POLITICS
Tinubu Orders Digital Infrastructure Investments Prioritization to Enhance Business
By Mathew Dadiya, Abuja
President Bola Tinubu has directed the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy; the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), and the Federal Ministry of Environment to align regulations and tax frameworks to facilitate investment expansion in telecommunications and broadband infrastructure nationwide.
The President issued the directive at a meeting with a delegation from American Tower Corporation (ATC) Nigeria at the State House in Abuja on Thursday, expressing dissatisfaction with the bureaucratic pace in permit issuance processing for companies operating in the digital infrastructure sector.
The Chief Executive Officer of ATC Africa, Mr.
Marek Busfy had expressed ATC Nigeria’s commitment to expanding its investments in the country, which have already surpassed $2.19 billion since its commencement of Nigerian operations in 2015.Busfy also emphasized ATC’s commitment to delivering value to subscribers while reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with its operations.
Responding, President Tinubu commended ATC Nigeria for its significant contributions and investments in the country’s ICT sector, highlighting the importance of innovative solutions to bridge the digital divide.
The President lauded the ongoing efforts of the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy to promote digital connectivity across the nation, particularly the 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) programme that functions to upskill three million Nigerian youths in digital literacy and innovation through innovation incubators nationwide.
Tinubu outlined ongoing initiatives to establish broadband connectivity in all 774 local government secretariats within six months, leveraging existing infrastructure, such as NIGCOMSAT and Galaxy Backbone’s fibre optic network.
”In the area of ease of doing business, no nation can make progress without paying attention to the opportunities that are right in front of them. We have a vibrant youth population that has successfully innovated without much government support. What now happens in this era when we are providing massive support to their digital economic activities? They will do very well. You are investing in the right place at the right time.
”Considering our population and land mass, we need your investments to ensure that we are ready for a higher level of digital penetration in the telecommunications sector and the specific type of digital education that is needed in the competitive, knowledge-based global economy of the 21st century,” the President said.
Addressing concerns raised by the delegation regarding the ease of doing business in Nigeria, President Tinubu assured them of his administration’s commitment to implementing reforms that will eliminate bureaucratic constraints.
In response to a request from the delegation for a reduction in withholding tax for telecommunications companies to stimulate investments in telecommunications and broadband infrastructure, the President said the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) would review the matter and provide a solution that is in the best interest of both the investors and the Nigerian people.
”Every citizen, whether at the corporate or individual level, fights tax. Let us work with the FIRS and see how we can slice the cake. If the country has a good path of growth, it is a greater opportunity for you to invest,” the President stated.
In his remarks, the CEO of ATC Africa reiterated the company’s readiness to invest further in Nigeria’s ICT infrastructure to meet the market’s growing demand for data, while lauding the clarity of strategy demonstrated by the administration, particularly praising the roadmap and efforts of the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani.
”Mr. President, what has struck me in Nigeria is the clarity of strategy by your administration, particularly in the ICT sector, and the administration’s 3MTT programme. In the last year, we have invested over $200 million in growing our infrastructure in Nigeria, and we are ready to do significantly more.
”We have employed several hundred people in Nigeria and 25,000 more indirectly. We have paid about $400 million in taxes, both direct and indirect. As an American company, we are often asked about our experience in Africa and in Nigeria, and we want to stress that we are very ethical in our approach to business,” Mr. Busfy said.
The Abia Chapter of the INEC Staff Welfare Association (ISWA) has warned its members to uphold the integrity of the commission and guard against the culture of manipulating election results.
The Abia Chairman of the association, Mr Collins Eze, gave the advice at the group’s general meeting and end-of-year party in Umuahia.
Speaking in an interview with newsmen on the sideline of the ceremony, Eze said that the staff members were adequately aware of their enormous responsibility and should ensure free, fair and credible elections.
He said: “We have also told our colleagues that anywhere they find themselves they should make sure that they do the needful by ensuring transparency in the conduct of elections.
“We have always told them not to allow anybody to induce them with money to manipulate election results.
“I’m happy that they have been building the capacity of our colleagues on election processes.
“So, in the coming years, we won’t have any problem in ensuring free, fair and peaceful elections.”
He said that the end-of-year party was special as it afforded them the opportunity “to wine and dine together as well as thank God for sustaining them in 2024”.
