Telecom
NITDA DG Urges Kano and Jigawa State to Harness Youth Population for Economic Recovery
Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, director general, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), firmly believe that the ever-growing youthful population of Kano and Jigawa can be a source of blessing of Nigeria if carefully harnessed.
Abdullahi stated this during a presentation at Zoom Webinar organised by Network for Development Foundation, with the theme: Economic Recovery of Kano and Jigawa States Post-COVID19 Pandemic.
He said that the ever-growing youthful population of both states can be a source of blessing if properly harnessed.
He affirmed that if government leverage on the potential of the digital economy to exist, it can also recover from this pandemic, as well as create a sustainable environment to survive and thrive in the post-pandemicera.
Abdullahi further noted that COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown have changed people’s needs and wants as individuals, communities, and governments. To survive and thrive in the post-pandemic, there is need to reassess and redefine value proposition.
The pandemic has caused an unprecedented upheaval across all industries, with commerce, transport, oil and gas, badly hit. These industries provide a lifeline to the economy in Kano and Jigawa.
He said, COVID-19 has triggered the deepest global recession since the great depression, as data available released by World Bank. The Bank predicted that the Global Economy would shrink by 5.2%as a result of the pandemic, which is about 7.4T USD. Even though the ultimate impact is still uncertain, the pandemic has resulted in contractions across the world. Nigeria is not an exception. A survey carried out by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that many citizens are concerned about their lives and livelihoods. 78% of the respondents were worried about their health while 92% saw the pandemic as a threat to their source of livelihood.
“Crises are recurring events in human history. Some are less severe; others change legislations, world politics, our perception of the status quo, and people’s lives.
“Humanity had overcome crises like the black plague and Spanish flue before. Therefore, I believe that we will overcome this pandemicas well, and we will come out of it stronger,” he added.
Abdullahi also highlighted some key achievement so far recorded by the Agency, which includes among others, soon to be commissioning of NITDA Northwest Zonal Office situated in Kano.
The office is equipped with state of the art training facilities to train teeming youths from the North West region on digital skills. The training is for all, including facilities for people living with disability, artisans, students and young entrepreneurs.
In Jigawa State, according to Abdullahi, the Agency has a strong partnership with the State Governor,Alhaji Muhammad Badaru Abubakar, MON.
“We have executed several projects in Jigawa State, we are building ICT Community Centers in the three senatorial districts to engage and train our youth on emerging technologies and entrepreneurship.
“Also, we have engaged 135 farmers for smart farming aimed at revolutionizing the state agriculture value chain. The initiative, National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture, NAVSA, is an ecosystem-driven digital platform for transforming the agriculture sector in Nigeria. It was designed to help farmers, agricultural stakeholders, and ecosystem players navigate their journey across the agriculture value chain from farm production to farm management, processing, harvesting, storage, marketing, and consumption.
“The project comes with tailored empowerment and sustainable business models that create diverse opportunities for the agriculture value chain that never existed in our country before. But it was tested and working well in a country like the Netherlands.
“The Netherlands, when compared with Kano and Jigawa combined, has similarities in population and landmass. Kano and Jigawa combined have a population of about 18.5M, and the Netherlands has about 17M people, inland mass, the two states are about 43,000KM2 while the Netherlands is about 40,000KM2.
“But, the Netherlands earning from agriculture export in 2019 was 94.5B Euros, which is equivalent to $106.36B USD, while Nigerian earning from oil and gas export in the same year was 5.18B USD. That is the power of smart precision and digital technology in agriculture,” the DG said
As indicated in Mr President’s 2020 Democracy Day Speech, the Digital Economy is critical to Nigeria’s development agenda.
The journey to digital economy started On 23rd October 2019, when President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, re-designatedMinistry of Communications to Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy to drive the positive impact of the digital economy in every sector of the economy.
Telecom
Report Says 71 Percent of Nigerians Don’t Have Access to Regular Internet
A recent report by the Groupe Special Mobile Association (GSMA) revealed that a significant 71% of Nigerians do not have regular access to mobile internet.
“While 29 per cent of Nigerians are regularly using mobile internet, there remains untapped potential; 71 per cent are not accessing these services regularly. An improved policy environment has the potential to help the industry boost coverage and adoption, resulting in 15 million additional internet users by 2028.
However, the sector faces challenges to infrastructure deployment,” the report stated.
The details of the study were disclosed during the report’s launch in Abuja, highlighting a critical gap in digital connectivity amidst ongoing discussions about possible tariff increases by Nigerian telecom operators.
The telecom industry is currently advocating for an increase in tariffs to counter various operational challenges. However, the government is pushing for alternative solutions rather than price hikes.
