What The Focus Of The Ministry Of Communication-Technology Should Be In Nigeria (2015)

MAY 10, 2015

The new incoming minister of communications-technology in Nigeria will have quite some work to do. Having run a startup in Nigeria for the last two years and been completely dependent on both communications and technology, I have a list of things that the minister should focus on. Focus is really, really important here. Typically, the ministers will try to do 30 or 40 different initiatives. We end up with none of them implemented particularly well. It is preferable that the minister focuses on building the basic platforms that can be extended over the next period by subsequent holders of the ministry. In my opinion, the following should be the focus areas:

1. Communications
2. Startups/Tech Businesses
3. Supporting the government through technology
4. Education

Here are my ideas on what should be done for each of those areas.

1. Communication:

– The most radical move — a law should be passed making 2G internet free (and 3G paid for). This will greatly accelerate the usage of internet across the country and make it possible for everyone to access global information. Because it’s just 2G, the telcos don’t lose too much money as they still make money from LTE and 3G. – The last-mile roll out of fibre-optic cable is something that must be started now. Even though we can achieve good service with radio, radio has a latency that is imposed by physical limitations. Fibre will always perform better than radio. However, for 98% of the country, radio will do. Fibre must only be rolled out where it’s needed — as such, my suggestion is that a fund is made available for rolling out fibre on an on-demand basic. Basically, a company applies to government that they need fibre in a particular location. If it costs $1k to do this, the government contributes $500, leaving the company to contribute the second half of the bill. That way, government investment in infrastructure is limited to where there is real need. – A standard called ‘unified cabling infrastructure’ should be set. This is cabling infrastructure that will combine electrical, fibre and all other future cabling needs into an extensible format that can run above or below ground. All newly laid cabling should conform to this standard, making sure that last mile cabling is standardised and made safe/neat. – The last mile radio infrastructure on LTE should be completely liberalised, such that we have tiny local internet providers who are providing LTE internet within towns. The competition will drive down prices and improve service level.

2. Startups and Technology Companies

I have two suggestions for how the government can contribute towards technology startups. – VC funds: The government uses brand-name VCs and invests in them, requiring them to invest in local startups. I believe this is already being done. – Tax Debt Funding: What this means is that a tech startup can access a particular amount, e.g $10k from a special government fund. He is then required to repay $20k back to the government as income tax. This tax obligation stays on the founder’s passport, and is a life-time debt that he can repay anytime. In order to qualify for this scheme, founders will need to apply to all previously accepted founders and receive more votes for inclusion than votes for exclusion.

3. Government Support and Openness

The ministry should create a citizen.gov.ng website to unify all government services. E.g. tax.citizen.gov.ng. Using the Singapore model, every citizen can register there to do all activities he needs to do — taxes, drivers license, etc. There should be a single centralised API around which each ministry can build their own specific applications. The comm-tech ministry will be responsible for authentication API and for defining centralised look and feel. A critical part here will be budget tracking and other financial tracking — where the citizens will be able to directly view the expenditures of all parastatals. Things like who contracts were awarded to and who government employees are will all be here.

4. Education

The ministry should work together with the education ministry to create an open education portal where all books and information studied at all levels is open for citizens to access. The information should be well compressed, such that it can be accessed over EDGE. — – The above initiatives are things that seem simple on the surface but are actually difficult to get going. Once the minister can get those going — this can serve as a platform for all future work in terms of communication and technology.