The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), has scored Nigeria 71% in comparative legal, policy, and governance frameworks towards G5, an advanced state of readiness for digital transformation.
According to a statement from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Nigeria was scored in a report written by the ITU, and the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), which was unveiled by Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani in Abuja on Monday.
In the report, Nigeria was ranked among Africa’s top seven in 5G Readiness Index, which represents the country’s readiness to deploy and adopt mass-market 5G networks.
Titled, ‘Collaborative Regulation: Accelerating Nigeria’s Digital Transformation’, and presented by ITU’s Kagwira Nkonge, the report, among other things, presented a case study for ‘collaborative regulation review to assess and support Nigeria’s transition towards collaborative digital governance, evidence-based policymaking, and agile regulation in the digital economy.
State of readiness
The ITU benchmarked Advanced State of Readiness measurement for countries against four critical levels of accomplishments which include national collaborative governance, policy design principles, digital development toolbox, and digital economic policy agenda.
According to the report, Nigeria scores 91% in regulatory capacity; 82% in Market Rules; 81% in Collaborative Governance; 76% in Legal Instruments for ICT/Telecom markets; and 69% in National Digital Agenda Policy, among other benchmarks.
Dr. Tijani, in his remarks at the event, commended the ITU and partner agencies and consultants that actualised the report; and expressed the Federal Government’s commitment “to utilise this report as a navigational aid towards attainment of our regulatory objectives and policies outlines towards achieving a robust digital economy”.
“That is what we will continue to do as a government, ensuring that we can put ourselves in a place to have cutting-edge modern regulations in place to ensure that business is done properly in our sector and to ensure that, where possible, increase the local content of the sector as well,” he said.
Tijani noted that NCC has adapted over the years in response to how its role and mandate have changed.
“Fifteen, twenty years ago, NCC was just regulating the telecommunications sector, today, NCC regulates the foundation for which any economy would be prosperous,” the Minister added.
Also speaking, the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida, who hosted the presentation, welcomed the indicators that promote effective regulation, the attraction of greater investment, and the development of innovative models for broader digital inclusion.
He emphasized that collaborative regulation would support Nigeria’s transition towards effective digital governance, evidence-based policymaking and agile regulation in the nation’s digital economy.
What you should know
The report, which was presented to a cross-section of key industry stakeholders including service providers, government agencies, representatives of multilateral institutions, West Africa Telecommunications Regulators Assembly (WATRA), Africa Telecommunications Union (ATU), among others, was also designed to complement existing cross-country benchmarks in which features of countries policy and regulatory environment are assessed.
The features of countries’ policy and regulatory environment are assessed according to the pillars of the Generations of Regulation frameworks which track telecom regulatory maturity towards digital transformation readiness, designated at G5 Advanced State of Readiness, and for which Nigeria currently stands at G4.
