Business
By Benprince Ezeh
BUSINESS Metrics Nigeria has said that the indigenous content policy in the telecoms sector will go beyond verbal commitment and that going forward, the forum shall address various other policies across the telecoms sector, banking, oil & gas, aviation, agriculture, mining, MSME sectors, among others.
In his welcome address by Omobayo Azeez, chairman, organising committee Policy Implementation Assisted Forum, PIAFO, at the maiden edition of the forum on Thursday August 12, 2021 in Abuja.
He said: “This forum is a brainchild of concerns arising from perceived poor implementation of policies in Nigeria.
“Today’s virtual gathering focuses on the National Policy for the Promotion of Indigenous Content in the Nigerian Telecommunication Sector, and to further maintain that focus.
“This policy was launched on May 6, 2021 by President Muhammadu Buhari, and according to the President, the policy is in line with the current administration’s commitment to ensure that Nigerians become active participants in the sectors of the economy. This commitment had earlier been expressed in the Presidential Order 005 on “Planning of Projects, Promotion of Nigerian Content in Contracts and Science, Engineering and Technology” and the Presidential Order 003 on “Support for Local Content Procurements by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria.”
According to him, this forum therefore has been designed by the Business Metrics Nigeria Team to take the promises of the indigenous content policy in the telecoms sector beyond verbal commitment.
“We believe we can only achieve the objectives of the policy by creating active dialogue around it to ensure that individual stakeholders understand how they fit into the bigger picture and what role is expected of them to attain these objectives for the greater good of our economy,” he said.
He added that the forum’s desire is to change this order of poetic policy pronouncement and prosaic execution by creating a midpoint interface between the government and private sector players, where policies can be dissected, digested and driven to effective implementation, and later appraised using measurable metrics to assess their success over time.
“I am also glad to announce to you that today marks the birth of a new initiative and an addition to the mechanism of policy implementation in Nigeria. You will agree with me that Nigerian archive is replete with good policies across the various sectors of the economy. But poor implementation has always characterized the system.
“The journey for the Policy Implementation Assisted Forum has just started today with its focus on the National Policy for the Promotion of Indigenous Content in the Nigerian Telecommunication Sector, going forward, the forum shall address various other policies across telecoms sector, banking, oil & gas, aviation, agriculture, mining, MSME sectors, among others.
“At this juncture, permit me to appreciate our partners in this progressive journey, who have not only endorsed the ideology of the forum, but also threw their weight behind it by giving moral and material supports,” Azeez said.
The meeting, which had the theme: ‘Facilitating Policy Implementation to Deliver Value in the Nigerian Telecoms Sector’ was attended by many dignitaries and cooperate organisations.
They included: Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, minister of communications and digital economy, Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, executive vice chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, director-general Nigerian Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, Dan-Azumi Ibrahim, director-general of National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion, NOTAP.
Others are, MTN Communications Nigeria PLC, Skymax Technologies Limited, Rack Centre, AVM Consults Limited, Fiam Wi-Fi, Broadbase Communications Limited, Cedarview Communications Limited, ipNX Nigeria Limited, Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), Swift Telephone Network and EnextGen Wireless.
First published Aug. 19, 2021 @ 11:34 GMT | C.E
Tags: Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami Omobayo Azeez President Muhammadu Buhari
