The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has assured that it was working with multi-sector stakeholders, including the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), for a policy framework to push 5G deployment in the country.
Other stakeholders, it said, are the academia, Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Industry Consultative Advisory Forum (ICAF) and others.
Its Vice Chairman, Prof. Garba Danbatta, who spoke during the virtual Innovative Tech Forum organised by the National Information Technology Reporters Association of Nigeria (NITRA), said a lot of opportunities and benefits await the economy through 5G.
Represented by Ubale Ahmed Maska, an Executive Commissioner at NCC, Prof Dambatta, said: “Our goal is that when the Federal Government is able to establish a policy that will drive 5G, all the benefits of 5G will be properly harnessed by Nigerians.
“The Commission is also working to ensure the safety of 5G networks in Nigeria by having a multi-stakeholder approach in environmental impact analysis on the use of 5G and the Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) impact on humans in Nigeria. Once this is done, Nigerians can safely utilise 5G and reap all the economic, human, and material benefits of 5G.’’
He said the economic benefits of 5G post-COVID-19 will be huge, especially as almost all businesses and activities of government are migrating to online to offer services.
“5G will enable a new kind of network for Nigerians designed to connect virtually everyone and everything including machines, objects, and devices. It will usher in the era of the Internet of Things (IoT) and faster innovation in Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications.
“Nigeria’s vibrant youth population stands to benefit immensely from the deployment of 5G as it will offer technopreneurs, technology enthusiasts, SMEs, and Tech-startups the platform to expand and network with other global players on a scale that has never been witnessed before.”
“With high speeds, superior reliability, and negligible latency, 5G will expand the mobile ecosystem into new realms. 5G promises to impact every industry, creating safer transporting systems, improving access to healthcare for our rural populace, increasing output from the agriculture sector, and digitized logistics among others.”