With the growing number of internet users in Nigeria currently at 101.2m, the Nigerian Communications Commission says it is working on initiatives to provide an enabling environment for Internet Governance in telecommunications.

This was disclosed by the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC,  Professor Umar Danbatta at the Nigeria DigitalSense Forum Series, 2018, themed: Internet Governance: Sustaining Development,

Danbatta who was represented by the Director, Licensing and Authorisation, NCC, Funlola Akiode said that the initiatives of the Commission include but are not limited to the following:

• IPv6 Adoption and Transition plan.
• Internet Code of Practice – that seeks to promote the safe, secure and responsible use of Internet Services with due regard to provisions in existing legal instruments.
• Development of clearer licensing requirements of current and new licenses to include integrated local content initiatives.
• More interaction with industry players on local content policy formation, projects and programs. We will sustain the dialogue to ensure active participation with all stakeholders.
• Promotion of capacity building in academic institutions to prepare students for core functions in the industry.
• More access to data and statistics for the academia and SMEs for research, development and innovations in local content programs and projects.

Though the benefits of the Internet are not yet evenly distributed, the Commission believes that as the internet continues to grow at an exponential rate, bringing with it new ways of transacting, communicating, learning, socializing, and transforming just about every aspect of our life, there’s the need to encourage all stakeholders to participate in the digital revolution as it is a golden opportunity for Nigeria.

“Today’s event, The 2018 Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum on Internet Governance for Development is in celebration of the brilliance, hard work and dedication of  DIGITALSENSE as one of the leaders in the advancement of the use of Internet.”

“Internet remains open for development and innovation. Creative inventors of tomorrow’s Google, Skype, Facebook and Twitter are out there somewhere browsing the Internet.”

“Their creativity and innovativeness should not be stifled rather should be encouraged to develop new creative ways to use the Internet. One of the main objectives of internet governance is to create a pro-development policy environment which enables further use of the internet as an engine for development.”

Danbatta added that though a lot has been achieved in African Internet development to date, “to take the next steps in building a robust Internet economy, many issues remain, some of which Africa shares with other developing regions (such as interconnection and cross-border connectivity, economic opportunity, local content and multilingualism, and human capacity building), some have a specifically regional dimension (such as digital migration) and others are global concerns (such as data privacy, cyber security, IPv6 transition, and human rights and freedom of expression).”

“The Commission, as part of collaborating with relevant stakeholders, local, regional and internationally work with the Nigerian Internet Governance Forum (NIGF) team, and also participate in the annual Forum. The 2018 Forum is slated to hold next month in Abuja (July 2-3, 2018).”

For the Executive Director, Operations, DigitalSense Media, Nkem Nweke, there’s the need to focus attention on the role of internet governance in driving sustainable development in the country.

According to her, continuous enlightenment and capacity enhancement for diverse range of stakeholders especially women and youth is key to meeting the needs of a critical segment of the population.

“This forum is the organisation’s way of contributing to empowering  an important segment of the population, the students, youths and women in achieving their dreams,” she said.