A new report by research firm SBM Intelligence has highlighted gaps in the handling of Nigeria’s telecommunications sector under the leadership of Dr. Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, raising concerns about the disconnect between the Ministry’s digital ambitions and ground-level realities.
According to the report, while Dr. Tijani has unveiled bold initiatives such as the 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) programme aimed at producing a digitally skilled workforce, his approach appears to lack the operational depth required to address critical challenges in the telecoms industry.
The report suggests that Dr. Tijani, whose background is largely rooted in innovation and the broader digital economy, may not possess in-depth experience in telecommunications infrastructure, a sector that remains central to Nigeria’s digital transformation.
“A minister without a comprehensive understanding of core telco operations might find it difficult to translate broad digital goals into effective policies that genuinely support the underlying infrastructure,” the report stated.
Policy implementation issues
The report cited the Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) Protection policy as one area where the Minister has not lived up to expectations.
“An example of an implementation challenge under Dr. Tijani’s tenure is the Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) Protection policy.
“Although President Tinubu designated telecom infrastructure as CNII in August 2024, telco operators report ongoing attacks and vandalism.
“They attribute this to a perceived ‘lack of direction on the enforcement of the policy and the government’s failure to designate a specific security agency for the enforcement,’ indicating a clear disconnect between policy formulation and effective execution,” SBM stated in the report.
- The report also noted that while the government is targeting $3 billion in telecom infrastructure investments and planning to deploy 90,000 kilometres of fibre optic cable, systemic issues remain unaddressed.
- These include multiple taxation, exorbitant right-of-way (RoW) charges, and macroeconomic pressures such as currency devaluation, high inflation, and soaring diesel costs, all of which have eroded the financial viability of telecom operators.
Past Minister
In the report titled ‘Signal Strength: The Past, Present, and Future of Nigerian Telecom’, SBM Intelligence also evaluated the tenure of the immediate past Minister, Dr. Isa Pantami, noting that though he was a strong advocate for a “digital economy” agenda in Nigeria, and championed digital transformation and the implementation of enabling policies, his tenure was not without controversy.
“The NIN-SIM linkage policy, launched in December 2020, had a notable impact on the telecommunications sector.
“In 2021 alone, mobile operators collectively lost approximately nine million active internet subscribers. Furthermore, the government’s orders for network shutdowns, including the Twitter ban in June 2021, led to substantial economic losses for Nigeria, estimated at $366.9 million,” the report stated.
It, however, pointed out that under Pantami’s guidance, significant milestones were achieved, including the development of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) and the successful 5G rollout, which contributed to the generation of N1 trillion in revenue.
Key recommendations for the industry
To chart a sustainable path forward for the telecom sector, SBM Intelligence said the government needs to prioritise telecoms in CBN forex allocations.
- It also called for the implementation of robust and enforceable mechanisms for protecting critical national information infrastructure (CNII), explicitly designating and empowering security agencies for enforcement and ensuring accountability for vandalism.
- It said the government would also need to incentivise private sector investment in network expansion by addressing prohibitive right-of-way costs and multiple taxation.
For the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the research firm urged the Commission to mandate public consultations before tariff hikes and foster deeper and more structured dialogue and collaboration among government agencies, telecom operators, and civil society organisations to balance industry viability with consumer welfare and national development objectives.
