Worried about the low participation of local companies in telecommunications operations in the country, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Eugene Juwah, has called for greater participation of local firms in servicing multinational telecoms operators in the country.
Juwah spoke against the backdrop of recent complaints by local telecoms companies that they were neglected by multinational telecommunications companies operating in Nigeria, who preferred to sublet telecoms servicing jobs to foreign companies, at the detriment of local telecoms companies in Nigeria.
The NCC boss, who spoke at a forum organised by the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), at the weekend, said: “It is critical for local companies to have a significant role in the provision of services and supply of materials to the telecommunications industry, if we must develop the industry in Nigeria on a sustainable basis over the long term, and provide more employment opportunities for Nigerians.”
Juwah who emphasised on government initiatives and policy direction for local content development in the country, said local telecoms companies must develop economic capacities that would enable them deliver on telecoms projects, as multinational telecoms companies will ordinarily choose vendors to provide them with products and services on economic reasons and technical, as well as operational capacity to deliver such products and services.
Juwah who also sought to know if actually, the local companies were being unfairly excluded from participating in the delivery of services within their capacities to the telecoms industry, advised the local players to develop economic capacities that will enable them deliver on major telecoms projects.
Director, Regulatory Affairs of Vodacom Nigeria, Mrs. Nkechi Newton-Denila, who also spoke on the need for local content development in the country, called for local content policy that will protect local telecoms operators and encourage them in participating fully in telecoms projects in the country.
According to her, Nigeria must promote local content in the telecoms sector that would enable the sector to build enough capacities that would drive development. She called for the development of a strategic framework that must address value added capacity building. She also called on the National Information Technology Development Agency of Nigeria (NITDA), the agency responsible for information technology implementation in the country, to be more proactive in driving local content.
Other stakeholders who spoke at the forum, noted that Nigeria needed local content policy that should be well implemented. Agency report
