Straight Talk with Chukwudi Obi

ICT: Nigeria has been listed among top ten global markets for Smartphone along side South Africa and Egypt according to a latest Ericsson Mobility Report. As at April 2015, Nigeria’s telecom regulator Nigeria Communications Commission put the mobile subscriber database at 196,941,125. The report predicts that in 2020, Smartphone subscription will hit 6.1 billion with 80 per cent of the number coming from Asia Middle East and Africa (MEA) According to the report, the total African mobile subscription for the first quarter of 2015 stands at 910 million with 21 million new subscriptions added in the quarter. The report asserted that in markets such as Africa, there were rampant cases of multiple ownership of mobile numbers, thus increasing the total number of subscriptions. “The number of subscriptions exceeds the population in many countries. This is largely due to inactive subscriptions and multiple device ownership, for example - for business and private use,...

With the telecoms sector worth $32 billion and among the top ten fastest emerging markets in Middle East and Africa (MEA), CHUKWUDI OBI asks who needs a local content policy when there is much at stake. Local content policies are designed to encourage local companies, give them undue advantage over foreign companies and drive more local investment in that particular sector. To a large extent the local content policy as implemented in the oil and gas sector many experts say, has been successful to the extent of stimulating the industry, encouraging active local participation and encourage competition. But Federal Government’s Transformation Agenda has been hinged on increasing foreign direct investment and since inception of this administration, President Goodluck Jonathan and his lieutenants have not hidden their ambition to increase investments in the country. This, they have been pursuing vigorously, with some measure of success. It has paid off with Agriculture attr...