Pantami to govs: Benefits of low right of way charges outweigh current revenue generated

Ali Isa Pantami, the minister of communications and digital economy, has appealed to governors to adopt the N145 per linear metre right of way (RoW) charges.

Speaking on Thursday at the national economic council meeting, Pantami said the long-term benefits of lower charges are more that the revenue currently generated.

The RoW charge is the levy paid to state governments for laying of optic fibre on state roads.

In January 2020, TheCable had reported that 14 states hiked RoW charges, which could increase operating costs for telecommunications companies and result in increased customers.

Before the NEC consensus to peg the ROW charge at N145, there were instances the fees varied between N5000 and N10,000.

“All states should support us by adhering to the N145 Right Of Way (ROW) charge per linear meter. The long-term benefits are far more than the initial fees being collected,” a statement released by Laolu Akande, a senior special assistant to Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, quoted Pantami to have said.

“We need a Point of Contact in each State as the interface on broadband and digital economy issues, and each State is also encouraged to have an institution or department to handle requests regarding broadband and the digital economy”.

Listing some of the benefits of increasing broadband access in the country, the minister said: “The World Economic Forum predicts that over 60% of global GDP will be digitized by 2022 and that within the next decade, digital platforms will be used to create close to 70% of new value”.

“The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector recorded the highest growth rate of all the sectors of the Nigerian economy in both the fourth quarter of 2020 (Q4 2020) and the entire year 2020. This was based on the Q4 2020 Report on Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released.”

Zainab Ahmed, the minister for finance, budget and national planning, also presented the balances of the country’s accounts to the council.

The balance of the excess crude account as of March 16, 2021, was $72,412,384.88 while that of the stabilisation account was N24,821,242.14.

Ahmed said the balance of the natural Resources Development Fund stood at N90,744,488,087.88 as of March 16, 2021.