best of the industry, shareholders and the Nigerian people.”

Although the February 2008 meeting put to rest speculations over the continued majority share ownership of NITEL by Transcorp, yet it did not go down well with some NITEL staff who were convinced that government earlier decision to quash outright the Transcorp purchase would have served the best interest of the ailing company. But it is obvious that government went back on that line of action conscious of the likely legal implication of such an action and its negative effect on Transcorp as a business; even though its fortune has continued to fall at the Nigerian Stock Exchange where it is presently listed.

Although the February meeting chaired by the Information and Communications minister did not make any mention of what percentage each party is to give up to allow the entry of a core investor, it is strongly agreed that at a December 2007 meeting between Transcorp and government, it was agreed that in the event of the need for an investor, Transcorp would give up 29 per cent of its 51 per cent leaving it with 22 per cent in the new arrangement while the Federal Government which originally had 49 per cent will divest 22 per cent leaving it with 27 per cent after.

Not known for rash decisions before now, it is clear that the electricity generation crisis and the non-performance of NITEL/M-Tel showed that even the most astute of governments could in the face of daunting national issues become vulnerable and is not infallible. On these subjects, the Yar’Adua government has made several summersaults on its positions and there are likely more position changes to be made before the expiration of the government’s four years elapses.

Although the Nigerian government have commenced the process of finding a new core investor in the telecommunications companies, presently NITEL and M-Tel staff are on strike to protest the non-payment of salary arrears, even though Transcorp management insists it has the salaries ready. And the implications of this strike action is grave for the industry because many businesses have been shut down on account of SAT-3 which carries the traffic of such businesses.

It is also clear that the relationship between Transcorp and the staff of NITEL have gone sour and it would need an entirely new management outfit to turn around the situation. Even though that too may be a temporary reprieve as any established telecommunication firm will wink with the overwhelming size of NITEL/M-Tel staff number. The strike has since been called off as the parties have reached an amicable resolution.

Between NigComSat and NCC
If the idea of a Nigerian Communications Satellite brought joy to the hearts of many operators in the industry when it was launched in China in May 2007, the unnecessary quarrels that later followed between the communications satellite company and the Nigerian Communications Commission over Nigcomsat’s desire to deploy a 3.5G to 4G multimedia network that will enable its customers unlimited access to voice, data and video services on their handsets.

According to the company, a few days before the departure of the Obasanjo presidency precisely on May 5, 2007; it got the president’s approval for spectrum allocation and ‘total’ frequency licence for any telecommunication service Nigcomsat may wish to offer.

In contrast, the regulator insisted that Nigcomsat cannot, based on its statutory role carry out the activity of a telephone or data services operation and that it is not under obligation based on the statutory mandate of the NCC to grant such licence as the management of Nigcomsat is requesting.

This face-off that went on for several weeks and became heated subject of debates in the nation’s media was indeed President Yar’Adua’s government baptism into the telecommunications industry. And it was one that exposed the seeming inadequacy of the team Yar’Adua in the area of ICT.

Once more, it took another summersault from one position to another for the raging war between the two government agencies to be doused. An initial report indicated that the President has instructed the NCC to immediately give an operating licence to Nigcomsat only for that position to be reversed when NCC officials said there was no such order.

It took several meetings for the impasse to give way to the present situation where the government have asked Nigcomsat to establish a subsidiary company that will provide telecommunications services if it so desires.

NBC, NCC Merger–in-waiting
For those who have followed Nigeria’s evolving telecommunications and information management history, the position of broadcasting and communications have been a running battle that seem to have no end.

However, in the last couple of years following the massive investment and growth that has taken place in the telecommunications sector and the regulatory prowess that has been exhibited by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), there is little doubt as to which of the two regulatory bodies should supervise regulation of operators in a newly merged information and communications ministry. Yet, as a clear indication that the civil service beaureacracy that has always slowed down the business of government is still in place in spite of reforms that have been ongoing in the nation’s public sector.

While the merger of the two ministries commenced during the Obasanjo years, there is still talks with little visible action in this direction one year after President Yar’ Adua became leader. Only recently, the Secretary to the Federal Government, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe told Nigerians that plans for the merger of NBC and NCC is still on course and that from the merged ministries of communications and information, another new ministry will be berth with communication technology as one of its pivots. Another talk and no action yet.

It is obvious that the government did not have an immediate plan for the merger that was going on in this sector while it came into power or it could be that as in many other policies undertaken by the preceding government, the President Yar’ Adua government would not have anything to do with pending issues like the merger of ministries until it had done a thorough review of the programme.

Unfortunately, this like many others have either dashed people’s confidence and efficiency of the new government or as many have reported, says the nation is once again saddled with an unwilling president who may not be in any haste to get things done faster than he would.

While the ministry of information and communications were merged by the pronouncement of the President, it is still unclear what the delay is in bringing together the NBC and the NCC even where the NCC with its more established and tested regulatory functions stand the better chance of the two to carry out the activities of a merged NBC/NCC. In fact, the NCC has invested more in infrastructures for monitoring and evaluating operators’ performances than the NBC could possibly have.

