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NCC: A New Dawn in Nigeria’s Digital Transformation

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Dr. Aminu Maida, a trailblazer in telecommunications policy and regulation, brought to the NCC a wealth of experience and a clear vision: to position Nigeria as Africa’s leader in digital innovation and connectivity. Since his appointment, he has championed policies and initiatives that have fostered inclusivity, innovation, and infrastructure expansion. His collaborative approach has strengthened the Commission’s relationship with stakeholders, ensuring that the benefits of digital transformation reach every Nigerian.

        — Abdulrahman Aliagan

By Abdulrahman Aliagan, Managing Editor, Time Nigeria Magazine

2024 will be remembered as a transformative year in Nigeria’s telecommunications and digital economy sectors, with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) at the helm of groundbreaking achievements. Under the astute leadership of its Executive Vice Chairman, Dr. Aminu Maida, the Commission has cemented its role as a key driver of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda. Working in seamless synergy with the Federal Ministry of Communications, Technology, and Digital Economy, led by the visionary Dr. Bosun Tijani, the NCC has delivered milestones that have redefined the nation’s digital landscape.

Dr. Aminu Maida, a trailblazer in telecommunications policy and regulation, brought to the NCC a wealth of experience and a clear vision: to position Nigeria as Africa’s leader in digital innovation and connectivity. Since his appointment, he has championed policies and initiatives that have fostered inclusivity, innovation, and infrastructure expansion. His collaborative approach has strengthened the Commission’s relationship with stakeholders, ensuring that the benefits of digital transformation reach every Nigerian.

2024 was a year of unprecedented achievements starting from the launching of critical projects to driving innovative regulatory frameworks, the NCC’s activities in 2024 have been nothing short of remarkable.

Building on its 2022 launch of 5G services, the NCC accelerated the rollout of this transformative technology in 2024, ensuring coverage in all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The Commission’s strategic partnerships with private sector players resulted in an unprecedented increase in broadband penetration, crossing the 70% mark for the first time in Nigeria’s history. This milestone has not only boosted the economy but also facilitated access to quality healthcare, education, and e-commerce in underserved areas.

NCC ventured into Digital Economy Investment Fund, this was done in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications, Technology, and Digital Economy, the NCC established the Digital Economy Investment Fund (DEIF). This fund has attracted over $3 billion in foreign investments, channeling resources into startups, tech hubs, and infrastructure projects that are powering Nigeria’s digital economy.

SIM Registration and Cybersecurity Enhancements did not taken the back seat, the Commission also intensified its efforts to enhance cybersecurity and digital identity systems. The year saw the successful conclusion of the SIM re-registration exercise, ensuring a robust and secure digital identity framework for over 150 million subscribers. The Commission launched the Cybersecurity Protection Framework, a policy initiative that has significantly reduced cyber threats and boosted consumer confidence in digital services.

Tne year under review also witnessed Digital Literacy and Inclusion. Under the Renewed Hope Agenda, the NCC has been instrumental in closing the digital divide. The Commission launched the “Digital Nigeria Empowerment Project,” training over one million Nigerians in basic digital skills and coding. Rural connectivity initiatives ensured that communities previously excluded from the digital economy were brought into the fold, with over 5,000 rural broadband access points established nationwide.

Without a doubt, in the area of Revenue Generation and Economic Contributions, the NCC has emerged as a critical revenue-generating agency, contributing over ₦1 trillion to the national treasury in 2024. This achievement reflects the Commission’s commitment to fiscal responsibility and its role in supporting Nigeria’s economic recovery efforts.

Dr Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Technology and Digital Economy

For the Commission to achieve its set goals and objectives, the NCC synergies with the Ministry of Communications and the Renewed Hope Agenda, the collaborative relationship between the NCC and the Ministry of Communications, Technology, and Digital Economy has been pivotal. Dr. Bosun Tijani’s forward-thinking policies have provided the framework within which the NCC has thrived. Together, they have aligned their efforts with President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, ensuring that Nigeria’s digital transformation serves as a cornerstone for economic growth, job creation, and improved quality of life.

From the “Smart Nigeria Digital Economy Policy” to the “Tech-Driven Governance Initiative,” the Ministry and the NCC have worked hand-in-hand to deliver results. This synergy has transformed Nigeria into a model for other African nations aspiring to harness the power of technology for sustainable development.

