ICT Stakeholders Call For Step-down Of Proposed NITDA Bill

Members of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), have called for the rejection of the proposed National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Bill.

This is even as they posited that the bill if passed, possessed great danger to the telecom and ICT industry in Nigeria as it will ultimately lead to loss of confidence by both local and international investors in the sector.

Recall that a bill for an Act to repeal the NITDA Act NO. 28, 2007 and enact the NITDA Act to provide for the Administration, implementation and regulation of information technology systems and practices as well as digital economy in Nigeria and for related matters, was rescheduled for hearing on the 27th of April, 2023

In a document, made available to LEADERSHIP, members of ATCON which include telephone operators; infrastructure providers; Internet Services Providers (ISP); Value Added Services Providers (VAS), Over The Top (OTT) Players; FINTECH/e-Commerce Operators; Telecom/ICT

Equipment Manufacturers; Telecom/ICT Consulting firms, and Telecom/ICT Equipment Dealer, opposed the passage of the Bill in the current formats.

According to them, the Bill, if passed, will have devastating and negative consequence on entire industry in terms of reduced capital importation to the industry, loss of confidence by both local and international investor, unnecessary overlapping and duplication of regulation and objectives which are already captured in the Nigerian Communication ACT 2003.

They revealed that the Bill turns NITDA from a development agency to a regulator and the proposed mandate directly infringes on the regulatory activities of other regulators including the Banking, Financial Services, Insurance, Health Care, Commerce, Education, Agriculture and Telecommunications among other

They lamented that the Bill imposes huge penalties and fees on the companies doing business in the country, adding that the private sector is already suffering from multiple taxation and huge burden in the cost of doing business in Nigeria. “This Bill if passed will worsen the financial burden on the Nigerian citizens as the private sector will ultimately pass this cost of business to the citizens in the form of higher tariff.

“The stable regulator environment in the Telecom Sector in Nigeria has attracted much needed foreign direct investment (FDIl and domestic Investment in the Telecom Sector in Nigeria. ATCON believes any actions that have potentials to kill the telecoms industry should be avoided by all tiers of government in Nigeria as the proposed bill is geared towards setting a very dangerous precedent of imposing NITDA as the sole regulator of the economy,” they urged.

In the same vein, chairman, ALTON, engineer Gbenga Adebayo said the proposed NITDA 2022 Bill infringes on the functions of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), adding that, two Agencies of government in the same space will create unnecessary double regulation, double taxation, confusion, discourage capital investment and negatively impact the Ease of Doing Business Initiative of the federal government.

“We believe that the role of NITDA as an agency is for the development of the ICT sector and the focus should be of how to empower the agency on this development and not another regulator for the industry thereby causing unnecessary confusion and disestablishing the gains the sector has made so far to the Nigeria economy,” Adebayo stated.