+Pantami’s Pains
For Glo and Country
“See you next Thursday for another fresh serving. And hopefully, phone users get back the second half of a Yello Glo by then.”
These were the closing words of this newsletter last week.
We are delighted to announce that this wish was granted.
The partial disconnection of Glo subscribers from reaching MTN subscribers has been put on hold.
Today was the deadline.
The Presidency was reported to have waded into the matter, sighting national concerns, should MTN carry out the orders of the National Communications Communications.
We are happy that the government saw that this was beyond Glo.
In “Half of a Yello Glo,” the lead story in our maiden edition of this newsletter last Thursday, we outlined the socioeconomic risks of blocking telecommunications.
Here is an excerpt from last week showing the risk that was averted today:
Beyond the Yello Glo: The Socioeconomic Risks
The NCC’s notice could have severe socioeconomic ramifications for the country beyond Globacom and its customers.
Social Risks: In areas, especially remote rural towns and villages, where the Glo network is the only functional network, the inability of Glo customers to call emergency numbers that are MTN lines may lead to untold hardship, risks, and even fatalities.
In these areas with Globacom network coverage alone, the option to port to other networks or purchase their new sims may not work since the other networks are not fully available there.
This may lead to health and security incidents in these places.
Further Risks of Oligopoly: Granted, Glo customers would be directly affected by the loss of service and may choose to switch to another network as a result.
However, this may force 61 million Glo customers to port to other networks, such as MTN, AIRTEL and 9MOBILE, even if those networks do not offer better tariff plans, better network services, or customer care services.
By narrowing people’s telephony options as this, the NCC directive may be encouraging a reversal to oligopoly in the telecoms sector.
Economic theory holds that when GSM Operators, like other firms, do not earn customers by superior service, they are not likely to work for the benefit of the customers.
Under oligopolistic conditions, even old customers of the other phone networks may be shown the shorter end in tariff and network services as market competition declines. The companies then become strong enough to dictate selfish terms of services to their customers.
Impact on Businesses: The barring of the GLO network by MTN would significantly affect businesses that rely on GLO for their communication needs. Companies that have GLO lines for their employees or use GLO as their primary network for business operations would experience disruptions. This could lead to decreased productivity, communication breakdowns, and potential financial losses.
However, in cities with options, Glo subscribers have the unlimited choice to port to other networks, regardless of the quality of service they receive in the new networks.
Businesses and individuals using MTN may also be forced to spend more on calls to glo customers, especially in situations where the glo customer should have been the one calling or calling back.
Before the New Deadline
The government’s intervention is not meant to spare Globacom from fulfilling its debt obligation to MTN.
It was actually meant to make it pay. The government has now given Globacom a 21-day window to pay up.
According to a report by The Guardian, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has stated that the disconnection will be paused for a period of 21 days, starting January 17th, 2024. The announcement was made in a statement signed by the Director of Public Affairs, Reuben Mouka:
“The Commission is pleased to announce that the parties have now reached an agreement to resolve all outstanding issues between them. For this reason, and in the exercise of its regulatory powers in that regard, the Commission has put the phased disconnection on hold for a period of 21 days from today, January 17, 2024.
“Whilst the Commission expects MTN and Glo to resolve all outstanding issues within the 21-day period, the Commission insists that interconnect debts must be settled by all operating companies as a necessary component towards compliance with regulatory obligations of all licensees. It is OBLIGATORY that Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and other licensees in the telecom industry keep to the terms and conditions of their licenses, especially as contained in their interconnection agreements.”
Pantanmi’s Pain
The former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) has decried once again the failure of Nigeria’s security agencies to track the identity of the owners of phone line used for communicating payment of ransoms and other financial crimes. He regretted that this information is readily available on the National Identity Numbers database.
He said this at the instance of the abduction of five sisters together with their father in the Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory.
Mr Pantanmi had conveyed the Federal Government’s directive that all phone lines be linked with the National Identity Number, which had all the biometric and bank verification numbers (BVN) of each registered person.
After this directive, more people registered for their NIN, but the number of people has reduced since then.
The National Identification Number (NIN) was deployed in 2012 as the cornerstone of a comprehensive National Identity Database that allows for the unique identification of individuals within the country.
Mr Pantanmi wants to know why the security agents have not utilised the robust NIN database he built during his tenure to track criminals and tackle festering insecurity in the country.
What we need to know
Mr Pantanmi’s security concerns can only be realised if we find answers to these questions:
- Is it confirmed that all telecommunication companies have complied with the directive to disable every line that has not been linked to NIN, such that there is no active line in Nigeria that is not linked to NIN?
- Can we confirm that the Nigerian security services consisting of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), Nigerian Military, The Department of State Service and other security operatives have the technical capacity to track the location and the location and the identity of everyone, especially criminals that are using a particular line for criminal activities?
- Can we confirm that the security operatives have the manpower capacity to track criminals to the gate of hell to apprehend them?
- Can we confirm that elected representatives at the local/state/federal level have the political capacity to punish security officers who have the technical and manpower capacities to track and apprehend criminals but fail to do so?
- Can we confirm that elected/appointed/employed government officials can audit all telecommunication companies in real time to ascertain whether each fully complies with the government’s directive to disable every line that has not been linked to NIN?
This is what we know:
Not all lines have been linked to the NIN due to the delay in deadlines given by the NCC for Telecoms company to effect the barring of lines that have not complied with the directive.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) directed telcos, including MTN, Airtel, Globacom, and 9mobile, to fully disable all phone lines for which subscribers had not submitted their NINs and those without verified NINs by February 28, 2024.
Furthermore, NINs that had been submitted but not verified were to be disabled on or before March 29, 2024, while five or more lines linked to an unverified NIN were to be disabled on the same date.
Similarly, lines linked to an unverified NIN, but fewer than five, were to be disabled on or before April 15, 2024.
It is also common for criminals to use the phone lines of their victims of robberies and abductions to do phone communications. Tracking the owner of a phone sim linked with their NIN may be easy. Tracking the user of the line may be another thing.
Tasked to Tax
Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu set up a tax reform committee led by former PWC scribe, Taiwo Oyedele with the mandate to bring up policies that can help Nigeria raise its tax revenue.
There have been debates on whether the government should increase tax rates in a bid to make more money from taxation.
However, the government has promised to increase tax without increasing the tax rate.
A former Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) stated that compared to the population of over 200 million people, many Nigerians are evading tax. He said this at the public presentation and breakdown of the 2022 appropriation bill.
The FIRS scribe, while acknowledging that Nigeria has 41 million taxpayers as of 2021, expressed concerns over the tax to population ratio of the country.
Micro Earnings from Micro Enterprises
Personal Income Tax (PIT) is charged either on Pay as you earn or Self-assessment. It is collected at the state level.
Data from the World Bank revealed that self-employed persons in Nigeria make up 79.8% of the total employed population of the country (as of 2019). Many of these run micro-businesses, and others run small and medium enterprises (MSMES).
Yet, earning tax revenue from this bloc of employees and entrepreneurs remains a big challenge.
The CAC reported that over 40 million MSMEs were unregistered as of 2018. The federal government tried to mobilize MSMEs to register in 2020 when the government announced free registration for 250,000 MSMEs in the country.
By January 2021, 100,000 MSMEs had benefited from the free registration.
To raise tax revenue without overburdening the current taxpayers among the MSMEs, the Tinubu administration needs to have more MSMES in the tax net.Already, tax-compliant MSMEs complain that multiple taxation, mostly various business levies, weigh down their businesses. Although the business premises levy is being enforced at the local government level, income tax remains is still hardly collected by the state and federal agencies from self-employed persons.