The Nigerian telecom sector has attracted a hefty $38 billion in foreign direct investments over the years and has continued to define the positive side of the nation’s economy. This was the submission of most speakers at the Corporate Governance Forum hosted by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in Lagos Tuesday.

Foremost expert in telecom law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Professor Fabian Ajogwu in his keynote underscored the need for order and adherence to rules and principles that govern the sector. He lauded the NCC for the initiative to make all stakeholders in the industry to abide by the rules and norms that govern the sector.

The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the NCC, Professor Umar Danbatta, said the commission will continue to push for reforms and initiatives that would create and sustain the kind of atmosphere that encourages innovation in a liberalised market.

He said: “The liberalisation of the telecoms industry opened investment opportunities for both local and foreign companies, contributing significantly to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). To illustrate, in contrast to the economy as a whole which regressed to -0.36% in the first quarter of 2016, the telecoms sector contributed, in progressive and real terms, about 8.83% to the GDP in the same period. This represents an increase of 0.5%, relative to the growth in the last quarter of 2015.

“Similarly, apart from attracting Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) in excess of $38 Billion and reflating the economy, the telecoms value chain (formal and informal) continues to create a significant number of job opportunities for our teaming youths. Other positive spin-offs include increasing local content and rising income per capita/per head for employees in the sector.

“As the sector regulator, why are we not resting on our oars and basking in the glory of our widely-documented successes? The answer is simple; we are committed to sustaining and building on the formidable structures established over the years for the industry to thrive and outlive us. We desire an industry that will grow bigger, better and be more relevant to successive generations. This is the real essence of our meeting today; to share our thoughts and perspectives on how to meet our commitment to the principles of inter-generational equity in the sector; how we can leave a lasting legacy of a strong and virile industry, fit for bequest to successive generations.

“In recognition of the need to sustain the phenomenal success recorded in the industry and replicate the lessons learnt in other sectors that had gone through the “Boom and Bust” cycle, the Commission in 2012 set up a multi-stakeholder Corporate Governance Working Group (CGWG) with membership drawn from across the Nigerian telecoms industry, the Commission and Corporate Governance practitioners. The mandate of the Group was to determine the industry’s corporate governance needs and the best approach to be adopted in addressing them. The CGWG developed the Code of Corporate Governance for the telecoms industry, which was published in 2014.

“The Code consists of 12 principles and was developed to protect the interest of investors and stakeholders in the industry, as well as promote time-valued principles of accountability, responsibility, transparency, integrity and ethical conduct.

“No doubt, the Code has expanded the frontiers of accountability in the operation of companies in the sector. However, challenges still exist. For instance, the Code is declaratory in nature and implementation was initially   voluntary across the industry, leading to violations.

“While compliance with the provisions of the industry Code was initially made voluntary for a period of 1 year, which has since lapsed, the Commission is gradually moving towards a regime of stricter compliance. To this end, the Commission recently carried out an industry study to assess the level of compliance with the Code.

“Part of the process of moving from a voluntary compliance regime to a mandatory era is exactly the reason for today’s forum. This meeting essentially is a consultative forum designed to engage industry stakeholders and the public with the outcomes of the study, with a view to retooling the sector corporate governance structure for greater efficiency. Our expectation is that at the end of this forum, we will jointly agree to move from the voluntary compliance era to a mandatory compliance regime”.