TheCable

A converged regulator for Broadcasting and Telecoms?

I have a funny friend who would always see things where they hardly exist or make meaning out of situations that challenge understanding. Years before the Nigerian government would pick Stephen Oronsaye to run a hot knife through the unwieldiness of the Federal Civil Service, my friend would reel out a list of parastatals and agencies within the federal system and some of them I have really not heard their names before.

Then he would give a good laugh. They are there not to do anything or be of any use to society but just to collect their budgets and make returns to some sources. Oh, the height of cynicism, you would say. Years later, the government probably heard his kind of talk and decided to do something. The report of the Presidential Committee on the Rationalisation and Restructuring of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies headed by Stephen Oronsaye was so profound that Nigerians expected implementation immediately. But that wasn’t to be as the wheel of government grinds even more slowly than justice’s.

Last week the Bola Ahmed Tinubu government, in a move to mitigate human suffering arising from poor economic decisions, decided to implement the recommendations of the report and, as the President would add, completely.

Since then, I have been pelted with questions. What do you think? Is the government going to merge the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) in a much anticipated converged regulatory body? Say something!

What do I have to say when the government has already spoken? It is a decision well taken and we expect some immediate action.

But have you seen a copy of the report and the white paper? I saw a summary somewhere and it was pretty interesting. The report recommended a merger of the NCC and the NBC as the Communications Regulatory Authority of Nigeria (CRAN) with the regulatory functions of NIPOST transferred to the new body. At least three directorates to be created under the new CRAN to perform the functions of broadcast, telecommunications and with the regulatory functions of postal services.

The enabling laws setting up the NCC and NBC should be repealed to accommodate the new law that shelters the new body and its responsibilities.

Another major recommendation was for the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), remember that name? to be liquidated immediately. I am sure the committee too, was tired of the pain NITEL had caused the entire nation with its failure.

The liquidation of NITEL was the only recommendation the government accepted. Every other one was rejected, in the infinite wisdom of government.

And the government has made a major decision to implement the Oronsaye report which President Tinubu says must be implemented in full!

But  did you observe that the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris Malagi, hardly said anything about the relationship between NCC and NBC? There was no need waking the Titanic. I have always had my fears about the unlikely possibilities of a merger which were sundrily confirmed by workers within both organisations. There are troubling details in the divergent nature of the organisations which do not accommodate any convergence.

However, President Tinubu says implement in full.

The big boys have spoken. Every other thing for me remains academic, purely scholarly to accommodate the fancy of a lonely character stewing in pleasurable phantasmagoria. This is where ideas jumble up to the irritation of those who may never understand.

Let’s take a little trip to jurisdictions where they have done things a little bit differently, environments whose practices may have stoked the patriotic fire in Oronsaye and his team. This won’t be a trip to Afghanistan or even Qatar, I promise you.

In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates interstate and international communications through cable, radio, television, satellite and wire. A converged regulator.

Ofcom is the converged regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries, which include: Television, radio, fixed line telecoms, mobile and postal services, including the airwaves carrying the various services.

South Korea has the Korea Communications Commission  (KCC) which is responsible for regulating broadcasting and communications services, protect users in the industry and carry out necessary actions that guarantee the independence of the regulator.

Coming nearer home, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) is the official regulator of the South African communications, broadcasting and postal services sectors. ICASA is a converged regulator which has done much in making South Africa one of the most competitive industries in Africa.

So, do we need a converged regulator in Nigeria? I do not have an answer to that question, except that if best practices were of any significance, converged  regulators enjoy some advantages over split homes where industry regulators stand in silos doing their own thing.

To be very frank, I do not think that Nigeria is as competitive as any of the jurisdictions listed above or even as connected in terms of people interface and usage. So, there must be something happening in converged regulatory jurisdictions that need further scrutiny.

By the way can the Nigerian government spare Oronsaye all travails and formally apologise to him for causing him discomforts just because he did a good job for his nation!

A Puzzle at the NCC

The effusions of this writer over the appointment of two Executive Commissioners at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in the persons of Abraham Oshadami (Technical Services) and Rimini Makama (Stakeholder Management), last week, have largely been trimmed by readers who observed there was something totally out of place in the appointments.

While Oshadami was picked from within the NCC with requisite industry experience – regulatory, local and international,  having joined the organisation as a manager, Makama worked in the allied industry and equally boasts of a good background. However, those who called this writer all pointed out that their appointor has erred in not following the principles of the federal character which recommend the sharing of federal appointments among the states, between regions and even between the north and south as the case may be.

With the dissolution of the Board by the current government and recent appointments at the Commission of the Executive Vice Chairman, who is the chief executive of the NCC, and the Executive Commissioners, all the executive positions have gone to a part of the country, which may really be inadvertent.

But such development matters a lot to readers out there and even industry watchers who quickly warned that the Tinubu government should not dilute the standard it is trying to establish in the telecommunications industry by making appointments that will carry more controversy than their intended good.

The telecoms industry suffered a lot under the last government and should not be punished further by actions that can be avoided.