Leading global and African digital policy experts are calling on Nigerian lawmakers to overhaul the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003, branding the 22-year-old legislation outdated in today’s fast-evolving digital economy.
They propose a rights-based approach to internet access, the creation of a Digital Inclusion Fund, agile regulation, and a shift towards data-driven policymaking to close the rural access gap and regulate emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and digital financial services.
The call comes during a high-level panel on Day 2 of the Colloquium organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Communications in collaboration with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), held Wednesday in Lagos.
They are warning that unless urgent action is taken, Nigeria risks falling behind in the race for meaningful connectivity and digital inclusion.
Sophie Maddens, Chief of the Digital Knowledge Society Department at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), underscores the urgency to update the NCA, which was enacted when second-generation (2G) mobile networks were just emerging in Nigeria.
Udotai is advocating for a digital-era rethink, urging lawmakers to consider regulatory convergence—a merger of NCC, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), and National Broadcasting Commission (NBC)—to form a unified digital regulator, echoing models adopted in South Africa and other countries.
“There is a real sense of urgency,” Maddens says during her presentation titled Global Best Practices and Approaches to Telecommunications Regulations. “I cannot but underline just how important digital is. Imagine a day without digital. Portugal and Spain experienced it earlier this week.”
She stresses that digital transformation now affects every sector—health, education, agriculture, and governance—while 2.6 billion people globally, including millions in Africa, remain unconnected.
NCA2003: A law born in the 2G era
The experts are highlighting that the NCA 2003 was enacted when second-generation (2G) networks were just emerging in Nigeria, and can no longer accommodate the realities of the 5G age, artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and digital financial services.
“The Nigerian Communications Act is a traditional telephone law,” Basil Udotai, Partner at Johnson and Wilner LLP and former Director of Cybersecurity at the Office of the National Security Adviser says. “The issue of content, the things that run in the pipe, NCC was completely insulated from it.”
Udotai is advocating for a digital-era rethink, urging lawmakers to consider regulatory convergence—a merger of NCC, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), and National Broadcasting Commission (NBC)—to form a unified digital regulator, echoing models adopted in South Africa and other countries.
Internet access as a legal right
At the heart of the reform push is a call to make internet access a fundamental right in Nigeria.
G.T. Mohammed, Secretary to the Commission at the NCC, is calling on lawmakers to enshrine internet access as a constitutional or statutory right in Nigeria.
“In other climes, people are asking, should access to the internet and digital information become a human right?” Mohammed says. “I’ve seen that in Estonia, Finland, Greece—even Spain is taking it a notch higher.”
He notes that courts in France and India have interpreted access to the internet as part of broader constitutional rights to information or freedom of expression. A similar move in Nigeria, he argues, would compel government agencies to treat internet connectivity as a basic public service.
Mohammed is advocating for Nigeria to follow suit by recognising digital connectivity as a public service, enshrining it in law, and treating it as a national priority.
“Let’s have a way of ensuring that this is contained in a specific form,” Mohammed adds, “so that somebody has it as a right—that internet access and access to digital information is a right.”
According to the Alliance for Affordable Internet, only about 37% of Nigerians regularly use the internet, with just 9.8% of rural dwellers connected in 2023. In contrast, countries like South Korea and Finland report over 95% internet penetration.
Community networks and constituency funds
“We’re all community leaders. Most of our communities are underserved,” Nwokoro says. “Cottage service providers can be established to facilitate internet services at much cheaper rates than major ISPs.”
Osondu Nwokoro, Principal Partner at Greenfields Law, is calling on lawmakers to deploy part of their federal constituency funds to build low-cost internet hubs in rural areas, leveraging community network models that have proven successful in Latin America and East Africa.
Nwokoro urges lawmakers to also leverage their constituency development funds to build low-cost community internet hubs.
“We’re all community leaders. Most of our communities are underserved,” Nwokoro says. “Cottage service providers can be established to facilitate internet services at much cheaper rates than major ISPs.”
He points to successful models in other countries where community networks—using Wi-Fi or wireless mesh technology—are implemented through partnerships with local governments and civil society.
Community networks using Wi-Fi or wireless mesh technology are being presented as cost-effective, grassroots solutions to the rural access gap that continues to plague Nigeria.
“There are ample models for that. So that is a way we as leaders can practically intervene to facilitate universal and meaningful communications,” he says.
Data, digital inclusion fund, and innovation
The need for a Digital Inclusion Fund, backed by the Nigerian government, is gaining traction among experts. Mohammed says the fund should finance everything from legacy infrastructure to data analytics, helping policy makers better understand user needs and service gaps.
Mohammed proposes the establishment of a Digital Inclusion Fund—broader in scope than the existing Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF)—to support infrastructure roll-out, digital literacy, and data analytics.
