The advocacy of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, telcos and the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Pantami, on the reduction of the Right of Way fees, to facilitate the laying of fibre, to enhanced broadband penetration, has started to pay off.
Ekiti State has taken a step in that direction, as it becomes the first State to reduce the Right of Way fee to the recommended N145 per meter, down from the erstwhile N4,500 the State was charging.
This move was made by Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, as he signed an Executive Order number 007 of 2020 to that effect, on Thursday, May 14, 2020.
For a long time now, the Right of Way fee, had been a nagging issue, affecting the progress of broadband infrastructure deployment across the country, with its attendant benefits of improving the speed and access to the internet and positive effects it will have on the country’s GDP.
It would be recalled that
Telcos have since been complaining about the hike in the Right of Way fee, by various State governments. In response to these complains, the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Pantami and the Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, met with the Governor of Ekiti State, who doubles, as the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum in the January 2020, to lay bare the complaints of the telcos and solicited for his support in bringing the fee down to the recommended N145 per meter.
It is, obviously, the result of this, that we are witnessing now, with Ekiti State, slashing the Right of Way fee within the State to N145 per meter, from N4,500 per meter.
Responding to his ground breaking resolution, Fayemi said in tweet Thursday that “This decision, will ensure Ekiti achieves, full broadband penetration, by 2021, to attract new businesses, create jobs, improve access to quality healthcare and digital education, while improving internally generated revenue”, Governor Fayemi stressed in a tweet on the Executive Order.
“It is, also aligned, with the ongoing development of the Ekiti Knowledge Zone, designed to be Nigeria’s first service-based innovation park”, he concluded.
Featured Image: dailypost.ng
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