Nigeria can now produce SIM cards for Africa — Pantami

Nigeria has expressed readiness to produce Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards for other African countries.

The Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami, made the announcement yesterday while briefing the House of Representatives on the importance of an executive bill seeking to create an enabling environment for technology innovators to maximise their potential by becoming job creators in the ICT sector.

Entitled: “A bill for an act to provide for the creation and development of an enabling environment for technology-enabled start-ups in Nigeria,” the proposed law, according to the minister, will attract investments to expand the numerous business ideas by young Nigerians.

He said since the private sector controls 91 per cent of the financial inflow into the economy as demonstrated by the available statistics, the bill, if passed into law, will encourage investors seeking to expand innovative ideas.

Pantami said: “There are seven Unicorns in Africa and five have roots in Nigeria with offices in Nigeria but registered in other countries due to lack of enabling laws to protect their innovations and investment.

“One of the start-ups that came up in 2018, by 2020, their value rose to $3trn which is the largest in Africa, and they are based in Lagos.” He added: “The essence of this bill, first of all, is to create jobs for the teeming youths through these innovations and improve the economy.”

According to the minister, the bill, when enacted, will create a regulatory council chaired by the President, with a view to providing policy guidance to tech start-ups. “There will be a council to be chaired by the president, which is the best practice anywhere in the world. He has accepted to be the chairman and my humble self as minister will deputise Mr President on the council,” he said.

Pantami added that “Funding can’t be an issue because the private sector controls 91 per cent of financial inflow into the economy. The council is to create an enabling environment for inventors to come in and invest in the start-ups which is what obtains anywhere in the world.”

He also said funding for start-ups under the new law will be in the form of soft loans aided by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority with flexible interest rates and repayment timelines

On the role of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), he said the Council would not affect the body as it is in charge of telecommunications activities in the country while the council deals with innovations in the ICT sector.

The minister said: “If there are effects on the NCC, there will be positive ones through the creation of solutions for the telecom sector as the mandate of the NCC will not be affected but instead supported.”

House Leader Alhassan Ado Doguwa had earlier told the minister that the interaction was necessary to provide background information for defending the bill during debates. (New Telegraph)