The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) as remitted over N72 billion yearly into the federation account since the beginning of president Muhammad Buhari administration.
For five years, from 2015 to date, the Commission’s remittance to the federal government has reached N362.34 billons.
The revenue came from spectrum fees and operating surplus. For instance, the transfer of the spectrum license of 2X 10MHz in the 900MHz E-GSM Spectrum band from Intercellular Nigeria to Airtel networks Limited, alone brought in the sum of N8.9 billion.
The amount generated through that singular initiative has brought significant revenue to the government.
The NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Professor Umar Danbatta who spoke on the five years’ activities of the Commission under his watch, also said that the telecom regulatory body has continued to collaborate with the academia to support the development of innovative services and life-changing solutions with the use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) to promote indigenous content development.
This has led to the award of N336.4 million as research grants to academia and has endowed professorial chairs in two Nigerian universities.
“We have empowered Nigerian youths by promoting their ingenuity and innovation in the development of locally-relevant technology solutions, Danbatta said adding that the 2020 NCC Virtual Hackathon, where it gave N9 million in grant to three top promising tech startups for solutions aimed at addressing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, was one of such areas the Commission as intervened”, he said.
The Commission, according to Danbatta has deliberately and consistently engaged investors in different fora to attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) and showed investors the Commission’s roadmap for Broadband, which includes the Open Access Model Initiative, the Infraco Project, 5G readiness, and the Access Gaps for market opportunities that new entrants could leverage on in Nigeria’s telecom space, and built confidence in the sector and ensure that current investors and new players flourish.
The Commission has also activated mandatory compliance with the Code of Corporate Governance for the telecoms industry. This initiative seeks to further strengthen telecoms entities, sustain the sector’s role as a driver of economic growth and social transformation, and attract investments, the EVC said.
