Telecom
Digital Economy: DG NITDA Assures Ghanian Counterpart of Effective Collaboration
With consideration to the immense natural and human resources inherent in Africa which can be leveraged to enhance technological advancement in the continent, the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, believes that effective collaborations among the nations in the continent would build a formidable and greater Information Technology (IT) ecosystem.
Kashifu Inuwa, DG, NITDA, and Richard Okyere Fuso, DG, NITA, Ghana, during the working visit to NITDA yesterday
The NITDA Director General made this declaration at the corporate headquarters of the Agency in Abuja during the day one of the 3 day working visit of the Ghanian National Information Technology Agency (NITA) delegation led by its Director General, Mr. Richard Okyere Fosu to understudy Nigeria’s IT regulatory instruments, policy documents and seek possible areas of collaboration.
Describing the visit of the delegation from Ghana as a step in the right direction towards the development of Africa’s IT ecosystem, Inuwa stated that it was an imperative collaboration needed to achieve a common goal.
Stating that no one can succeed in isolation, he asserted that “if we really want to succeed as a continent, we need to collaborate, we need to work together. We need to learn from our experiences and share expertise so that we can work and grow together”.
He noted further that the Nigerian government has transcended from enforcing regulations on the ecosystem but has rather identified collaboration as critical, in creating an enabling environment for the ecosystem to thrive and flourish.
Stating that IT is borderless, the NITDA boss said that the agency had developed various regulatory instruments, policy documents and initiatives to create an enviable IT ecosystem in the country
which has been making huge impacts within the continent and globally.
While confidently stating that Africa has a competitive advantage of talent and population in the fourth industrial revolution, Inuwa opined that a symbiotic relationship between the two countries would engender disruptive innovations that will solve many challenges pervading the continent.
“This kind of visit will strengthen the relationship between our two agencies and build a stronger IT ecosystem in Africa. We are doing well in Nigeria but we want everybody to do well when it comes to technology”, he noted.
The NITDA Director General then proceeded to make a presentation on an overview of the Agency, its guiding strategies and strategic initiatives which have been instrumental in driving economic growth and prosperity with a focus on creating a knowledge-based economy that can compete with the best in the world.
In his presentation on the regulatory environment and various regulatory instruments, the Agency’s Head, Legal Unit, Barrister Emmanuel Edet made reference to the Startup Act and Code of Practice in which the agency uses intelligent frameworks to develop regulations towards a sustainable digital economy.
In his remark, Mr. Fosu appreciated the efforts being made by NITDA in fortifying and fostering the nation’s IT ecosystem toward a sustainable digital economy.
He disclosed that NITA’s supervising ministry has similarly expanded its mandate to include digitalization and is now known as the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation which in his opinion has brought out the importance of digitalisation.
While giving assurances of keying into NITDA’s regulatory instruments and implementation of policy documents, Fosu expressed his agency’s commitment to work closely with NITDA in bridging the gaps identified in Ghana and Africa as a whole.
“This is not a one-time visit but we will definitely come back. We have come to learn and hope that we can make the needed impact in Ghana”, he stated.
The NITDA DG then took the Ghanian delegates on a tour of the agency’s Computer emergency Readiness and Response Team (CERRT) unit.
Pan African Towers (PAT), a Nigerian infrastructure provider serving 9mobile and Spectranet, has appointed Echezona Osi as chief executive officer.
Echezona Osi
Adefolarin Ogunsanya, company’s, board chairman, explained in a statement that Osi would succeed Oladipo Badru, whose tenure lasted nine months in acting CEO position. Osi has more than 28 years of experience in the telecommunications sector across various regions of Africa.
Prior to his appointment as CEO, he had served as the head of network deployment at Airtel Nigeria, operations director and chief technical information officer at MIC Tanzania, chief technology officer roles at IPT PowerTech Nigeria, Rhino Niger Networks and Biswal Nigeria.
He obtained a degree in electrical/ electronic engineering from the University of Benin and a postgraduate diploma in data science and business analytics from the University of Texas.
Companies sending bulk international text messages, also known as Application-to-Person (A2P) messages, will now have apply for a licence that costs N10 million.
This is part of new rules introduced by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) aimed at cleaning up the system, fighting fraud, blocking spam messages and stopping money from leaving the country unchecked.
These A2P messages are the kind customers get from banks, online stores, hospitals and political campaigns, automated texts sent from apps to their phones.
According to the commission, the bulk international text message system has been poorly regulated, allowing misuse and invasion of privacy.
“The International SMS Service Ecosystem in Nigeria has not been fully brought under regulatory control. It has been observed that the excessive use of the Short Message Service has led to fraud, spam and illegal activities,” the NCC said.
The regulator warned that without action, the problem would worsen as more people use mobile phones and digital services.
To solve this, the NCC is creating a central platform, or gateway, through which all international bulk text messages must pass through.
The agency said this would help to monitor messages in real time, ensure proper fees are paid, and make sure the money stays in Nigeria where it can contribute to the economy.
As part of the incoming change, service providers must follow strict rules, including strong data protection, spam filters, and message encryption.
Also, they must also work with local mobile networks and make sure all messages come from a verified sender
The NCC warned that any message without a proper sender ID will be blocked and not delivered to users.
To protect users from unwanted texts, the new rules say companies must get clear permission before sending any promotional content.
The rule also says people must also be able to choose whether they want to receive such messages or not.
Companies are now required to keep records of all messages for at least six months and must clearly state all charges involved.
The NCC said fees for help requests, cancellations, or service info must be transparent and not include hidden charges.
The commission will issue licences to several providers to encourage healthy competition but may limit new licences if needed.
Only companies that show they can stop fraud and safely deliver messages will be allowed to operate. They must also regularly report their message traffic and finances to the NCC.
It warned that any company that breaks the rules risks getting fined, suspended, or having its licence revoked.
Offences like charging illegal tariffs, ignoring security rules, or avoiding taxes will be punished, the NCC said.
The commission added that the new rules follow the Nigerian Data Protection Act 2023 and support the federal government’s goal of strengthening cybersecurity and controlling Nigeria’s digital space.
The framework will also be reviewed from time to time to keep up with new technology and market trends.
MTN Nigeria has launched what it claims is the country’s largest prefabricated modular data centre, marking a bold push into the country’s fast-growing cloud market and taking aim at global giants such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.
Karl Toriola, CEO, MTN Nigeria.
The shift comes as demand for cloud services in Nigeria soars — driven by the uptake of mobile apps, fintech tools and e-learning platforms — while foreign providers have become costlier in the wake of the naira’s sharp devaluation.
“This is one of the biggest data centres in West Africa and probably one of the biggest in Africa,” said Karl Toriola, CEO, MTN Nigeria.
He described the new Tier III-certified facility, with locally hosted cloud services, as “transformative for the technology ecosystem in Nigeria and very supportive of the federal government’s agenda”.
MTN Nigeria, the country’s largest telecoms provider, has so far invested $120m in the first phase, delivering an IT load of 4.5MW. A second phase, set to double capacity to 9MW, is budgeted at $135m.
“We already have data centres that are running our existing capacities,” Toriola said.
“We will go to 9MW in short order, possibly 14MW, and we can expand even further.”
He said the facility would allow local hosting for tech developers, large enterprises including banks and oil companies, and government agencies — markets long dominated by foreign cloud providers.
“Multinational companies such as Netflix, Facebook and Instagram can also host a lot of their data here. That improves the quality of service and reduces the cost of storage,” he added.
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