NCC’s N569bn 2023 budget and telecoms growth
On Tuesday, the Senate approved N559,080,711,000 as the fiscal budget for the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to drive continuous growth in the telecommunications industry.
There are several examples of this telecoms growth in Africa. In South Africa, the wireless telecommunication services market grew by 7.5 per cent in 2021, reaching a value of $7.2 billion. In Egypt, the market grew by 16.5 per cent that same year to a value of $4.4 billion. In Nigeria, it grew by over 20 per cent, reaching a value of $7.4 billion.
Following the presentation by the Committee on Communications, the lawmaker representing Yobe South, Ibrahim Bomai, who laid and presented the reports, stated that the NCC 2023 budget of N559.080 billion was made up of total recurrent expenditure of N86.7 billion, capital expenditure of N5.2 billion, and special projects of N35 billion.
At the committee budget defense to the joint National Assembly, Executive Secretary of Nigeria Communications Commission, Professor Umar Danbatta explained that the 2023 budget anticipated the deployment of 5G, which would offer greater network flexibility and translate into improved quality of service and quality of experience for consumers. He said these would ultimately lead to an increase in revenue for network operators and the government.
The fiscal allocation is pioneered on the Commission’s expected N416 billion revenue generation to be transferred to the Federal Government Consolidated Revenue Fund.
As experts prospects on the areas in dire need of interventions within the sector, Nigerians expect nothing less than a prudent utilization of the Commission’s 2023 budget to revitalise the telecoms ecosystem.
An adequate fiscal budgetary allocation is critical to every government agency and parastatal. No doubt, in the past six years, NCC has played a crucial role in improving the country’s Gross Domestic Product via the foresighted leadership of the Executive Vice Chairman, EVC Prof Umar Danbatta and the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Pantami. Yet, this next year’s budget should double the achievements.
Specifically, Nigerian NewsDirect writes in this editorial that the Commission should devote a large chunk of its capital expenditure of N5.2 billion and N35 billion special projects towards improving access in underserved communities.
Also, research development should be a priority for the Commission, especially with the emerging cyber threats and risks. Here, NCC needs to go all out to bridge the disconnect between academics and the industry.
Similarly, NCC should strengthen its regulatory framework to drive effective telecom policy implementation. To this end, NCC cannot fail to achieve the Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2020-2025.
