Technology, the tortoise in every story

When we were small children still in primary school, we would gather once a week under the big umbrella tree on the left end at the approach of the school compound, to tell stories under the auspices of very strict teachers who would later turn out in life to be very good people. Those teachers, they did their best to educate us and oftentimes, we misunderstood them.

Always, the tortoise would feature as the central character in these stories; it was the good, the bad and the ugly, blessed with a lot of craftiness to amuse and to deceive, mostly to its benefit.

In today’s Nigeria, GSM has displaced the tortoise. If there is a problem because of bad governance, it is because there are tools for mobile communications. When a man and his wife are having problems in their relationship, it’s because there is mobile technology to put a wedge between them as they can stay on the same bed chatting with their phones instead of chatting with each other.

Nigeria is going through heady times and again mobile technology has found itself in the midst of discourse. The hunger protests which began last week have only reminded us how very fragile even our most reliable infrastructure can be but fingers were also pointed at the government for supervening in the activities of the operators by slowing down the speed of the Internet. It didn’t occur to anybody that services may have been zonked by the huge communications hitting the network at the same time or some base stations may have gone out because of the inability of their owners to power them with diesel. But the government was already on the downside of credibility and the people went headlong for an easy prey.

It was therefore reassuring that Dr Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy would rise to quickly dispel such rumour, and his position was validated by Engr Gbenga Adebayo, President of the Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), who explained that there was never such conspiracy with government to stymie the health of the Internet. Yet mobile technology remains in the midst of discourse and it is now responsible for all our problems like the tortoise of old.

But I see a more deep-seated problem. Also last week, MTN, which had to quickly close its offices nationwide for fear of reprisals after disconnecting about 6m lines for failure to meet the SIM-NIN linkage policy standards, released its half year report. The company reported a loss of N519.1bn after tax. Ironically, the company is making more money, a revenue of N1.53 trn between January and June, this year which marks 32.6 percent appreciation, compared to N1.15 trn of H1 2023. Company chief executive Karl Toriola said the macroeconomic headwinds haven’t changed at all.

“The country has been dealing with rising inflation and continued depreciation of the Naira against the US dollar and other currencies,” Toriola observed.

The conditions cannot be dealt with overnight but something tangible has to be done in order to ameliorate the plight of those whose voices of pain have been very loud recently.

Welcome to our world. The company making more money is also making heavy losses. But here is one line of thought. If MTN Nigeria with its experienced Board and sound management could be running losses, it means more things are happening in the telecommunications industry than people would ordinarily want to look at, just like every other sector of the economy that is challenged.

ALTON’s Adebayo sketched a status of the industry when he called on the Nigerian government not to use the telecoms sector as a palliative to solve the current economic challenges confronting the country. Speaking at the Groupe Special Mobile Association (GSMA) digital economy report launch which happened recently in Abuja, he observed that, plus the economic situation of the country that was in dire straits, the telecommunications sector pays over 45 associated charges in form of taxes to the Nigerian government. Unfortunately, the demands of the operators have not always been met with speed and understanding. He pegged his point on the tariff review that has become contentious.

“The price review should be a simple regulatory process. The public debate this has gained makes it appear the industry is insensitive to people’s concerns.

“While the government tries to provide incentives for the public on account of ongoing macroeconomic headwinds, the telecoms sector should not be used as a palliative to solve the people’s problem. We must price right to sustain the industry; we must price right to have the right investment.”

Adebayo’s position should be very concerning although there are so many concerns at the moment which call for immediate attention. There are protests in different parts of the country over hunger issues that are not addressed. Some corporate players are bailing out of the country and some people in opportunistic positions to advise the government simply sneer at the development and say Nigeria is doing well.

Really? We are not a nation of figures. We hold statistics in contempt. But even from this position, I will suggest that happenings in the telecommunications sector do present us with a graphic template to confront some of the challenges facing the nation. Resolving these issues will percolate on the larger economy.

Minister Tijani believes there are tons of problems troubling the sector more than tariff review. We can only advise urgent action by the government and the industry to resolve these issues. Even without having to regurgitate some of his recent presentations, Tijani has been talking a lot about a digital economy whose success, I am sure, will be anchored on a strong telecommunications industry.

Technology can play the role of the tortoise here, ever present in every story, in every strand of development. Unfortunately, the cunning, hard-shelled animal that we used to pick in rubber plantations are going extinct, in the same way that technology grows into irrelevance and yesterday’s longings. The telecommunications sector has so much to offer us as a nation; its state of health should be a primary concern to all, especially the government that is building our future around it.