Some folks who read this syndicated column every Wednesday have asked me at one point or the other, what beef do you have with the Nigerian Communications Commission ? Not any, I would always say, although beef is not the best source of protein for a senior citizen. So, beefing can be an invitation to trouble.
That takes some boldness, which my source explained, is stoked by a commitment to transparency. Oh, some hard decisions!After a rebasing of the telecommunications subscriber base in Nigeria, the figures plunged from 219,304,281 in March 2024, to 153,323,316 in September 2024. This is a clear case of irony. When our dear nation rebased her economy in 2014, the GDP fortunes suddenly increased by about 89 percent, propelling Nigeria to overtake South Africa as the largest economy in the continent.
The other supervening factor which brought a reality check on telecommunications industry statistics, is the successful completion of the NIN-SIM Linkage Policy of the government. The exercise which began in December 2020 in a welter of controversies, came to a confusticating end on September 14, 2024, by which time the regulator said “all SIMs operating in Nigeria are linked to a valid and verified NIN. Over 154m lines have been linked.
Skewing industry statistics is a pretty troubling phrase but my source is so excited that he doesn’t seem to mind, as there seems to be some interesting initiatives taking root at the Commission. Oh, just like the regulator waking up to the reality of expectations!