The headline above would give the scent of a little bit of politics but not the flatulence of political defections all over the place. Every little infra dig in politics and also the far more established ones are emigrating to one direction to remain in political Mecca with scant consideration for the people they claim to represent, as personal safety, comfort and perpetuity of political dynasty enjoy prime place in their political menu.
But this is my position. I don’t like doing politics. I prefer technology and feel very hurt when politics gives technology needless headache. Because politics has to be fixed first for policies to emerge that can positively affect technology. So, quite unfortunately, whether politicians defect to the moon, as long as they remain Nigerians, they will still have to initiate actions that affect our lives, including technology.
On my Project 2026, the Digital Switchover comes first. The project sanctioned in 2006 by the International Telecommunications Union, ITU, at the ITU Regional Radiocommunication Conference, RRC-06, is the transitioning from analogue broadcasting to digital broadcasting in order for broadcasters to free up broadcast spectrums for telecommunication services. It was projected to end in June 2015. Nigeria came late to the party having started the DSO project in Jos, Plateau State, on April 30, 2016, at the time other countries were concluding the process.
One can be right, therefore, to call the DSO a legacy project which has been handed down from administration to administration. The President Goodluck Jonathan administration constituted a Presidential Committee called the Digiteam which was replaced by the Muhammadu Buhari administration with a Ministerial Committee which curated the project in the ministry instead of the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC. Under the two administrations, the DSO hardly moved a needle. This was quite a surprise because the Buhari administration had scoped DSO as a cardinal project because of its capacity to create jobs in relevant industries. As they say, words are cheap.
Under the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration, DSO has progressed more in controversy. While some stakeholders, especially the set-top box manufacturers, feel jilted by the regulator which is working with the Nigerian Communications Satellite, NIGCOMSAT, through an infrastructure collaboration, to swing the exercise via satellite, using the agency’s satellite facilities, there are some concerns that the satellite option may not give full expression to the project which ITU opined could bring growth to both telecommunications and broadcasting.
We are used to seeing abandoned projects in government. I am appealing that the DSO shouldn’t be treated as one. This is an important project that shouldn’t be made a rolling stone that gathers no moss. Or simply be made a money guzzler as it has been. There are too many benefits attached to a successful implementation of the DSO. I encourage the government to deploy a lot of tact, draw on available tech know-how and be less condescending in its approach towards the implementation. I am aware that the DSO has become a subset of the larger digital plan of this administration; so be it. There are jobs to be created, even in the creative sector, money to be made by government from frequency sales, and pervasive availability of new technologies and even new opportunities. A successful implementation can even find its way to the campaign brochure of the party. I really don’t mind.
Here is another matter that could make the campaign podium. Since my article, “Telecoms: We are all underserved, dear Minister,” was published on December 10, 2025, there have been several reactions. The article was this writer’s response to the approval by the Federal Executive Council for the Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, to build 4000 towers in unserved and underserved areas of the country in order to bridge the telecommunications needs of the people. Salutatory as this development may seem, communication of the processes leading to such approval and even consultation with industry stakeholders didn’t seem to be properly managed.
While a major industry source called to find out if I understood what the government, through the minister, was trying to do, which of course I am not privy to, another simply wrote: ”Pronouncement is one thing, execution is another. How can you build towers in areas commanded by bandits or Boko Haram? They have burnt down hundreds of towers. Who will go and maintain them?”
I know the euphoria surrounding the approval but I have also been made to understand the complexity of such development. I do not want to arrive at any conclusion now other than to appeal to the minister to do more consultation so that the rollout of the towers can be seamless. He should communicate more, and I am sure it doesn’t really hurt to woo people to buy into your programmes.
He would need such approach, especially as the Project 4000 towers falls within the broader vision of the Tinubu administration to extend a fibre optics ring to the various ends of the country, 90,000km of fibre worth $2bn, to create a digital outlay that will boost broadcast and telecoms inclusivity. Fully executed, the project could attract bragging rights, and nobody will complain.
Both projects are measurable. There can’t be anything woolly except it’s deliberately created. It is possible to cascade the implementation process of the DSO and be able to compute the derivables and spectrum accruals. Furthermore, Dr Bosun Tijani, the Communications minister said the tower rollout will extend telecommunications services to an estimated 23 million people who are currently underserved in the current arrangement. This is also measurable!
“The rollout is expected to significantly improve rural connectivity, stimulate commerce and enhance security surveillance in areas currently lacking network coverage,” Mohammed Idris, who is Minister of Information and National Orientation, said after the Federal Executive Council meeting.
But there is something else the government has to look at if this administration is ever to realise its dreams of a digital economy that leaves nobody behind, and a broadband target of 70 percent of the population. Government must ensure that the telecoms sector is treated as a high priority sector which should enjoy adequate power supply to, and maximum-security guaranty, of its facilities.
The Critical National Information Infrastructure, CNII, Presidential Order signed by the President in June 2024 has provided some comfort but its efficacy has yet to fully register.
I am freaky about the broadcast and telecommunications sectors. All I am saying is that progress and actions in the two sectors are so noticeable and measurable that it takes little effort to include them in the campaign menu to seduce the populace. Otherwise, you will simply turn out as one of those politicians “full of sound and fury signifying nothing.” Apologies to Shakespeare.
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