FG begins review of 26-year old National Telecom Policy

The Federal Government has begun the review of National Telecommunications Policy 2000 even as it charged industry experts to make the revised policy one of the most important policy foundations of the country’s digital future.  Speaking yesterday in Lagos at the National Telecommunications Policy 2000 Review workshop, the Special Adviser to the President on Policy […]

The Federal Government has begun the review of National Telecommunications Policy 2000 even as it charged industry experts to make the revised policy one of the most important policy foundations of the country’s digital future. 

Speaking yesterday in Lagos at the National Telecommunications Policy 2000 Review workshop, the Special Adviser to the President on Policy and Coordination, Hajia Hadiza Bala Usman, said the review is an opportunity to consolidate the gains of the past twenty six years, address the gaps that remain, align telecommunications policy with the Renewed Hope Agenda and the Eight Presidential Priorities, strengthen collaboration across government and industry, and move from policy ambition to measurable delivery.

“But that opportunity must be handled with seriousness. The revised policy must not become another document that sits on shelves. It must become a working instrument. It must guide decisions, mobilise action, coordinate institutions, support investment, protect citizens, and drive results”, Hadiza Bala Usman told participants at the workshop.

According to her, the revised National Telecommunications Policy must answer several strategic questions like how will Nigeria achieve universal, affordable, and reliable connectivity, how will telecommunications infrastructure support economic diversification, job creation, innovation, and public service delivery and how will government coordinate better across sectors and levels to remove bottlenecks to infrastructure deployment and service expansion.

“It must also answer how the policy will strengthen consumer protection, service quality, affordability, and trust; how Nigeria will position itself to benefit from emerging technologies while managing associated risks; and how implementation will be tracked, reviewed, and reported”, she said. 

A revised policy, she said, must balance innovation with responsibility, competition with sustainability, and investment attraction with consumer protection.

She added: “Nigeria’s digital future depends on our ability to create an environment in which private capital can support public objectives. This requires clear rules, fair competition, infrastructure protection, coordinated taxation, streamlined approvals, and a stable policy environment.

It also requires a policy framework that recognises local innovation. Nigeria’s 

young people are already building digital solutions in finance, commerce, 

logistics, education, health, entertainment, and public services. Their ability to 

scale depends on reliable connectivity, affordable access, supportive regulation, digital skills, and an enabling business environment.”

 

 

 

Earlier in his welcome address, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr Aminu Maida said the review was necessary because Nigeria has moved from first-generation regulation, through market liberalisation and mobile competition, and is now classified as a fourth generation regulatory environment, with advanced readiness for fifth-generation collaborative 

 

digital regulation.

 

 

 

This, he said, reflects a wider shift in the role of the regulator as the NCC is no longer 

 

only licensing operators and supervising a telecommunications market; it is helping to enable a digital economy.

 

 

 

“Today, regulation must support broadband infrastructure, digital financial services, cybersecurity, identity systems, e-government, data governance, consumer trust, innovation and critical infrastructure protection. That requires collaboration with institutions such as NDPC, CBN, FCCPC, NITDA, NIMC, ONSA, state governments and other public bodies.

 

 

 

“In this sense, the next telecommunications policy must recognise that regulation has moved from sector oversight to ecosystem stewardship—from managing telecommunications services to enabling Nigeria’s 

 

broader digital transformation”, Maida said. 

 

 

 

It is against this backdrop, he added, that the Commission has convened the Workshop as part of a public consultative process to review the existing policy framework and chart a new course for the future of telecommunications in Nigeria.

 

 

 

He said the Workshop had been carefully designed to achieve several critical objectives including to review the implementation of the National Telecommunications Policy 2000; identify its successes, challenges and gaps; engage stakeholders on policy proposals published by the Commission; and develop actionable recommendations towards the emergence of a forward-looking National Telecommunications Policy 2026.