Business Briefs
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DESPITE the fact that about 134 million Nigerians are now using telephones, many people are not using smartphones. According to the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, the penetration of smartphones in Nigeria is very low considering the size of the country’s population and the proliferation of digital activities. Eugene Juwah, executive vice-chairman, NCC, who put the total number of smartphones in the country at 12 million, said henceforth, promotions that would enhance the use of smartphones would be encouraged, adding that the issue of broadband remained a priority to the NCC.
Juwah said at the 76th edition of the repackaged Telecoms Consumer Parliament, TCP, in Lagos, that since the repackaging of the TCP, the commission came up with a communiqué arising from the discussions at the last meeting which had reinvigorated its monitoring exercise to facilitate good service delivery.
The issues discussed included unsolicited text message; dropped balance/credit disappearance; dropped calls; quality of service and inaccessibility of services; advertisement of unapproved promotions; and inaccessibility to customer care help lines. “It is our belief that the resolution of the above issues will lead to remarkable improvement in service delivery and the quality of experience of all stakeholders,” he said.
The theme of this edition was “Data Service Delivery: The Way Forward”, and according to him, the NCC had provided enabling environment for effective data service delivery with its policy on broadband development in the country. “Our open access model has the ability of ensuring high quality internet experience for all stakeholders. The deployment of fibre optic cables by reputable Service Providers – Main One, MTN, Glo, WASL, and so on, has placed Nigeria among the comity of nations providing efficient Internet service to its citizens. The commission has licensed InfraCos that will provide this service to Nigerians in ways that will ensure good quality service. Our broadband policy is robust enough to bring about good data delivery.”
He said with about 180 million people as of 2014, and having more than 130 million subscriber base, Nigeria could not afford to be contented. According to him, ICT remains a priority of the federal government and an important part of the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan administration and its desire for strong, inclusive, non-inflationary growth using the ICT as the major driver for transformation.
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Nigeria to Export Rice in Three Years
THE federal government has said it will become a net exporter of rice in the next three years. More than N256 billion has been invested in the product in the past three years. Akinwumi Adesina, minister of agriculture and rural development, said part of the aims of the rice transformation agenda of the federal government which started in 2011 was to make Nigeria self-sufficient in rice production as well as exporter of the commodity.
“Nigeria must become a net exporter of food like Thailand and India. With the rice transformation agenda of Mr. President, a lot has been invested in the crop to ensure that we become self-sufficient in the production of rice. I have no doubt that in the next three to four years, Nigeria will start exporting rice like Thailand and India,” he said.
Adesina, who stated this at the second Nigeria Rice Investment Forum organised by the Business Group of the New Partnership for African Development, NEPAD, said 24 states across the federation were already growing rice during the dry season while the 36 states were producing the crop in the wet season. He said seven million metric tonnes of rice paddy had been added to Nigeria’s production, and that the country was 80 percent self-sufficient in the production of paddy rice.
The minister said the federal government was currently focusing on rice milling to ensure that the quantity of paddy rice produced in Nigeria was milled. He noted that it was very important for Nigeria to close its milling gap, stressing that the country would have to build more than 18 integrated rice mills to achieve this.
Also, Fidelia Njeze, special adviser to the president on NEPAD, said the forum was designed to provide an opportunity to review the successes achieved and the challenges faced in actualising self-sufficiency in rice production in Nigeria and West Africa. “As major stakeholders in the rice investment programme, this is an opportunity to address what needs to be done towards breaking the barriers of large scale production of rice in Nigeria. In this regard, issues such as setting up of mechanised rice mills, enhancement of production capabilities of small holder farmers, availability of improved seedlings, enhancing yield per hectare and building resilience against climate change must be addressed,” she said.
— Dec. 1, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT
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