Chinenye Anuforo, [email protected]

The Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) has disclosed that it is vigorously working to establish a policy for 5G with multi-sector stakeholders. The stakeholders include the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), the academia, Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Industry Consultative Advisory Forum (ICAF) and a host of others.

According to the commission, the goal is to drive 5G and ensure that all the benefits of fifth generation network will be properly harnessed by Nigerians.

In his keynote address at the 2020 National Information Technology Reporters Association, Virtual Innovative Tech Webinar, the executive vice chairman of the NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, also said the commission was working to ensure the safety of 5G networks in Nigeria by having multi-stakeholder approach in environmental impact analysis on the use of 5G and the electromagnetic fields impact on humans in Nigeria.

“Once this is done, Nigerians can safely utilise 5G and reap all the economic, human and material benefits of 5G,” he said.

Continuing Danbatta stated that, according to the ITU, 5G technology is expected to connect people, things, data, applications, transport systems and cities in smart networked communications environments; 5G is meant to seamlessly connect a massive number of embedded sensors in virtually everything through the ability to scale down in data rates, power, and mobility – providing extremely lean and low-cost connectivity solutions.

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“The economic benefits to 5G to Nigeria post corona virus pandemic will be huge, especially as almost all businesses and activities of government are migrating and offering their services online. 5G will enable a new kind of network for Nigerians designed to connect virtually everyone and everything together including machines, objects, and devices. It will usher in the era of Internet of Things and faster innovation in Artificial Intelligence applications.

Nigeria’s vibrant youth population stands to benefit immensely from the deployment of 5G as it will offer technopreneurs, technology enthusiasts, SMEs and Tech-startups the platform to expand and network with other global players on a scale that has never been witnessed before.”

The NCC boss said that with high speeds, superior reliability and negligible latency, 5G will expand the mobile ecosystem into new realms. 5G promises to impact every industry, creating safer transporting systems, improving access to healthcare for our rural populace, increasing output from the agriculture sector, and digitized logistics among others.

Quoting a landmark economy study conducted by QUALCOMM, Danbatta said 5G will affect the global economy and drive growth exponentially. 5G’s full economic effect will likely be realized across the globe by 2035 – supporting a wide range of industries and potentially enabling up to $13.2 Trillion worth of goods and services. This impact is much greater than previous network generations.

“5G promises to provide increased speed and bandwidth as well as providing deeper coverage to reach people in rural or challenging locations. In addition, 5G will provide strong security for the various sectors of government and private organizations.