Nigerian Government inaugurates Steering Committee for NNBP 2020-2025

The Nigerian Government has inaugurated an Implementation Steering Committee for the Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2020-2025, according to a news report by The Guardian.

The new broadband plan, which hopes to have 90 percent of the population connected to broadband Internet, is equally targeting 70 percent broadband penetration in another five years.

The Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami, who inaugurated the committee in Abuja, noted that within this period, the government targeted a minimum of 25 MB per second in urban cities, and 10 MB per second in rural areas.

Pantami said broadband penetration is beyond taxation by states and will facilitate job creation, improve the standard of living of the citizens, spur economic growth, and to a large extent increase the national gross domestic product (GDP).

According to him, Nigeria is on the right track to achieving the target, as it has already attained 40.18 percent broadband penetration, indicating a 10 percent increase from the initial 30 percent penetration in 2018.

Pantami observed that digital technology has so far contributed 4.07 percent to the GDP in 2020. He noted that the major obstacles to broadband penetration in Nigeria, relate to the issues of Right of Way (RoW), and multiple taxes in the telecommunications sector.

The Minister observed that some states were charging as high as N10, 000.00 per meter for RoW, but after several engagements with the state governments through the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), the issues were resolved and some states waived off the fees while some brought it down to N145.00 per meter.

He explained that the government worked with stakeholders to produce the Broadband Plan, which has been launched by President Muhammadu Buhari.