Effective Policy Implementation in Telecoms Sector will Aid Faster Indigenous Economic Growth – PIAFo Chairman

In an effort to stimulate the effective implementation of policy in Nigerian telecoms sector, the Chairman of Policy Implementation Assisted Forum (PIAFo), Mr Omobayo Azeez has said promotion of indigenous content goes beyond verbal commitment.

He made this disclosure at the maiden edition of PIAFo held yesterday which saw the participation of various stakeholders Nigeria has successfully hosted a delegation team from the Nigerian telecoms regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), operators in the Nigerians telecoms sector and other stakeholders within the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy (FMoCDE).

The virtual event focused on the National Policy for the Promotion of Indigenous Content in the Nigerian Telecoms Sector and themed: Facilitating Policy Implementation to Deliver Value in the Nigerian Telecoms Sector.

Business Metrics Editor and Chairman, Organising Committee of the forum, Mr Omobayo Azeez said in his opening remarks at the e-conference that the forum was a brainchild of concerns arising from perceived poor implementation of policies in Nigeria.

He announced that the event marked the birth of a new initiative and an addition to the mechanism of policy implementation in Nigeria.

He said, “You will agree with me that the Nigerian archive is replete with good policies across the various sectors of the economy. But poor implementation has always characterized the system.

“We desire to change this order of poetic policy pronouncement and prosaic execution by creating a midpoint interface between the government and private sector players, where policies can be dissected, digested and driven to effective implementation, and later appraised using measurable metrics to assess their success over time.”

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According to him, the journey for the Policy Implementation Assisted Forum has just started with its focus on the National Policy for the Promotion of Indigenous Content in the Nigerian Telecommunication Sector, going forward, he said, the forum shall address various other policies across the telecoms sector, banking, oil & gas, aviation, agriculture, mining, MSME sectors, among others.

He noted that the telecom policy addressed at the forum was launched on May 6, 2021, by President Muhammadu Buhari, and according to the President, the policy is in line with the current administration’s commitment to ensure that Nigerians become active participants in the sectors of the economy.

This commitment had earlier been expressed in the Presidential Order 005 on “Planning of Projects, Promotion of Nigerian Content in Contracts and Science, Engineering and Technology” and the Presidential Order 003 on “Support for Local Content Procurements by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria”, he noted.

Azeez further explained that the forum, therefore, has been designed by the Business Metrics Nigeria Team to take the promises of the indigenous content policy in the telecoms sector beyond verbal commitment.

“We believe we can only achieve objectives of the policy by creating active dialogue around it to ensure that individual stakeholders understand how they fit into the bigger picture and what role is expected of them to attain these objectives for the greater good of our economy,” he said.