The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has recorded over N150 billion from spectrum licence fees within five months as the commission exceeded its N36 billion projected revenue from the same source for 2021.
A signed statement by the Director, Public Affairs of NCC, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde indicates that the figure which represents over 400 per cent increase in revenue budget performance in respect of spectrum fees was generated by the Commission between January 1 and May 31, 2021 and reflects significant contribution to the revenue drive of the Federal Government.
“The N150 billion spectrum revenue achieved in the first half of the year has been remitted to the Federal Government in line with the provisions of the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA), 2003, which mandates the Commission to remit proceeds from spectrum resources wholly into the government’s Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).” He noted
The Commission, in its 2021 Budget which was considered and approved by both chambers of the National Assembly in December, 2020, projected a revenue of N36 billion from spectrum fee for the year 2021 but has remarkably surpassed the estimate.
According to Adinde, NCC over the years has put in place an effective regulatory regime which has significantly facilitated advancements in the nation’s telecoms industry, boosted Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and improved the operations of licensees as well as boosted Federal Government’s revenue generation.
The Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, who commended on the revenue performance said the impressive uptick in spectrum fee was as a result of the favourable turn of events for the telecom sector added that at a time of preparing the estimates for the 2021 Budget of the Commission, it was not clear due to the ravaging impact of COVID-19 on the global economy.
Danbatta further stated that the 10-year spectrum fees made by some of the major operators directly impacted the projected spectrum fee favourably.
He also added that the Commission believes that enthronement of effective regulation will continue to improve the general performance of the telecoms sector.
While on an oversight function to the Commission in October 28,2020 Danbatta told members of the House Committee on Telecommunications that the NCC had generated and remitted N344.71 billion to the Federal Government’s CRF in the last five years.
The Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Akeem Adeyemi during the oversight visit commended NCC’s Management for the feat and urged the Commission to sustain its regime of effective regulation of the telecoms sector in a manner that would be more mutually beneficial to the industry stakeholders, the consumers of telecoms services, the operators and the Nigerian government as well.
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