I agree with the president on telecommunications

In his speech to mark the 65th Independence Anniversary of our great nation, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said, “We have experienced a significant surge in growth across every sector of our national life since Independence – in healthcare, infrastructure, financial services, manufacturing, telecommunications, information technology, aviation and defence, among others.”

Let me pick out telecommunications and information technology, two sectors so nebulously linked as to permit easy delineation, to state here that I agree with the President that the country has made tremendous progress in the sectors which remain an important part of the engine room powering the nation’s GDP. Without the two sectors, life would return to the Stone Age with vengeful retardation, and this is nobody’s wish at the moment, especially if you are a patriot.

Those who have powered the telecommunications sector to create a tipping point under the President Obasanjo administration, were readily available to stand proudly with the President to serenade the nation. Yes, the mobile service providers painted such a kaleidoscopic mosaic out of the tech history of the nation that even the regular artist or poet would feel diminished or really just grow green with envy. They readily followed the foot marks of the regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), who led with the patriotic outpouring of what can be described as an industry guts-feel.

“Today, the Nigerian Communications Commission joins the Nation in celebrating our unity, resilience, and progress. Together, we remain committed to connecting every Nigerian to the promise of a brighter, digital future. We must put all our hands on deck for a digitally advanced Nation,” the NCC celebrated on its website.

Frontline mobile service provider, MTN, told a beautiful story of bullish infrastructure growth, widespread connectivity affecting every aspect of life, including financial services, and a rich entertainment and culture lore that have arrested the attention of the world.

“A people. A Nation. Look how far we have come in the past 65 years. Our infrastructure development continues to drive integration, growth, and endless cultural possibilities…..

“Indeed we have come a long way. Connecting Lives, Families, Communities and Industries. As we mark our 65th Independence Anniversary, we at MTN are proud to celebrate with you. Happy Independence Day.”

It was the Chief Executive, Karl Toriola who delivered the final lines with executive punch and proficiency to enunciate the seriousness of the occasion and the affectionate ventilations of the MTN Group during the celebrations.

For Airtel, a company that went through fire and several name changes as it fought for survival in its early days, “Naija @ 65! We’ve danced, we’ve hustled, we’ve conquered and we keep rising.

“From Afrobeats shaking the world, to tech hubs shaping the future, to talents breaking records, Nigeria always shows up big and bold. We no dey carry last.

“65 years on, our spirit remains unshakeable, our dreams unstoppable, and our future undeniable.

“Happy Independence Day to the land of resilience and endless creativity,” Airtel stated in a Facebook post illustrated with beautiful pictures.

For the Nigerian authentic brand, Glo, a company with bold ambitions which funded a submarine cable from the United Kingdom to Africa at a time a number of operators in the continent were still mostly concerned with intra country interconnectivity, and above all that, introducing a per second billing system into the nation’s telecom ecosystem when it was considered nigh impossible, it was a time to reward subscribers with free calls and data. Glo has both in abundance. If it didn’t, the patriotism of its bullish promoter, Chief Mike Adenuga, would compel the organisation to do something extraordinarily imaginative, even trail blazing, as in other times.

Glo simply said in a banner advert, “Empowering Our Future through Unlimited Connections. Happy 65th Independence Anniversary.”

Glo is right. The Glo-1 cable from the United Kingdom is indicative of a tech super highway into the future. The organisation is only stating its constant state of readiness and availability.

Without doubt, the Anniversary celebrations marked a moment of deep introspections and sobering reflections. The operators were not on, journey of self-bravura when they told the story of the preceding years to demonstrate the resilience and boisterous energy of a nation that has gone through a lot, to emerge with results reflecting inner strength and resolve.

The other beautiful aspect is the heavy reliance on Nollywood to tell their stories which is a beautiful proof of the traction between the creative industry rated as one of the biggest and the best in the world, the telecom sector, and the rewarding aftermaths that are mutual.

President Tinubu was right in his submission on the telecommunications and technology sectors, and he found fervent support from the octopal operators of both sectors who risked their funds investing in the Nigerian market to provide much needed services that have done so much in linking the country with the rest of the global community. Only the ingrate and those with memory deficit will scorn achievements in the tech ecosystem.

While this is not a critical appraisal of the speech, which I do not have the capacity to handle, let me also quickly add here that this material has no plan to say anything about healthcare and infrastructure where truth is in near deficit. The lived experience is evidently troubling enough to warrant any counter position.

However, I expected President Tinubu to make a pronouncement on the telecommunications and power sectors by way of giving both sectors a shot in the arm that could stir new growth. You may want to say that the power sector is part of the infrastructure I do want to speak about here. But please permit me this little indulgence because the failure of the power sector has posed a stubborn but shameful challenge to the good health of the telecommunications industry.

The truth about the power sector remains befuddled with all kinds of data gymnastics and technological jargons that mean very little to alleviate the lived experience of industry customers. 5,000 megawatts or 10,000 megawatts of electricity – the latter we don’t have at all, mean very little to a population of over 220m. The story of Band A, B or C, is an orchestrated gambit to a swindle helpless Nigerians.

What is the rollout target for those who claim to be investing in the power sector? How many megawatts are they supposed to add to the national grid annually?

One other thing. The arrangements and relationships in the sector are so convoluted that it is increasingly becoming difficult to know who to hold responsible for the epic failure in the sector. But such failure needs to be carefully portioned out to the owners because the failure of the power sector remains the base of underdevelopment in our dear nation.

I expected the President to have declared a State of Emergency in the power sector while parcelling out incentives to the investors. I also expected some kind of statement to be made about encouraging investors in the telecommunications industry because the sector remains relevant to every aspect of human endeavour and every hope for national growth. Let me explain.

The telecommunications industry plateaued under President Obasanjo who went round the world inviting investors and baiting them with Tax Holiday. The results were instantaneous and remained to the joy of subscribers and other telecom consumers. Unfortunately, after that administration, it has been one administration at a time, doing the round and contributing very little. The industry saw its fortunes plummet and needed help urgently.

I want to state without equivocations here that the tariff increase approved for industry operators by this administration was the best thing to do because the industry needed to breathe. Apart from the operators returning to the path of profit, there are still lingering underlying issues.

The regulator is challenged because previous occupants of that office failed to understand the relevance and importance of the regulatory agency to the nation, and therefore engaged in actions that unsettled the tradition of the organisation.

Under the Buhari administration, the regulator conducted two auctions for 5G spectrums, harvesting license fees in excess of $820m. MTN, Mafab and Airtel were the benefiting operators. As we speak, only about 3.17 percent, translating to about 5.2 million subscribers, are connected to the 5G networks across the nation. The conclusion that is easily reached is that the government was more interested in making money from the spectrum sales than giving operators clear cut targets that would benefit the users.

Going forward, 5G technology holds the key to exponential growth of any nation. In some parts of the world, 5G is already becoming the mainstay of domestic and corporate data consumption. But why is rollout and uptake slow in Nigeria? That is for the regulator to find out. It is the reason this government should have made a declaration on the sector to encourage investors to throw in more funds and create another tipping point.

This is no critique of the President’s speech but a humble observation that more needed to have been built in, including declarations that can stimulate growth in strategic sectors.