Without doubt, the quality manpower at the disposal of the NCC cannot in any way be compared with the NBC, even though the government have at some time in the past deployed the efficient NCC manpower to the development of other regulatory agencies like the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

The earliest these agencies are merged the better for development extending to other sector of the economy as broadcasting in Nigeria although has enjoyed a more robust past and has a history founded in the nation’s struggle for total emancipation, it needs an adequate dose of business sense and urgency which an efficient regulator can engender, among other advantages.

Consumer Protection
For the ICT industry, there is a cautious need to protect the consumers of ICT goods and services otherwise they could be exposed to short changing acts in the hands of large companies and operators. And this is one area where the NCC has done well even though some operators have not fully come to terms with the reality of consumerism in an emerging market like Nigeria.

Last year 2007 will go down as the worst in terms of quality of service that the GSM operators provided the Nigerian market. Consequently, after series of meetings to make the operators correct their poor service delivery and most of them could not measure up at the expiration of a certain period of grace granted them, the NCC imposed a set of fines on the erring operators. After much lull and a court pronouncement that says the NCC was doing the right thing in protecting the consumer, the Nigerian consumers were awarded over N4 billion as compensation by two of the operators.

Although the payment has not been effected, the regulator has reminded the operators that at the expiration of another grace period that is May 15, 2008; they will suffer additional fines for not keeping to the sanction terms. Indeed, at no time have the Nigerian consumer been so honoured and his/her interest so protected as this.

Unfortunately, the same thing cannot be said for other aspects of the country’s growing ICT industry. For instance, among computer users in Nigeria, the issue of dumping is fast becoming a subject of grave concern among users and local OEMs.

Dumping of old and refurbished computers as new ones is becoming rampant in the industry and this is as a result of inadequate legislations and implementation of existing policies that could protect the consumers and the Nigerian market, in general.

These old and refurbished computers sell very cheap and even though they hardly serve the purpose for which they are purchased, they are a great source of injustice to the Nigerian manufacturers and in the long run to the nation.

While the existing computer associations like the Nigeria Computer Society and the Computer Practitioners Registration Council concern themselves with regulation of the practitioners of computer science and its education in the country, the government should endeavour to either establish a body that will protect the Nigerian market against dumping and ensure that only specific standards are allowed into the country. This is standard practice in other countries of the world otherwise like the textile companies, the Nigerian Original Equipment Manufacturers of computers and components will soon become history.

This same protection when it is provided should also be extended to other ICT components and their producers in the country including software developers, fabricators of various components in use in the sector, etc. Otherwise, the perceived gains that come with the liberalisation of several sectors of the Nigerian economy will only lead to the ultimate destruction of the economy in the long run.

Indeed, one of the best examples of how best to protect the consumer is being set by the Nigerian Consumer Protection Council which in collaboration with the Nigerian Communications Commission and the various stakeholders in the industry have continued to monitor and ensure that the various promotions by operators are carried out within stipulated standards and that consumers are not ripped off.

In the last one year, for instance the various operators like Glo, Starcomms, etc have doled out millions of naira worth of gifts ranging from exotic cars to various sums of money and these have tended to change completely the lives of the winners in these promotions. Yet, in all these, there has not been a single complain of a cheated winner or unfulfilled promise. This is a result worth commending and more of such consumer protection exercises and legislation should be put in place by the Ya’ Adua government.

ICT Investments
Recently, one of the world’s leading electronic manufacturer LG, a Korean firm announced the commencement of work in a N600 million manufacturing plant in Nigeria. Apart from representing a major gain for the nation’s ICT industry, transfer of technology that has been preached for ages, the initiative is an endorsement on the nation. Meaning that the environment is good for business. Yet, the N600 million LG investment is only a part of the huge foreign direct investment that has flowed into the country since the ICT revolution began in the country in the late 1990s.

Without any restraint, in the last one year of the Yar’ Adua government, this trend has been sustained and it is anticipated that the spate of entry of new players in the nation’s ICT is a clear indication that the years ahead would by far outstrip the past seven or more years gain.

Among local investors, the stakes in the industry continues to increase as more and more OEMs continue to win support and partnership with banks to increase outputs in producing different range of computers for the general market and the schools in Nigeria.

Unfortunately, not much has been heard of the Computer for All Nigerians initiative (CANi) that was supposed to provide over a million computers in its first two years that will elapse in this month. The various computer manufacturers have since gone their various ways to pursue individual projects that will bring the computer closer to the people and institutions.

Similarly, the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project that was introduced to the Nigerian government by its American founder, Professor Nicholas Negroponte was among the first casualties of the Yar’ Adua government’s policy changes as the education minister, Aja Nwachukwu announced that government would rather provide classrooms, chairs and tables than think about a laptop for a Nigerian child.

Since the ‘jettison’ of the OLPC initiative, other manufacturers like Hewlett Packard have come up with their academic computerisation programmes targeted at young Nigerians. The Nigerian brands like Zinox, Beta and Brian have also developed their computerisation of the nation drive getting states, financial institutions to fund computerisation programmes aiming at making the tool available to many more Nigerians.

