What I Would Do If I Were ICT Minister Of Nigeria (2012)

FEB 08, 2015

– My main focus would be on ensuring that Nigerians have access to information. Once the information is there, people would build a lot of things. Clearly, the internet & mobile phones are the most valuable source of information, so the focus would be on making sure the internet is everywhere available

– Offer tax rebates for every LTE capable cell-phone tower that is built in Nigeria by a known mobile company. Such that each tower is basically free to build for all mobile companies (for the next two years). Also offer tax-rebates on upgrades of existing 3G cell phone towers to 4G

– Offer tax rebates for every intercity fibre-glass cable

– Allow any citizen to offer a within-town, end-hop internet solution, be it by WiFi, overhead cables or any other solution. Legally compel every provider to sell bandwidth access to local distributors at a single tower in every town. The within-town access is then completely liberalized. The idea here is that overhead cables will provide broadband for office usage, while 3G/4G technology will provide access for the average citizen

– Make WiMax license cost N5m/town and allow anyone set it up. They can buy bandwidth on a usage method from the telecom providers

– Create a Technology Incubator Building in Abuja where web-based or mobile start-ups can apply, pitch in front of an audience (every Friday), and if their idea sounds good, they are offered 1-year rent in the office for N300k/year. Fibre-glass internet is free. Each company can have max of 5 employees, and have to leave after 1 year. Every Friday & Saturday, companies get to present what they have done, etc. Create a second such Technology Incubator building in Lagos.

– Decide on a single university in Nigeria that will be made into the foremost technology university. Staff it with foreign-trained (ONLY) or foreign professors for technology subjects. Invite guest professors from foreign universities for each semester there.

– Each university is required to offer a for-profit wifi access all over the campus area. Charges are fixed at a certain sum per month — the wifi is managed by the student body — they can keep the profits

– At the end of every year, offer a “PhD Exam” for technology graduates who want to do doctorates. Pick the best 10%, and send them to South Africa, Ukraine, Belarus or India for PhD (not UK or US. We want them to come back home)

– Every 3 months, organise a technology fair for Indian and Chinese companies. They come to Abuja and display all the technology products they would like to sell (quadruple SIM phones, iPad knock-off, fertilizer converter, etc). Nigerian business-men can go there and strike deals.

– Digitalize and merge all government parastatals, Singapore style. Start with a CitizenID and CitizenPassword that will be used to access all government services. Add other services like police, customs, etc. For the development, outsource the core project to a foreign company, but the software should be designed in a modular manner. Outsource the modules in an open bidding process to Nigerian companies. Companies have to offer “deliverables” once a month, for testing. The testers are picked from Nigerian universities and flown to Abuja for a weekend of testing.

Originally published atmarkessien.tumblr.com.