Eze said that his leadership had introduced various means of assisting members in dire financial needs by providing platforms to solicit suppory for them.
He expressed gratitude to members for their support and cooperation, describing them as the “secret behind the success of this administration”.
He said that 34 of at least 350 staff members of the commission in the state retired from service in 2024.
According to him, the development has placed a huge financial burden on the association, in terms of their welfare and entitlement as members.
Report says that each member received a carton of tomato paste as Christmas gift from the association. (NAN)
A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Osita Okechukwu, has told the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be thankful to God that its 16-year administration was not probed by the successive APC-led governments.Okechukwu stated this on Tuesday in Abuja, while reacting to a statement by PDP congratulating Ghanaians for the conduct of free, fair and transparent general elections.
Report says that PDP had, in a statement, said that the verdict of the people of Ghana in the presidential election was a signal to the APC that its days were numbered. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, had said in the statement that the power of the people in Nigeria, just like in Ghana, would ‘surely prevail and end the APC’s oppressive rule’.This, he said, would “return Nigeria to the path of good governance, security, political stability and economic prosperity on the platform of the PDP in 2027.”However, in his reactions to Ologunagba’s statement, Okechukwu said that the PDP clan should thank God that former President Muhammadu Buhari and President Bola Tinubu, out of sheer statesmanship, had refused to probe ‘the 16 locus years of PDP administrations’.Okechukwu, a former Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), described the 16 years of PDP administrations as ones full of squandering and lack of plan.He said that Nigeria had yet to recover from the humongous culture of impunity and trust deficit planted by PDP on the Nigerian soil.Okechukwu said corruption was among the culture of impunity, saying it governed the privatisation of Nigeria’s electricity value chain, a key element in the country’s industrialisation drive.“Another is the blatant rigging of the 2007 general elections which the foremost beneficiary, President Umaru Yar’Adua, out of good conscience and noble magnanimity, publicly acknowledged the malfeasance which characterised his victory,” he said.Okechukwu also mentioned what he called conscienceless sale of the legislative and ministerial quarters, the annual rentage of which, he said, was bleeding the country’s treasury.“Another one is the neglect of $23 billion Greenfield Refinery, which could have saved over $70 billion expended on importation of refined petroleum products and which simulated the economic hardship of today,” he said.On why, for nine years, the APC administration could not fix those challenges, he recalled the efforts made by the Buhari administration to reopen talks on the Greenfield Refinery which, according to him, the Chinese regrettably rebuffed.The former VON director-general said that Nigerians were not in a hurry to forget the deliberate breach of the rotational convention of president from the north to the south.He said that the country could not also forget the utter disregard for Section 7 of the PDP’s constitution which expressly mandated zoning.Okechukwu advised the PDP not to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians by assuming that citizens would easily forget how they were put in the harms way.He said that PDP should thank God that Buhari and Tinubu did not want to probe them, adding “that’s why Nigerians cannot decipher the difference between the two political parties.” (NAN)
Sen. Ned Nwoko (PDP-Delta) says that Local Government Administration is central to democracy in Nigeria as it ensures grassroots governance and service delivery at the local level.This is contained in a statement signed by Dr Michael Nwoko, the Chief of Staff to the lawmaker in Abuja on Monday.Nwoko said this on the occasion of the presentation of an award “Icon of Hope” to him by the Association of Local Government Vice Chairmen of Nigeria (ALGOVC).
He was represented by his Chief of Staff. He said that the importance of local government administration in the country could not be overemphasised, as it was the bedrock of democracy.According to him, local governments in Nigeria play key roles in the country’s democracy by promoting participatory democracy, providing services, and representing citizens.“Local Governments help determine local needs and how to meet them. They also act as a link between the centre, state, and local people.“They are created to decentralise power and bring the government closer to the people. They perform both mandatory and concurrent functions.“It is in view of this that I took it upon myself to enhance the viability of local governments through the Paris and London club loan refunds,”he said.Dr Folashade Olabanji-Oba, ALGOVC National Chairman, while presenting the award at its 7th Annual National Conference, said the award was in recognition of the lawmaker’s significant contributions to strengthening local government administration.She highlighted Nwoko’s critical role in ensuring the Paris and London Club loan refunds, a financial breakthrough she said enhanced the capacity of local governments nationwide.(NAN)
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