A MERE glance at the draft ICT policy recently published by the Ministry of Communications Technology would reveal several gaps and inconsistencies. These flaws cast serious doubts about its potency and efficacy to sustain the gains already recorded in the sector, let alone providing the launch pad for the future progress of the industry.
Closure of base stations across the nation by agents of state and local governments to enforce payment of sundry taxes and levies has again, attracted the attention of the telecoms regulatory authority, the Nigerian Communications Commission, (NCC) and service providers.
The shift towards knowledge-based jobs has accelerated the rise of the services sector, creating new opportunities. Time and distance from a business need no longer be the problems they once were.
One of the major concerns against a successful cash-lite economy which the Central Bank of Nigeria is propagating to drive usage of alternative electronic products and channels for financial transactions in the country, was the reliability of the platforms that the initiative would run on.
Just as temporary normalcy returned Monday afternoon after suspension of the nationwide strike by labour and civil society groups across the nation, Nigerians are still counting their losses due to network failure and shortage of cash at automated teller machines, especially in commercial centres where the technology has been fully deployed.