Looking ahead to sustaining the Momentum, as we moved into 2025, the NCC is poised to build on its 2024 successes. Plans are already underway for the deployment of artificial intelligence-driven regulatory frameworks, expansion of e-governance platforms, and further strengthening of digital infrastructure. Dr. Maida has reiterated his commitment to ensuring that the NCC remains a catalyst for innovation and development, delivering on President Tinubu’s vision of a prosperous, inclusive, and digitally-enabled Nigeria.

The achievements of the Nigerian Communications Commission in 2024 are a testament to what is possible when visionary leadership, strategic partnerships, and a shared national vision converge. Under Dr. Aminu Maida’s stewardship, the NCC has not only delivered on its mandate but also set a new standard for regulatory excellence and innovation in Africa.

As the year kicks started, Nigerians can look to the future with renewed hope, knowing that the foundation for a thriving digital economy has been firmly established. And at the heart of this transformation stands the NCC, a shining beacon of progress, resilience, and promise.

Time Nigeria Magazine salutes the extraordinary strides of the NCC and the Ministry of Communications, Technology, and Digital Economy. Together, they have brought Nigeria closer to its digital destiny.

Aliagan is an Abuja-based Investigative Journalist, he is the President of Nigerian Guild of Investigative Journalists,  (NGIJ).

   

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About author
Time Nigeria is a modern and general interest Magazine with its Headquarters in Abuja. The Magazine has a remarkable difference in editorial philosophy and goals, it adheres strictly to the ethics of Journalism by using the finest ethos of the profession to promote peace among citizens; identifying and harnessing the nation’s vast resources; celebrating achievements of government agencies, individuals, groups and corporate organizations and above all, repositioning Nigeria for the needed growth and development. Time Nigeria gives emphasis to places and issues that have not been given adequate attention by others. The Magazine is national in outlook and is currently being read and patronized both in print and on our vibrant and active online platform (www.timenigeria.com).
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  By Chidi Nwafor  In October 2023, a Gulf sovereign wealth fund quietly closed a $2 billion allocation to global infrastructure, earmarked in part for emerging-market energy and transport assets. The announcement drew the usual applause: another sign, commentators said, that institutional capital was finally waking up to the infrastructure opportunity in the Global South. Eighteen months later, less than a tenth of that allocation had actually left the fund’s balance sheet. Not because the mandate had changed. Not because the fund had lost appetite. According to two people familiar with the portfolio, the constraint was simpler and more uncomfortable: there were not enough investable projects to put the money into. This is not a story about a reluctant investor. It is a story about capital that wants to move, cannot find enough places willing and able to receive it in a form it can underwrite, and quietly waits instead. Multiply that fund by the hundreds of pension schemes, sovereign wealth vehicles, commercial banks and infrastructure funds now carrying dedicated allocations for emerging-market infrastructure, and a pattern emerges that rarely makes it into a headline: the world is not short of capital for infrastructure. It has capital in historic abundance, sitting adjacent to a historic infrastructure gap, unable to cross the distance between the two. The Comfortable Explanation  The explanation on offer at every major infrastructure summit is a familiar one. Global infrastructure investment needs run into the tens of trillions of dollars over the coming decade; committed capital falls well short; therefore, the problem is one of insufficient funding, and the solution is more of it: more pledges, more blended-finance facilities, more climate funds, more multilateral capital increases. It is a comfortable explanation because it assigns responsibility clearly to governments who under-fund, institutions who under-commit, and it offers a clean remedy: raise more. 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The first condition is met, overwhelmingly, across nearly every category of capital that matters to infrastructure. The second is met by only a small fraction of the projects competing for it. The result is a market that looks, from the outside, like a financing gap, and functions, from the inside, like a conversion problem: an abundance of capital on one side, an abundance of infrastructure need on the other, and an underbuilt set of mechanisms in between capable of turning one into the other at any meaningful scale. Where the Conversion Breaks  The break does not happen at the ends of the process. It happens in the middle, in the unglamorous sequence of work that turns a plausible concept into an instrument a fiduciary can sign. A promising transmission project needs a feasibility study rigorous enough to survive institutional scrutiny rather than optimistic enough to attract early interest. It needs offtake arrangements that hold up under real counterparty and currency risk, not the counterparty risk assumed in a base case. It needs environmental and social documentation calibrated to the standards of the institutions being asked to fund it, not the standards of the jurisdiction hosting it. It needs a legal and commercial structure that allocates risk in ways a commercial lender, not only a development financier, will accept. It needs a sponsor capable of executing what has been proposed, not merely capable of proposing it. 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