in existence. The National Assembly should be wary of all contraptions that come in the name of Bill, including this ostentatious manifestation of ignorance, arrogance and avarice. The only place for the Bill is the trash which should be heading to the incinerator, after which the ashes should be blown in the wind, as a lasting evidential ignominy and escort for those who don’t mean well for our nation.
Mind you, the deaths in Kaduna were no matters of urgent national importance, the poverty in the land even at this time that people are supposed to have a little fun is not their headache, not even the attack on INEC offices across the nation.
The fact that concerns are overwhelmingly synchronous should compel the National Assembly to have a rethink, and, in fact, spend more time to examine the manipulative urgency of the sponsors of the Bill, and also do a pan industry inquisition. It is worth pointing out that the NCC, USPF and NFMC are housed in the Nigerian Communications Act 2003. It is also recommended that they also speak to some curators of the industry, who include: Engr Titi Omo-Ettu and Dr Chris Uwaje, just to name only two. The telecommunications industry needs help, the law makers should not help to bury it instead.
This is an unfortunate position for the regulator to be in. The Nigerian telecoms regulator has been captured, totally. The industry calls such conquest “Regulatory Capture.”A search through the various departments of the NCC unearthed a review of the proposed amendment titled: Review of the Draft National Information Technology Development Agency Bill 2021. This document, which x-rayed the various sections of the proposed Bill, was authored in February 2001.
A little recall may suffice. The minister, Pantami, used to be the Director General of NITDA. While I will not want to say there is conflict of interest in the way he runs the ministry, I want to observe however, that he has not been able to emotionally detach himself from the operations of NITDA, to the extent that a brand new law is being put in place, to empower the agency and superimpose it on other agencies.