Dealing with Nigeria’s GSM palaver
Of course, some of these factors can be traced to the door step of the Nigerian factor. If our memory would not completely fail us, Nigerians would readily recall that when a former member of the House of Representatives, Dr. Haruna Yerima, made spirited attempts at correcting certain anomalies in the GSM sub-sector, he not […]
Of course, some of these factors can be traced to the door step of the Nigerian factor. If our memory would not completely fail us, Nigerians would readily recall that when a former member of the House of Representatives, Dr. Haruna Yerima, made spirited attempts at correcting certain anomalies in the GSM sub-sector, he not only met a brick wall, he was suspended from the House and his life was threatened. Dr. Yerima wanted to canvass for the probe of allegations that some service providers had bribed some members of the House with recharge cards and liquid cash worth several millions of naira with a view to block whatever checks and balances to be carried out by the House.
This happened at a time that there were both high tariffs and fewer GSM service providers than we have now. This latest round by the National Assembly is not any different. I am sure Honourable Dino Melaye has a lot of stories to tell when he was the Chairman, House Committee on Communications some two years ago.
When the cabal in that industry succeeded in pocketing a higher regulatory body like the National Assembly which should have checkmated whatever sharp practices being orchestrated and sustained in the National Communications Commission (NCC), anything but shady deals go on there. Up till this point, Nigeria’s GSM tariffs are still the highest in Africa let alone other parts of the world, not to talk of the poor services as a result of frequent breakdown of network, the cost of which has always been transferred to the pockets of millions of subscribers. While the poor subscriber is being short-changed, shylock GSM owners with their collaborators elsewhere are always smiling to the banks.
We are not even talking of the incompetence, indolence holding the sector hostage by and cabal who have become so extremely greedy and selfish that there is no political will to reverse the ugly but counter-productive trend.
With the exit of Engineer Ernest Ndukwe as the Chief Executive Officer of the NCC, if the Federal Government’s hands were tied before, now is the opportunity to deal with the ‘wahala’ in the NCC so that the commission can be repositioned for optimal productivity. Whether we like it or not, a healthy NCC would naturally translate to a general and dependable cheap GSM services in Nigeria. Of course, there is a stiff competition with clandestine moves by many to succeed Ndukwe not because they want to remove the rot in thecommission, but simply because it is a lucrative place to sleeze the country and Nigerians. This must but stop.
The Federal Government has recourse severally to look out to Nigerians in the diaspora to deal with nagging national quagmire like the one currently plaguing the NCC. In doing that, President Goodluck Jonathan, determined to resolve Nigeria’s intractable power crises, has appointed Professor Bath Nnaji. Jonathan can do the same for the NCC. And very fortunate, Nigeria is robustly blessed with grade ‘A’ experts in the global communications community. In fact, that is an understatement. Nigerians are among the world’s leading communication experts. And such names as Professors Phillip Emeagwali and Gabriel Oyibo with Dr. Usman Goni readily come to mind. These are distinct Nigerians who can bring about radical changes in the nation’s communication industry. To bring Emeagwali andOyibo back to Nigeria at this point in their life would be like pushing a camel through the eye of the needle. Individually, both world class men have visited their native lands. In fact, Professor Oyibo is a title holder in his native Igala land way back in Idah, Kogi State. Honestly, they are deeply entrenched in their host countries that coming back home is going to be 20:80 chances. The likes of Dr. Goni look more accessible given that he is very home sick despite spending more than 20 years traversing different sub-sectors of the communications world with the irresistible allure inherent there in.
Dr. Goni, from the northern part of the country, an electrical engineer, was the brain behind the initiation and execution of strategic consulting projects for major investment concerns such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and GE Capital, as well as Bain & Co., Vulcan Ventures and WorldCom Corporations. He has been involved in the research, development, implementation and operations of wireless network technologies for second generation (2G/2.5G), as well as third generation (3G) systems. He has also participated in various technical due diligence projects as well as provided detailed strategic investigation of wireless network operations in the Asia Pacific region.
Dr. Goni has represented several telecom operators in technology selection, including infrastructure vendor selection and wireless solution definition programmed to meet subscriber demands and network quality objectives, which is also geared towards generating the required return on investments. He has also been engaged as a principal technical consultant by various Wireless Carrier and Telecoms Media groups in North America, Europe and Asia, where his services in the analysis of third generation (3G) wireless technologies designed to support enhanced multimedia, internet and other related IP applications.
Since January 2006, Dr. Goni has been the Director of engineering of Wireless Technology Consulting and Wireless Institute (WI-LCC), as well as LCC International Incorporation, McLean Virginia, USA, where he is responsible for the conception, development and training of wireless services. He has also developed an internal Certification Program (ICP) for emerging technology including 3G and 4G technology modules such as 1x-EVDO, UMTS/HSDPA and WIMAX, as well as developed major components of the ICP. Between January 2002 and December 2005, Dr. Goni was the director of Engineering, Wireless Network Engineering (North America) and LCC International Incorporation in MCLean Virginia, USA, Where he managed several teams of engineers at various client’s locations, and at the same time provided operational guidance and quality control of network engineering design, optimisation and performance engineering.
Between May 1998 and January 2002, Dr. Goni worked as senior Manager of engineering both at Strategic Consulting, Technology Research and Innovations Group as well as LCC International Incorporated in McLean, Virginia, United states, where his high-level research brought about the realization and deployment of third generation (3G) wireless network design, which was a global initiative under the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to establish a common air interface standard for mobile multimedia communication. He also developed a process to aid telecom network performance audit and analysis as an integral part of overall due diligence process in support of mergers and acquisition.
In my candid view, there are many Gonis out there who can rebrand one of Professor Dora Akunyili’s troubled institutions – the National Communications Commission (NCC).
Gbabaniyi writes from Abuja.