Proposed bill stirs fresh controversy in ICT sector

By Adeyemi Adepetun

Experts appeal for caution as bill passes first reading at NASS
New bill, being pushed by the Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, is stirring up fresh controversy in the sector, like it happened during the immediate past regime, where regulatory capture became the order of the day.

While the bill has passed first reading in the House of Reps, it is already being referred to as an ‘Act’.

Some experts, who have studied the bill, though commended the Minister, Dr Bosun Tijani, for some aspects of it, which is still in its draft form, raised the alarm as regards some others.

For example, Part XV, under Miscellaneous in the 54-Page document, with the title: “Supremacy of National Digital Economy and E-Governance Act’, claimed that notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, but subject to the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in all matters relating to the digital economy and e-government, the provisions of the Act shall override the provisions of any other law and the regulatory agency shall establish regulations on the use and adoption of new and emerging technologies as it relates to information technology.”

The implication of this is extant Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015; Nigerian Communications Act 2003; The National Broadcasting Commission Act Cap N11 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004; National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, Act 2007, among others would be subjected to the new bill.

To make matters worse, the bill also stated in the Miscellaneous section that there would be a regulatory agency, which would oversee the implementation of the bill when it eventually becomes an Act. This means that the powers of NCC, NITDA and NBC, among others, might be watered down for the superiority of the new regulatory agency.

Speaking with The Guardian, a telecoms expert, Kehinde Aluko, commended the minister on some of the reforms the bill was targeting, including the establishment of the National Digital Economy Council, consumer protection, digital government, electronic commerce transformation and others.