Telecom
First NCC Digital Park Set for Completion January 2023
Ahead of the auspicious commissioning of the Digital Industrial Park (DIP) project in Kano State, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, has, once again, paid an inspection visit to the site of the ongoing construction of the project in Kano State where he got an unequivocal commitment from the contractors that the project will be completed by January 2023.
The Friday’s inspection call by the NCC’s boss was part of the routine visits to ensure close monitoring and effective supervision of important projects that will have great impacts on the country’s socio-economic development.
During the visit, the EVC, who was accompanied by the NCC’s Head of Projects, Philip Eretan, and the EVC’s Chief of Staff, Malam Hafiz Shehu, among others, with the Special Adviser to the Kano State Governor, Prof. Yusif Alhassan, in attendance, emphasized the need for the contractors to expedite efforts in completing the project on schedule.
Addressing the contractors, Danbatta said that both the Federal and the State governments are following the progress being made at the construction site with keen interest owing to the value addition the project would make not only to the economy of the North-West geo-political zone but also to the country as a whole.
“This is a project that Nigerians are eagerly waiting to be completed. The Federal Government and the State government are following it with keen interest, and at NCC, our responsibility is to ensure that there’s no further delay in delivery as we have been doing everything possible to ensure that we have the project commissioned in the next few months.
“While I promise you that we will give you all the support you need, I also demand that progress report to be sent to me fortnightly over the two months period in order to ensure effective monitoring by us at NCC,” he said.
Speaking further, the EVC commended the State Governor for proving land at a prime location in Kano for the project, which he said is an indication of the value the government attaches to the project.
The DIPs currently being built across the six geo-political zones of the country by the NCC are expected to provide Innovation Labs and Digital Fabrication Laboratories (Fablabs) for use by digital innovators and entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into products and prototypes. The parks are also designed to provide broadband services and to have access to constant power supply.
This is not the first time the NCC boss would pay a visit to the construction site of the project located at Audu Bako Secretariat in the ancient city, which doubles as the commercial nerve centre of northern Nigeria.
The EVC’s latest visit was sequel to a similar visit to the construction site in July 2022 and other visits he had made much earlier, essentially to assess the level of work that has been done so far to ensure that the project is delivered within the set deadline.
During the July 2022 visit to the construction site, Danbatta pointed out that the project was conceived to support the Federal Government’s digital drive by facilitating the availability and accessibility of digital services across the country, and promoting their adoption and usage across all sectors, as well as providing youth employment in the country.
“The idea of putting these two things (i.e., skill acquisition and innovation) at the forefront of this very important initiative is to produce youths that can be self-reliant, generate employment for themselves and other Nigerians,” he said.
Danbatta had also stressed that no part of the country would be left out in benefitting from the initiative. “The project is another move to boost youth digital skills acquisition, promote innovations, provide jobs for the teeming Nigerian youth and ultimately support the overall digital economy agenda of the Federal Government,” he said.
Nigeria’s telecom sector is at risk of shutdown as workers under the aegis of Private Telecommunications and Communications Senior Staff Association (PTECSSAN) have embarked on strike over sack, and poor working conditions among others.
Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, ALTON
This was as the union on Monday threatened to cripple telecommunications services nationwide.
Okonu Abdullahi, secretary-general, made this known in a statement on Monday while announcing the commencement of the strike.
Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), reacting to the development, said that the group is unknown to its members which include MTN, Globacom, Airtel, 9-mobile and other telcos in the country.
But Abdullahi, said that the action of his union “ has become inevitable because of the prevalent precarious working conditions our members are enduring in the sector, the refusal of the employers to recognise and respect the constitutional right of these workers to freely associate with the union, and the unjust sack of three members of the union,”
He noted that its members are over 800 working at various Nigeria telecoms company facilities, network centers and other critical telecommunications, including IHS and Huawei.
The union, among other things, is demanding the reinstatement of some of its sacked workers, recognition of the union, improved working conditions, and remittance of membership dues.
“The implications of the strike will be massive because we have told all our members not to respond to any service outage from our employers.
“The fact remains that there are outages every day, and if our engineers do not respond to those outages, subscribers in those areas will be affected,” he said.
However, Adebayo of ALTON, said that “This group is not known to us in ALTON, and the companies mentioned are not members of ALTON”,
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has announced the introduction of a Device Management System (DMS) aimed at bolstering security and protecting consumers in the country’s mobile device market.
It said the DMS will serve as a comprehensive Central Equipment Identity Register, creating a unified database for tracking and monitoring mobile devices across all network operators in Nigeria.
The new regulation, outlined in the ‘Type Approval Business Rule 2024’, aims to prevent phone theft, curb the use of counterfeit devices, and ensure compliance with established standards.
All mobile network operators are required to connect to the DMS and mirror network-related policies configured by the NCC, ensuring a uniform approach to device regulation.
This move is expected to significantly improve the security and integrity of Nigeria’s communication networks, protecting consumers and promoting a safer mobile ecosystem.
“NCC-DMS shall acquire the International Mobile Equipment Identity of all devices latching to the communication network and synchronize with international databases of IMEI repositories.
“NCC-DMS shall maintain a registry of all communication devices available in the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” the commission noted in the new rule.
A device registration fee was also introduced by the NCC for the NCC-DMS, separate from existing type approval fees. This fee will be mandatory for all registered devices.
The commission’s objective, first announced in 2021, is to enhance transparency, accountability, and national security in the telecommunications sector while ensuring the safe and efficient utilization of Nigeria’s communication infrastructure.
“To curtail the counterfeit mobile phone market, discourage mobile phone theft, enhance national security, protect consumer interest, increase revenue generation for the government, and reduce the rate of kidnapping.
“To mitigate the use of stolen phones for crime, and facilitate blocking or tracing of stolen mobile phones and other smart devices, one of the means to achieve this is through the deployment of Device Management System,” the commission said in a statement.
Workers in the nation’s telecommunications industry under the aegis of the Private Telecommunications and Communications Senior Staff Association (PTECSSAN) will today (Monday) begin an indefinite nationwide strike over sack, and poor working conditions among others.
Among the employees going on strike include field maintenance engineers, transmission engineers, customer service engineers, fibre engineers, and other critical staff.
There are fears that strike could disrupt telecommunications services nationwide if not resolved quickly.
PTECSSAN had given notice of the strike in a statement signed by Mr Okonu Abdullahi, its general secretary.
Abdullahi said the strike had become necessary following alleged anti-labour practices including the refusal of the employers to recognise and respect the workers’ constitutional rights to freely associate with the union.
He alleged also that three members of the union were unjustly sacked. He said: “We shall not be suspending the planned indefinite strike action until our demands, which are as follows, are met:
“Immediate reinstatement of the three unjustly sacked workers: Sotola Sunday Kolawole, Ulu Ikechukwu Christopher and Alex Franklin C.”
“Immediate recognition of the fundamental right of the employees to freely associate with the union, “ he said.
According to the general secretary, other demands include immediate recognition of the union as the negotiating body for the employees on workers welfare.
He said also that the union was demanding the immediate remittance of membership dues into its account as earlier provided among others.
“We hope that these companies will utilise the seven-day window of this notice to meet our demands and avert the indefinite strike action,” Abdullahi said
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