Minister, DG’s Absence Stalls Public Hearing On NITDA Bill

Absence of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami and the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Abdullah and wrong timing among other factors yesterday stalled proceedings at a public hearing convened by the Senate and House of Representatives Joint Committee on ICT and Cybersecurity to discuss the NITDA (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bill 2022.

Described as important to the Nigerian economy but also controversial on the basis that it arrogates the powers of existing government agencies to NITDA as an agency, the bill seeks to make NITDA a mega regulator of regulators in the country, going by the provisions in the bill and this has been a subject of controversies among stakeholders.

The bill, which had earlier been considered by the House of Representatives consecutively passed the first and second readings on the floor of the Senate on December 12 and 13 respectively, following which the public hearing was convened on Friday to take memoranda and inputs from stakeholders including Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), civil society organisations (CSOs) business community and members of the public.

At the public hearing in Abuja yesterday, members of the Joint Committee from House of representatives raised objections to the continuation of the public hearing citing the absence of the Minister and the NITDA DG, non-availability of materials on the bill and the fact that the event was coming at a time the National Assembly members are already on ‘holiday mood’ as factors why the public hearing should not hold.

This observation also pitched the  members of the Joint Committee from both houses against each other as Reps members expressed disappointment that there was no apology  received either from the minister or the DG while none of their representatives were also at the public hearing.

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House members also observed that the room seemed not to have enough representations in terms of forming quorum from the Senate and House members of the Joint Committee.