Rural Telephony, USPF and Broadband
There is a deliberate policy to extend telephony services to the hinterland of the country especially in areas where ordinarily operators would not have invested in because of the heavy cost outlay in doing business in such places and therefore not lucrative. The NCC in strict compliance with its establishment Acts working with the ministry of communications, established first the National Rural Telephony Project (NRTP) and it followed this up with the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) in late 2006.

Describing the initial response from companies when the NCC advertised for Expression of Interest in the NRTP, the NCC Executive Vice Chairman described that the regulator was, “inundated with a lot of applications.” And he expressed his excitement and interest in the project, saying, “I am optimistic it is going to be a huge success from the responses we have gotten so far and that is on-going. On the issue of USPF, the NRTP started before the USPF was launched and it has gone to a particular level. Government in its wisdom will decide whether it is right to merge or we should allow what is going on to just finish. Let us say that the concept of the two is not quite the same. One is based on government taking facilities from the Chinese government in terms of funding and deciding to build networks targeted at rural areas. The USPF is going to operate in a different manner. The Fund will provide money which will be used as subsidy to operating companies to rollout networks in rural areas and underserved areas. I think they complement each other in the long run and a lot of work has been done behind the scene. Some will target helping very small players. In form of microfinance arrangement, some will target bigger players in terms of supporting rollout of services in rural and underserved areas and in all that context, the NRTP might find a place.”

In spite of Ndukwe’s optimism, the projects have not moved as fast as the regulator may have anticipated. In fact, at the commencement of the new administration a probe on the procedure for the award of contracts and sundry issues was called slowing down in the process the work of the projects.

These funds are in line with global practice that mandates regulators to support telecommunications operators in any country with subvention funds to enable them deploy services in rural areas where ordinarily they would have no business going to.

Therefore, the challenge for the new government is to give verve to the NRTP and resuscitating the USPF programme, making operators attracted to the policy and thereby drawing rural Nigeria into main stream governance and development.

Known for its foresight and vision of making the Nigerian telecommunications environment one of the best in the world, last year the NCC took a bold step in declaring that it intends to break new grounds in the commission’s on-going exploits through the massive deployment and encouragement of the use of Broadband internet connectivity in the country.

A welcome development, Nigerians are eagerly waiting for the massive deployment of broadband technology as this would drastically reduce the cost of doing business on the net and other forms of data communications will be thrown up and the market will witness another boom. That is until the regulator blows the trumpet signalling commencement.

Team Yar’ Adua
Just like President Yar’ Adua, former President Obasanjo never had any known agenda or plan for the development of the nation’s ICT industry. But quite unlike the incumbent Nigerian leader, President Obasanjo attempted an assemblage of some of the nation’s smart minds to drive the ICT sector. It therefore did not come as a surprise that one of the longest serving ministers in the Obasanjo cabinet was his minister of Science and Technology, Professor Turner Isoun.

In fact, the three or so ministers who oversaw the activities of the Communications ministry before its merger with information had reputation that could stand the best anywhere in the world. They included Mohammed Arzika, an old Obasanjo loyalist who worked with the President in the 1970s when the Nigerian leader was a military leader. Others were Mohammed Bello, Chief Cornelius Adebayo, Engr Obafemi Anibaba and Alhaji Haruna Elewi; they were tested in their own rights and it was not difficult for programmes and government policies to get easily executed. Of course the Science and Technology ministry was occupied by Professor Turner Isoun while the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) had another professor Cleopas Aganye as head while the NCC paraded the same team that it has today with veteran public administrator, Dr Ahmed Joda as Chairman.

Although the Yar’ Adua team is predominantly the same except in the Information and Communications ministry where he has a politician and the Peoples Democratic Party former publicist John Odey in place. The minister of Sate for information and communication, Alhaji Dasuki Nakande is not quite new to the system but the real fillip to the combination in that important ministry is the introduction of one of the best public servants in the country presently, Dr Timiebi Koripamo-Agary as permanent secretary in the ministry.

Apart from this the President seem to be contented with what his predecessor has done in the sector and has not shown any eagerness to improve on or surpass any of the marks bequeathed to him.

The Obasanjo ICT Record (1999 – 2007)
*Between 2001 and Quarter 1, 2007; the number of telephone lines in Nigeria (mobile and fixed mobile) has grown from nearly 750,000 lines to about 35 million lines, closing at ratio 1:5.
*Internet penetration is about three per cent up above the less than one per cent position in early 2000. This represents access of about 4.5million of Nigeria’s population.
*During the period 1999 to 2006, an estimated $10.8 Billion has been injected into the Nigerian economy in the form of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
*National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) established April, 2001 to foster the development and growth of IT in Nigeria.
*November 2001, Zinox Technologies introduces first made in Nigeria computers.
*Automated Cheque Clearing System introduced in Nigeria, in November 2002
*Second National Operator (Globacom) licensed in 2003.
*In 2006 the Unified Access License was granted to eight operators, marking the end of the five years exclusivity period of the GSM licences.
*April 2007, four winners emerge for the third generation mobile technology (3G), expected to commence operation later in the year.
*July 2006, Federal Government launches the Computerise All-Nigeria Initiative (CANi)
This is as published in IT & Telecom Digest of May 2007