General News
When Two Elephants Fight over Telecom Regulation
The environment for compliance in Nigeria’s ICT industry can best be described as a tempest—a stormy outpouring of legislation and regulations requiring that companies protect infrastructure, manage risk, improve controls, guard against threats, and safeguard information.
The coherence of all of these measures is questionable.
Many people are aware of the crisis between the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and National Environmental Standards Regulatory and Enforcement Agency (NESREA) over the issue of who ought to police and regulate erection of telecommunications masts in the telecommunications sector.
The precursor of the conflict was the decommissioning by NESREA of a telecommunications mast belonging to Globacom for allegedly violating the country‘s environmental regulations.
Since then, the two government agencies have been arguing over the rights to police and regulate erection of telecommunications masts.
But it seems the laws of the land inadvertently created loopholes and ambiguity in the powers to the two federal government agencies to regulate the same environment but from a different pedestal.
For instance, the powers of the Nigerian Communications Commissions is derived from Section 3 of the Nigerian Communications Acts (NCA) of 2003 which makes it independent national regulatory authority for the telecommunications industry in Nigeria with responsibility for creating an enabling environment for competition among operators in the industry as well as ensuring the provision of qualitative and efficient telecommunications services throughout the country.
Elsewhere, the NESREA Act of 2007 charged the agency with the responsibility of enforcing all environmental laws, guidelines, policies, standards and regulations in Nigeria.
It also has the responsibility to enforce compliance with provisions of international agreements, protocols, conventions and treaties on the environment.
Because the picture and scope of their regulatory powers are clouded indistinctness, there are frequent clashes.
The latest is over sitting of telecoms masts within residential areas in Abuja.
NCC in attempt to exercise its powers unsealed a base station belonging to MTN Nigeria earlier shut by NESREA.
But later in the day, NESREA went back to the site and resealed the base station.
NESREA said the MTN base station fall short of its 10 meter-away -from -residential building standard. The base station in question is said to be 5.6 meters away from the closest building in the area.
NCC said NESREA is overstepping its bounds by sealing base stations which conform to the 5 metre-away from residential building standard it has set for the industry.
Now if the argument is on standard, are there standards? Which agency is better placed to determine standards in the telecom industry?
We believe is NCC is in a better place determine the standard in telecom. NESREA should focus on environmental laws, guidelines and policies.
Either ways, the discord is unhealthy for the only thriving sector of Nigeria’s economy hobbled by years of mismanagement and neglect.
Lawyers and indeed the federal government must step up and draw clear boundaries between the two agencies.
It is also high time the federal government shut down some of its duplicating agencies that are busy doing nothing.
Telecom investments, quality of service and indeed Nigerians are suffering as the agencies bicker.
This renders true, the old saying, that when two elephants fight it is the grass which suffers.
It refers to the distress experienced by a feeble or helpless industry when two mighty government agencies engage in warfare.
The two elephants herein are the government and the government and the feeble being the citizens.
Chinonso Akujobi, former staff of Access Bank in Lagos, has been remanded in Ikoyi prison after she was arraigned on a five-count charge bordering on stealing to the tune of N294.5m.
Akujobi who is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was arraigned before Justice I.O. Ijelu of the State High Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos.
EFCC alleged that Akujobi stole the money between January and December 2025 while under the employment of Access Bank Plc.
As stated in one the charges, the defendant stole the money through unauthorized payments from the general ledger of Access Bank to her account number 0036668871 with the name Chinonso A., Uchechi A. and Florence A., thereby committing an offence of stealing, contrary to Section 280 and punishable under Section 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The defendant pleaded “not guilty“ to the charges when they were read to her.
In view of this, S.M.Yabo, prosecution counsel, asked the court for a trial date and also prayed for the remand of the defendant in a Correctional centre.
Justice Ijelu, thereafter, adjourned the case till October 8, 2026, for the hearing of the bail application and the commencement of trial.
The Judge also ordered that the defendant be remanded in the Ikoyi correctional Centre.
The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) says the flight captain of the VMO Aero aircraft that landed on a roadway near Asaba Airport in Delta State told investigators that the observer pilot mistakenly identified the paved road as the runway before touchdown.
The bureau disclosed this in a preliminary report released on Thursday on the June 10 incident, which prompted the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to ground the private jet.
The aircraft had seven people on board, including the pilot-in-command (PIC), second-in-command (SIC), an observer pilot, a cabin crew member and three passengers.
According to the report, the aircraft was cleared by Air Traffic Control (ATC) to approach Runway 11 at Asaba Airport after the crew requested a right orbit.
The crew initially discontinued the approach, executed a missed approach and repositioned for a second landing attempt.
NSIB said the crew reported that the aircraft’s navigation systems indicated it was correctly established on the published RNAV Runway 11 approach.
“The PIC and SIC reported that the observer pilot identified the paved surface ahead as the runway,” the report stated.
However, the observer pilot gave investigators a different version of events.
According to NSIB, he said the aircraft remained inside cloud until late in the approach and that the Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS) repeatedly issued “TERRAIN, TERRAIN, PULL UP” alerts.
He also said he observed a telecommunications mast directly ahead and instructed the flight captain to abandon the approach and climb immediately.
The bureau further disclosed that a cabin crew member reported that one of the passengers became concerned after overhearing discussions among the pilots and asked whether one of them was undergoing training. The passenger was reportedly reassured that all three pilots on board were experienced captains.
NSIB said no abnormal events were reported in the cabin before touchdown.
The aircraft eventually landed at about 8:57 a.m. on an under-construction paved roadway near Asaba Airport instead of the designated runway.
The bureau said its investigation into the incident is ongoing, while the preliminary report highlights conflicting accounts among the cockpit crew over the circumstances that led to the erroneous landing.
European Union has warned Meta Platforms Inc. that it could face a significant financial penalty unless it changes what regulators describe as the “addictive design” features of Facebook and Instagram.
The European Commission issued the warning in preliminary findings released on Friday, saying Meta had failed to sufficiently address risks posed by its platforms, particularly to children and vulnerable users.
The Commission said features such as infinite scrolling, personalised content recommendations and automatic video playback were designed in ways that encouraged excessive engagement with the platforms.
EU Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen, said protecting the physical and mental well-being of European citizens should be a priority for social media companies.
The Commission said Meta should consider introducing design changes, including disabling autoplay and infinite scrolling by default, providing effective screen-time reminders and adjusting recommendation systems to reduce the focus on maximising user engagement.
The findings were issued under the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which sets obligations for major online platforms to address risks associated with their services.
Meta, however, rejected the Commission’s conclusions, saying it disagreed with the findings but would continue engaging with European regulators.
The company said it had already implemented measures aimed at protecting younger users, including Teen Accounts that allow parents to manage screen time limits and restrict access during night hours.
The EU said its investigation, which began in 2024, found that existing time-management tools on Facebook and Instagram could easily be bypassed, while parental controls required technical knowledge that limited their effectiveness.
Regulators also expressed concerns over children’s nighttime use of the platforms and the possibility that features such as Reels and Stories could encourage compulsive behaviour.
If the Commission’s preliminary findings are confirmed, Meta could face a fine of up to six per cent of its annual global revenue under the DSA.
The warning comes as the EU steps up efforts to strengthen online safety measures for children, with an expert panel established by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expected to present recommendations on protecting minors online.
Several EU member states, including France, have also supported discussions on restricting social media access for children, following Australia’s decision to ban users under 16 from accessing social media platforms.
Meanwhile, the Commission is continuing a separate investigation into whether Meta’s recommendation algorithms create “rabbit hole” effects by directing users towards increasingly extreme content.
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