TECH WORLD
Buhari launches 5G National Policy, says 5G will tackle insecurity
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday in Abuja directed all the security institutions to immediately leverage Fifth Generation (5G) technology, when deployed, to enhance security in the country.
Launching the National Policy on 5G for Nigeria’s Digital Economy, the President said the Federal Government will take full advantage of the opportunities that 5G provides for the economy, security and well-being of the nation.
President Buhari also allayed fears over health safety of 5G, affirming that such issues have been ”effectively addressed” in developing a Policy that suits the country.
On the benefits of 5G technologies, the President noted it can support virtually every sector of the economy, including enhanced connectivity, improved healthcare, support for education while fostering smart cities, and boosting agriculture, among other advantages.
He said: “It will also support security institutions with real time communication. 5G technology is significantly faster than earlier digital technologies and it provides near real-time communication. This can play a key role in boosting our efforts towards enhancing security across the nation.
“It will enable our security institutions to effectively deploy robotics, autonomous vehicles, augmented and virtual reality to address any security challenges that we face,” he said at the launch of the policy, which was presented and approved at the Federal Executive Council meeting on the 8th of September 2021, following a robust debate.”
The President explained that the National 5G Policy includes a deployment plan to ensure that major cities across the country benefit from the technologies.
He added that the policy, which is in line with the commitment of this administration to supporting the digital economy as an enabler for the diversification of our national economy, also seeks to make 5G a major driver of the economy, a catalyst for smart cities in the country and a platform for the creation of jobs that support digital economy.
He, therefore, assured investors that the Federal Government would continue to provide an enabling environment for their businesses to be very successful as Nigeria begins the roll-out of the technology.
President Buhari directed the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, to supervise the implementation of the Policy, being done by the Nigerian Communications Commission with the support of other government institutions.
The President also used the occasion to provide a rundown of how his administration has created an enabling environment for investments to thrive in Nigeria’s digital economy.
He recounted that the journey to the launch of the 5G National policy started with the launch of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy in November 2019 as well as the launch of a number of policies to strengthen the digital economy, including the Nigerian National Broadband Plan and the National Policy for the Promotion of Indigenous Content in the Nigerian Telecommunications Sector.
He noted that under his watch the agreement of the National Economic Council to peg the cost of the Right of Way at N145 per linear metre which was made in 2013, was only implemented in late 2019, after the intervention of the Federal Government.
According to the President, the Information and Communications Technology sector played a prime role in enabling Nigeria’s economy to swiftly exit the recession that was triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The GDP Report of the National Bureau of Statistics showed that the ICT sector was the fastest growing sector in the fourth quarter of 2020 and entire year 2020, recording double-digit growth rates of 14.70 per cent and 12.90 per cent respectively.
“The sector also recorded a 17.92 per cent contribution to our GDP in the second quarter of last year- this was its highest ever contribution. All these impressive and significant achievements have justified our efforts to support the growth of our digital economy,” he said.
Describing the process of developing the National 5G Policy as “painstaking, inclusive and focused,” President Buhari recalled that 5G trials commenced in some selected locations in November 2019.
“Multi-sectoral stakeholders then deliberated on the report of the trials to ensure that health, security and other concerns were effectively addressed in developing a policy that suits our country.
“The National 5G Policy will position Nigeria to harness the potentials of 5G technologies to further develop the economy and improve the indices of well-being in the nation,” he said.
Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantam
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy affirmed the sector has recorded unprecedented achievements with increased remittances to the Federation Account, resolution of lingering issues in the industry and successful auctioning of the 3.5 gigahertz (GHz) spectrum for the deployment of 5G technology.
He thanked the President for the consistent support to the sector, announcing that within two years the Federal Government completed 1,667 ICT related projects.
“As at August 2021, the sector remitted over N1 trillion to the Federation Account and this is unprecedented because the usual remittances is around 200 billion annually and this has been increased substantially,” he said.
On the spectrum auction for the 5G, Prof Pantami explained that from the reserve price of N75 billion per spectrum, each spectrum was assigned to the winners at the price of over N250 billion per spectrum.
The Minister expressed confidence that given the experiences from other countries and available research, Nigeria would derive maximum benefits from the deployment of 5G technology.
