ACCI sets up committee to review NITDA bill

The Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) has set up a working committee to collate the contributions of ICT stakeholders on the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) amendment bill.

According to NITDA’s website, the proposed bill would realign ‘NITDA Act 2007’ with the tenets and ideals of the digital economy policy of the current administration.

Following controversies surrounding the proposed bill, an eight-person working committee headed by Segun Olugbile, executive chairman of Continental Project Affairs Associates Ltd (CPAA), was constituted to carry out a proper review of the bill and come up with actions and recommendations.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the committee was set up after a consultation meeting organised by the national chamber policy centre of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Mines (NACCIMA), ACCI, and stakeholders in the ICT sector, 

Olayemi John-Mensah, ACCI spokesperson, in a statement on Saturday, said the new bill proposed by NITDA has been generating controversies targeted to stifle the tech sector in the country, hence the need for a review.

She quoted Osi Imomoh, the vice-president, technology, skills and digital economy, ACCI, as saying that the ambiguous sections of the bill had generated reactions because of its perceived threat to the ICT business community.

According to her, Imomoh said the ambiguous sections should be spelt out to the stakeholders in the ICT sector.

Imomoh called on participants at the meeting to look at the session that infringed on ICT business and engage NITDA in those areas rather than tackling every issue.

“Concerns have been raised within Nigeria and the American Business Council over the Bill. The functions of the agency according to reactions are not also properly spelt out,” he said.

“The chamber conveyed the meeting in the interest of the business community to address these bottlenecks and also engage NITDA to amend some of the sections that were infringing on ICT business operations in Nigeria.”

Victoria Akai, director-general of ACCI, also said a lot had been said about the bill, especially threats to ICT.

Akai pointed out that in compliance with the tradition of policy advocacy, the chamber decided to convey the internal consultative meeting.

“We intend to gather the viewpoints of our members, which will now inform the stand to be taken by the chamber’s leadership,” the ACCI DG explained.

“Our deliberations here today will generate specific amendments to the provision of the bill as proposed by NITDA. Our proposed amendment to the bill will then be forwarded to the director-general, NITDA and the honourable minister of communication and digital economy.

“Our resolutions here will also form the basis of our media engagement which will push for the protection of the interest of the business community.”