Monday, August 4, 2025 - The telecommunications sector is undergoing its most significant regulatory transformation in decades, as Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Aminu Maida, pushes for critical reforms amid legacy challenges and shifting national priorities. Since assuming office in October 2023, Maida has trained his periscope on reform, prioritising data-backed regulation, compliance, and institutional efficiency.
“We are committed to strengthening the Commission’s
regulatory processes, ensuring transparency, and boosting sectoral confidence,”
he had said during an event in Abuja.
His leadership has gained presidential nod, particularly as
the Commission prepares to implement the long-awaited amendments to the
Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003.
The draft, being reviewed, seeks to update the legal
framework in response to emerging threats like cybercrime, grey areas in
inter-agency roles, and technological disruptions.
Maida’s regulatory approach marks a departure from that of
his predecessor, Isa Pantami (2019–2023), whose push for digital inclusion led
to milestones like Nigeria’s 5G rollout. “The 5G rollout alone is projected to
add $11 trillion to the global economy by 2035,” Pantami had noted in 2022.
However, that period also saw controversial decisions such
as the NIN-SIM linkage policy, which led to the loss of over nine million
mobile lines, and the Twitter ban, which reportedly cost the country $366.9
million.
The Minister, Bosun Tijani, has taken a more
innovation-centred route, launching initiatives like the 3MTT digital skills
programme and fast-tracking Nigeria’s fibre optic expansion. His efforts align
with Maida’s goal of regulatory clarity, especially in infrastructure policy.
One area under urgent review is telecom infrastructure
protection. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, last August, designated telecoms as
Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII), yet operators continue to
face sabotage.
According to the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators
of Nigeria (ALTON), vandalism in Lagos alone has caused over ₦5 billion damages in a
year.
“We are pushing for more robust enforcement clauses in the
amended NCA,” Maida said, adding that infrastructure sharing and rights-of-way
(RoW) standardisation are key to ending duplication and inefficiencies.
While policy shifts continue at the top, sectoral
performance remains resilient. As of May, this year, broadband penetration
stood at 48.15 per cent, and mobile subscriptions stabilised around 224
million, according to the NCC. The Commission has also deepened internal
restructuring to strengthen oversight, though not without friction. Staff
unions recently raised concerns over a wave of redeployment and new performance
audits.
Still, Maida appears undeterred. “Our priority is to ensure
that the Commission functions at optimal capacity – we cannot regulate a
21st-century industry with 20th-century tools,” he said.
With parallel momentum from the policy and regulatory
fronts, Nigeria’s telecom landscape is gradually aligning for sustainable
growth. The question is whether this new phase of reform can withstand the
weight of old problems – and push the sector into a future that balances
innovation with resilience
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