By Christiana Ekpa
The Minister for Communication and Digital Economy, Isah Ali Pantami, has said that under the Buhari administration, Nigeria who hitherto imported Subscribers Identification Module (SIM) cards can now produce her own and even supply to other African countries.
Pantami disclosed this while briefing members of the House of Representatives on the importance of an Executive Bill seeking to create enabling environment for technology innovators in Nigeria to maximise their potentials by becoming job creators in the ICT sector titled: “a Bill for an Act to Provide for the Creation and Development of an Enabling Environment for Technology Enabled Startups in Nigeria,” which according to him will attract serious investment to expand numerous business ideas by young Nigerians who come up with problem-solving innovations on daily basis without having to depend on government for sustainability.
Pantami said since the private sector controls 91% of financial inflow into the economy as demonstrated by available statistics, the Bill if passed into law will encourage investors seeking to expand innovative ideas, just as he gave instances of 5 leading startups in Africa originating from Nigeria.
“There are 7 Unicorns in Africa and 5 have roots in Nigeria with offices in Nigeria but registered in other countries due to lack of enabling laws to protect their innovations and investment, and one of the startups that came up in 2018, by 2020, their value rose to $3trn which is the largest in Africa, and they are based in Lagos.
“The essence of this Bill first of all is to create jobs for the teeming youths through these innovations and improve the economy,” Pantami said.
He said the Bill when enacted will create a regulatory Council which will be chaired by the President, with a view to providing policy guidance to tech startups.
“There will be a Council to be chaired by the President which is the best practice anywhere in the world. He has accepted to be the Chairman and my humble self as Minister will deputize for Mr President on the Council,” he said.
However, Members, led by the House Majority Leader, Alhassan Ado Doguwa probed to know the competitiveness of the sector under the Council to be chaired by the President and the Minister as Deputy.
They also raised concerns on the area of funding, asking if the proposed Council won’t add further burden on the already overstretched federal purse, as well as its effects on the role of the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC).
Responding, Pantami explained that the purpose of the Bill is to encourage competition and not discourage it.
He said the Council will be chaired by the president means no bottleneck will hinder it and the implementation of executive policies in the start-up subsector, adding that “funding can’t be an issue because the Private sector controls 91% of financial inflow into the economy,” and that “the Council is to create an enabling environment for inventors to come in and invest in the startups which is what obtains anywhere in the world.”
He also disclosed that funding for startups under the new law will be in form of soft loans aides by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority with flexible interest rate and repayment timeline.
On NCC’s role, the Minister said the Council will not affect the NCC in any way as it is in charge of telecommunications activities in the country while the Council deals with innovations in the ICT sector. He said “if there are effects on the NCC, there will be positive ones through creation of solutions for the Telecom sector, as the mandate of the NCC will not be affected but instead supported.”
On the part of legislation, he said there is no friction between the function of the National Assembly as this Bill purely deals with government policies which are different from laws enacted by the Legislature.
The House leader, Hon. Doguwa had earlier told the Minister that the interaction was necessary so as to provide background information that will enable the majority party defend the Bill on the floor during debates.
“Hon. Minister like it has been in the process of legislation, this is one of the very critical component that we deal with especially when it has to do with an Executive Bill such as the one before us, and it’s a practice to invite the Executive to engage with the National Assembly to explain to us why we need to have such a Bill at this time.
“And of course no matter the amount of explanations given, we are not unmindful of its importance as it helps us to speak on the floor from the position of strength.
“And we have a duty particularly in my office to defend this Bill with regard to its importance to the generality of the people of Nigeria and we are going to do just that based on information available to us,” Doguwa assured the Minister.