![CPPE Pleads with CBN, Buhari to Review Process of Returning Old Notes The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise [CPPE] has pled with the Central Bank of Nigerian (CBN) and President Muhammadu Buhari to review the process through which Nigerians can return the old naira note they have at hand without losing their hard-earned money. In a statement signed Sunday by its chief executive officer, Muda Yusuf, CPPE beseeched the government to give a human face to the, lamenting that the agony and trauma inflicted by the entire management of the policy is unspeakable. Accordingly, CPPE urged the apex bank to allow the old 1,000 and 500 naira notes to be deposited at the commercial banks to ease the current pains and ordeal of returning the old notes. It further added: “The process should also be simplified to accommodate millions of rural dwellers, the informal sector players, the over 30 million unbanked Nigerians and several millions that are not literate. “The current guidelines which require filling of forms on the CBN portals, generating codes etc. does not reckon with millions of Nigerians that seek to return their old notes who are not literate, who don’t have access to internets and who are in very remote locations in various parts of the country. “They are Nigerians and are entitled to a fair consideration in the implementation process.” The Centre said most of the vulnerable victims of poor execution of the policy are women, microenterprises and small businesses which are contributing immensely to employment, poverty reduction and social stability at the bottom of the economic pyramid of the country. “It is bad enough that their lives and livelihoods have been terribly disrupted and disoriented. “We plead with the CBN to review its processes in the interest of fairness, justice and social inclusion,” the Centre said. Current approach Practically Impossible Meanwhile, the Centre said the current approach being employed by the apex to handle the process is evidently impractical. “It is impractical for the CBN offices to properly handle the process of receiving old currency notes which are still in abundance in the hands of millions of Nigerians. “It noted that there is only one branch of the CBN office in each state of the federation and the FCT. “It is practically impossible for the CBN to manage this process without subjecting our citizens to another round of harrowing experience.” It said the experience and images and disorderliness of the past few days at the CBN offices graphically illustrates this position. Conflicting Directives Businessmetrics reported that the CBN last week issued two conflicting directives within few hours which further heightened tension. While the CBN was believed to have directed Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in the country to start taking deposit of old 1,000 and 500 naira notes of not more N500,000 from their customers, the apex bank deny same directive hours later which led to more confusion for Nigerians. Nigeria is currently undergoing the process of withdrawing the old version of N1,000 and N500 notes from the system, to be replaced with the redesigned version of the currency notes as well N200 which, President Muhammadu Buhari, however, said would still remain a legal tender in the meantime. In the face of scarce new notes coupled with old notes still held by Nigerians outside the banking system, the February 10 deadline given by the CBN to swap the noted has led to economic disruption and hardship for most Nigerians as they remain cashless.](https://i0.wp.com/businessmetricsng.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/WhatsApp-Image-2023-02-20-at-12.13.47-AM.jpeg?resize=400%2C240&ssl=1)
![CPPE Pleads with CBN, Buhari to Review Process of Returning Old Notes The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise [CPPE] has pled with the Central Bank of Nigerian (CBN) and President Muhammadu Buhari to review the process through which Nigerians can return the old naira note they have at hand without losing their hard-earned money. In a statement signed Sunday by its chief executive officer, Muda Yusuf, CPPE beseeched the government to give a human face to the, lamenting that the agony and trauma inflicted by the entire management of the policy is unspeakable. Accordingly, CPPE urged the apex bank to allow the old 1,000 and 500 naira notes to be deposited at the commercial banks to ease the current pains and ordeal of returning the old notes. It further added: “The process should also be simplified to accommodate millions of rural dwellers, the informal sector players, the over 30 million unbanked Nigerians and several millions that are not literate. “The current guidelines which require filling of forms on the CBN portals, generating codes etc. does not reckon with millions of Nigerians that seek to return their old notes who are not literate, who don’t have access to internets and who are in very remote locations in various parts of the country. “They are Nigerians and are entitled to a fair consideration in the implementation process.” The Centre said most of the vulnerable victims of poor execution of the policy are women, microenterprises and small businesses which are contributing immensely to employment, poverty reduction and social stability at the bottom of the economic pyramid of the country. “It is bad enough that their lives and livelihoods have been terribly disrupted and disoriented. “We plead with the CBN to review its processes in the interest of fairness, justice and social inclusion,” the Centre said. Current approach Practically Impossible Meanwhile, the Centre said the current approach being employed by the apex to handle the process is evidently impractical. “It is impractical for the CBN offices to properly handle the process of receiving old currency notes which are still in abundance in the hands of millions of Nigerians. “It noted that there is only one branch of the CBN office in each state of the federation and the FCT. “It is practically impossible for the CBN to manage this process without subjecting our citizens to another round of harrowing experience.” It said the experience and images and disorderliness of the past few days at the CBN offices graphically illustrates this position. Conflicting Directives Businessmetrics reported that the CBN last week issued two conflicting directives within few hours which further heightened tension. While the CBN was believed to have directed Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in the country to start taking deposit of old 1,000 and 500 naira notes of not more N500,000 from their customers, the apex bank deny same directive hours later which led to more confusion for Nigerians. Nigeria is currently undergoing the process of withdrawing the old version of N1,000 and N500 notes from the system, to be replaced with the redesigned version of the currency notes as well N200 which, President Muhammadu Buhari, however, said would still remain a legal tender in the meantime. In the face of scarce new notes coupled with old notes still held by Nigerians outside the banking system, the February 10 deadline given by the CBN to swap the noted has led to economic disruption and hardship for most Nigerians as they remain cashless.](https://i0.wp.com/businessmetricsng.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/WhatsApp-Image-2023-02-20-at-12.13.47-AM.jpeg?resize=80%2C80&ssl=1)