The Federal Government has declared that telecoms operators in the country have no excuse for the poor state of services which have become noticeable particularly in recent weeks.
In a statement signed by the Minister in charge of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, and made available to media on Sunday, the government recounted the efforts it has made in terms of funding, investment in infrastructure and enabling policies, adding that the ball is now in the court of the network providers to meet the expectations of consumers.
“When we assumed office, it was clear that Nigeria’s connectivity challenges were structural, driven by years of underinvestment in infrastructure and constraints that limited the ability of operators to deliver quality service”, Dr. Tijani stated.
The Minister explained that the identified gaps had been attended in two broad ways:
“We have secured funding, led by the World Bank, and established the framework for a special purpose vehicle with Project BRIDGE, to deliver nationwide open access fibre infrastructure. Deployment of fibre will commence, alongside new tower rollouts through NUCAP, before the end of the year even as we also expand our satellite capability,” he said.
“These investments will address the foundational gaps in our digital infrastructure over the next two to five years and permanently transform connectivity across Nigeria.
He therefore posited that, “A small business owner should be able to access reliable, high speed fibre internet directly at their home or shop, not rely solely on dongles or unstable mobile connections. That is the level of meaningful connectivity we are building towards.”
The Minister disclosed that on the second level, government facilitated the immediate stabilisation of the sector.
In his words, “We took a hard look at the sustainability of the telecommunications sector and made the necessary decisions to restore it. This included allowing tariff adjustments, alongside broader reforms such as the designation of telecom infrastructure as critical national infrastructure, efforts to harmonise taxes, and macroeconomic reforms including the floating of the naira and the removal of fuel subsidies.
“As a result, operators are now operating in a more stable, transparent, and market driven environment and have returned to profitability.
“This is important as it means operators now have both the capacity and the resources to fix outstanding issues within their networks and improve the quality of service delivered to Nigerians.
“Let me therefore be clear, the conditions required for improved service delivery have now been established.
Calling out the telcos in unmistakable terms, the Minister said, “It is now the responsibility of telecom operators such as MTN Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria, Globacom, and T2 to take all necessary steps to resolve network challenges and deliver the level of service Nigerians expect.
In a veiled upbraiding of the sector Regulator, the Minister stated, “At the same time, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has been fully empowered, without interference, to carry out its mandate of monitoring performance, enforcing service standards, and ensuring compliance across the industry.
‘We will continue to rely on the Commission’s periodic reports to track network performance, as well as feedback from Nigerians, including complaints and experiences shared across public platforms, to engage both the NCC and operators even more actively in the days, weeks, and months ahead.
He read the root act categorically, “Going forward, we expect to see clear and measurable improvements in call quality, data performance, and coverage.
Calling on the sector regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission to wield the big stick where necessary, the Minister said, “where operators deliver, it will be recognised.
Where they do not, the Commission is expected to take appropriate regulatory action.
“Nigerians should begin to see improvements in Quality of Service and get value that they paid for now, and in the future”, the Minister emphasised.