Okoh Aihe
13 May 2008
Nigeria, yesterday, in Cairo, canvassed more investment in the country's telecom sector, saying it has all the attractions and characteristics of a great market with quick returns on investment, a position that was supported by the Secretary-General of International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Dr. Hamadou Toure.
Speaking at the ITU Telecom Africa 2008 at the Cairo International Convention and Exhibition Centre, where Nigeria's participation had climaxed in an international spotlight on the first day.
Minister of State for Communications and Information, Alhaji Ibrahim Nakande Dasuki, said Nigeria had the market - a population of 140 million people, a history of telecom growth rate which is about the fastest in the world, and an environment getting politically matured with heavy support for a stable telecom policy adjudged the best in Africa.
Speaking to a hall filled with service providers, equipment manufacturers and vendors and Nigerian operators including Etisalat that is pulling a big show here, the Minister explained that the issue of security was being addressed strongly by the present government.
He also appealed to the international community not to treat the issue of corruption as an isolated case but as something that is difficult to completely eliminate from the kind of huge population the country has.
The present administration, in his explanation, has zero tolerance for corruption.
Said the Minister: "Some companies have come into the country before, they were not very sure of what they wanted but returned to their countries, now they are regretting their decision."
Nakande's position was supported by the ITU Secretary-General, Dr. Hamadou Toure, who is using Nigeria's telecom growth to push his vision for the ITU that the time for the African continent has come.
Speaking as guest at the forum, Toure who said he was recently in Nigeria where interactions with top government functionaries gave him the encouragement that great things would continue to come from Nigeria, said: "Some investors would ask others not to come to Nigeria because the country is very dangerous and corrupt. But why are they there? They are trying to keep others away so that they can continue to make their big profits."
Toure, a Malian and the first African to occupy the position of ITU scribe, told the international community that "there is a new generation of Africans who want to do something. In Nigeria, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, represents that change. We are happy there are partners across the globe who want to partner with us."
In his presentation on State of Telecom in Nigeria, boss of the NCC, Engr Ernest Ndukwe remarked that the country's telecom sector currently growing at 6 million per year is standing at peak-high level of 45.9m by end of March 2008, both fixed and mobile. Active subscriber rate, by December according to him, will stand at 55 million.
Giving a tip of what the market can still offer, Ndukwe pointed out that the market is expected to hit 8 million subscribers annually for the next five years.
But what the NCC plans to do, according to his presentation may increase the figures. Explaining that the role of the Commission is to encourage investment and protect all stakeholders in the industry, he explained that the advent of new technologies like broadband would encourage penetration to remote areas of the country and help bridge digital divide.
He, therefore, promised new regulations that would urgently promote broadband technology and encourage investors to come into the sector.
"Nigeria is open to any good investor who wants to come into our market. The role of the NCC is to encourage competition," Ndukwe said.
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