“From the onset, the expectation was for government to provide legacy infrastructure for operators to ride on. This wasn’t done,” he says.
The proposed fund would enable investment in critical areas, including data analytics, which Mohammed describes as underutilised in current policymaking. “We have a lot of data, but we’ve not been able to use it effectively because data analytics is expensive,” he says.
“We have a lot of data out there. We’ve not been able to use it as it’s supposed to be,” he says.
Maddens echoes this, calling for data-driven regulation and institutional support for the National Bureau of Statistics and NCC to ensure that decisions are backed by hard evidence.
“If we don’t know what we don’t know, we can’t fix it,” she says. “Data is key.”
She is also pushing for regulatory agility. “Be bold, be brave, be innovative—but also provide stability,” Maddens tells lawmakers, urging them to adopt regulatory sandboxes that allow innovators to test new models under relaxed rules.
Diverging views on reform
Basil says the NCA 2003 is outdated and focuses primarily on voice and telecoms infrastructure.
“It is a traditional telephone law enacted in 2003,” Udotai says. “It focuses on communication infrastructure and services, but not content. That leads to regulatory confusion over services like telemedicine, e-learning, and digital payments.”
He suggests that lawmakers consider merging the NCC, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) into a single digital regulator—mirroring reforms adopted by South Africa over two decades ago.
“Right now, some operators don’t even know how they relate to the Nigerian regulatory ecosystem,” Udotai says. “Some are not regulated at all. Others are regulated by agencies that lack the technical depth to create relevant policies.”
Not all agree. Not everyone is on board with sweeping changes. Ajibola Olude, Secretary of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) voices concern about merging regulators, saying, “Each agency like NCC, NITDA and NBC, I want to believe that they are doing what they are mandated to do.”
Maddens suggests a hybrid approach. “Collaboration can mean full restructuring, but also creating mechanisms using the tools that you have,” she says. She offers a compromise, suggesting that deeper collaboration and coordination—not necessarily a full merger—could be a way forward.
Agile, inclusive and evidence-based regulation
Maddens, who helped ECOWAS harmonise telecom laws in 2003, says regulators must now be facilitators, not gatekeepers. “Why on earth did we call regulators gatekeepers? Why didn’t we call them facilitators?” she asks.
She advocates for regulatory sandboxes that allow innovators to test new services—such as fintech or e-health—in a controlled environment. Udotai agrees and calls for experimental licensing to be brought into mainstream regulation.
“Even the Wireless Telegraphy Act speaks to experimental licensing,” Udotai says. “We need a law that institutionalises this, giving innovators room to experiment.”
Maddens insists that data must drive regulation. “If we don’t know what we don’t know, we can’t fix it,” she says. “Data is key. It helps define regulatory tools, close gaps, and allocate resources wisely.”
She urges Parliament to provide budgetary support for the NCC and National Bureau of Statistics to collect, analyse, and publish data on digital access, infrastructure gaps, and user behaviour.
GSMA: Nigeria mirrors Africa’s connectivity crisis
Philippe Goabga, Senior Policy Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa at the GSM Association (GSMA), highlights that Africa remains the least connected region globally, and Nigeria mirrors this challenge.
“We have a 12% coverage gap—four times the global average,” Goabga says. “Even where networks exist, people don’t use them due to affordability, lack of relevant content, or low digital literacy.”
He says GSMA is conducting research in Nigeria to identify solutions and backs the call for a data-driven approach to policy making.
He also supports a data-first approach, saying GSMA’s methodology for connectivity studies in Nigeria is transparent and open to government partners.
“It’s not just about connectivity,” Goabga says. “It’s about allowing every citizen to access the internet in a way that meets their needs. It’s part of our daily lives. It allows our children to live like children anywhere in the world.”
Goabga warns that connectivity is now a social and economic necessity, not a luxury. “It’s about making sure we have the right coverage, quality of service, and bandwidth for everyone,” he says.
ATU pushes regional collaboration
Isaac Boateng, Director of the African Telecommunications Union (ATU), is championing regional harmonisation of digital policies and regulations, saying the ATU is equipping member states with toolkits to align national and continental strategies.
“We are working on frameworks for regional collaboration,” Boateng says. “Internet-resilient frameworks have been shared with members.”
A legislative crossroads
As the House of Representatives initiates a review of the NCA 2003, panellists are warning that the future of Nigeria’s digital transformation hinges on visionary, rights-based, and inclusive regulation.
“Let’s have a way of ensuring that Internet access is a right,” Mohammed says. “That access to digital information is a right.”
With over 2.6 billion people still unconnected globally, the stakes are high—not just for Nigeria, but for the continent.
They are calling on lawmakers to go beyond telecoms, adopt a rights-based approach, and build a future-ready legal and regulatory framework that ensures every Nigerian has the right, means, and opportunity to thrive in a digitally connected world.
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