The GSMA report underscored the challenges hindering the expansion of telecom coverage, which include cumbersome and costly rights-of-way acquisition processes and a complex tax environment. These factors collectively make it difficult for the industry to sustain investment levels.
Despite these hurdles, the report optimistically noted that Nigeria could add 15 million internet users by 2028 with appropriate policy adjustments. It emphasized that achieving universal access to digital connectivity hinges on a wider digital transformation of the Nigerian economy.
The report details the sector’s challenges, stating that “An improved policy environment has the potential to help the industry boost coverage and adoption, resulting in 15 million additional internet users by 2028. However, the sector faces challenges to infrastructure deployment.”
The report also identified key obstacles, such as the rigorous process of securing rights of way and a layered tax regime, which together increase operational costs and stymie sustainable investments. Added financial pressures from rising fuel prices and increased governmental fees further strain telecom operators’ ability to maintain healthy investment flows.
The GSMA report recommended several policy measures to foster a more enabling economic and regulatory environment for the mobile industry.
These include establishing a legal framework to protect critical national infrastructure, simplifying rights-of-way issuance, reducing the tax burden, and cultivating a regulatory climate conducive to robust investment.
“Future policies should be geared towards reducing the cost and complexity of infrastructure rollout to encourage investment and boost the adoption of mobile broadband,” the report advised.
It further highlighted the far-reaching implications of such policy enhancements, noting, “The impact of such actions would go far beyond mobile, driving productivity gains across the economy and creating millions of new jobs in Nigeria.”
Telecom
MTN Group Weighs Down by Nigerian Operations
MTN Group (MTNJ.J), Africa’s biggest telecoms operator, reported on Tuesday an 18.8 per cent fall in first-quarter service revenue, weighed down by the performance of MTN Nigeria
MTN, with 288 million subscribers in 18 markets across Africa, said its reported group service revenue fell to 42.9 billion rand ($2.34 billion) in the quarter ended March 31, from 52.8 billion rand in the same quarter last year.
In constant currency, service revenue, which excludes device and SIM card revenue, rose by 11.1%.
MTN’s service revenue from South Africa surpassed that of Nigeria, its biggest market by revenue, growing marginally by 3% to 10.4 billion rand, while Nigeria tumbled by 52.8% to 10.2 billion rand.
“The macro environment in the first quarter of 2024 remained challenging with ongoing high inflation as well as local currency devaluations in some of our key markets,” Ralph Mupita, group president and CEO said in a statement.
Mupita also cited global geopolitical tensions as a factor impacting the operator’s performance, including the ongoing civil war in Sudan, which severely affected network availability and revenue generation in that business.
MTN was also impacted by subsea cable cuts that resulted in downtime.
Overall reported group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell by 28.7% to 17.2 billion rand and rose by 3.9% in constant currency.
Reported EBITDA margin declined by 5.8 percentage points to 37.9% due to rising costs and currency depreciation mainly in Nigeria.
The group revised down its anticipated capital expenditure (excluding leases) deployment for 2024 to about 28 billion rand to 33 billion rand from a target of 35 billion rand to 39 billion rand, largely due to a reduction in expected spending by MTN Nigeria.
Telecom
Airtel Excites Business Owners with Unlimited Speed Plan
Telecommunications network, Airtel Nigeria has introduced a groundbreaking new service for business owners called the Enterprise Business Broadband (EBB) Speed Based Plans 3.0. This specially designed plan offers unparalleled connectivity and flexibility with unlimited monthly plans.
Tailored to meet the diverse needs of enterprises, the new EBB plans feature unlimited internet connectivity options, providing the opportunity to without data limitations. Customers also get a chance to select from three dynamic options, from as low as N20, 000 to N60, 000.
The N20, 000 monthly subscription delivers internet speeds of up to 20Mbps, the N35, 000 subscription offers up to 40 Mbps, and, with the N50, 000 monthly subscription users can experience ultimate reliability and speeds of up to 60Mbps, which is perfect for large organizations with high bandwidth requirements.
Speaking on the new unlimited plan, Chief Commercial Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Femi Oshinlaja emphasized the transformative impact of the new unlimited plan.
“We have seen the early adopters of the Speed Based Plans 3.0 express their satisfaction after using this service and we are confident to say that the uninterrupted internet service is a game-changer for business owners.
“We are committed to continuously providing innovative solutions that empower businesses to thrive in the digital landscape, ensuring unparalleled connectivity and reliability for our valued customers,” he said.
According to Airtel, customers get a complimentary router upon purchase. The speed plan also allows customers to have the flexibility to set data usage limits and control access to specific websites on the router, promoting responsible internet usage.
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