Dr Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy (MCIDE), has established a five-member Ministerial Committee to address challenges facing telecoms service providers in Nigeria.
The Committee will specifically review operational conditions and suggest fiscal measures to mitigate the impact of macroeconomic pressures on telecoms service providers in Nigeria, according to the Minister who has mandated the team to submit its report in one month.
Tijani said in a statement that “as a major contributor to our country’s GDP, the telecommunications industry is critical to the development of our nation as it helps to spur innovation and promote digital inclusion among Nigerians.”
The Ministerial Committee has set up a 6-point terms of reference to address the issues faced by telecoms companies in delivering quality services to end-users across the country, Kania Maliki Andeyaba, head of the Press and Public Relations Unit of the Ministry, said in a statement released on Friday.
Terms of Reference
The Terms of Reference for the Ministerial Committee state that they will review the operational conditions of the telecoms industry in Nigeria. They will also propose strategic initiatives to mitigate the impact of macroeconomic challenges on the operations of the Nigerian telecoms industry.
Review fiscal measures with direct or consequential impact on the telecoms industry and propose initiatives that can provide relief to telecoms operators.
Consider and propose incentives to improve backward integration in the telecoms industry with a view to cumulative reductions on dependence on foreign exchange (FX) for the provisioning of telecoms services in Nigeria.
Review shared services and infrastructure arrangements in the industry and proposed incentives and policy direction to improve the competitiveness of the Nigerian telecommunications industry.
Review existing local content strategies for the telecoms sector, to realign all local content initiatives and programmes with the programmes and policies of the current administration.
