Olawale Owoeye is the Managing Director and co-founder of Cedarview Communication Limited (CCL), Ikeja, Lagos. Cedarview Communications Limited designs, plans and implements innovative technological and cost effective solutions for myriad of businesses achieved through strategic alliances with industry players that share their commitment to delivering such values. He is also the coordinator of the value added services sector of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria ATCON. An active player in the Nigerian Telecom sector, Owoeye has for about 18 years worked in different organisations including MTN Communications, Airtel Nigeria, Siemens, etc. This passionate telecom personality while speaking with PATRICK IMO of ICT Monitor said telecom is the life he is living and would love to keep living. Below are excerpts of the chat.

ICT Monitor: What are the main differences between countries running on this internet of things and those that are not and or not fully in?

Owoeye: Leaving definitions to the academics, internet of things refer specifically to those devices that are totally connected to the internet ranging from the least home use equipment such as Freezers, TVs, cars, etc. These go on to the universal connections to the internet for getting things done most efficiently. It runs through governments in policy formulation and implementation, businesses, health, education and virtually everything. That is the future and we cannot hold back the future nor look away from it. In same vein, any individual, organization or country that, right now is not running on this internet of things is only trying to hold back the future and the consequences can only be imagines. It also goes to say that the extent to which you are on it, best describes your moving with the times. For instance some countries have leapfrogged others in this sphere. Some countries like Singapore and South Korea, where their national governments took whole steps in facilitating technological advancements and innovations within their domains. These steps which have to be conscious and quite deliberate in approach makes all the difference, like in Singapore where internet spits are deployed massively even in homes, then the United States and United Kingdom. It also goes to show that by design, no place is really meant to be superior to the other but people will always differ in their visions and approach to things, with manifest differences in their economies. In the African space, this effect is quite visible in countries like Rwanda and Kenya. In our dear country Nigeria, we came up with a bold and beautiful broadband plan which has really galvanized players and stakeholders in the industry – governments, private sector, universities to work in a particular direction for the overall benefit of the society.

Nigeria’s 2013 – 2018 National Broadband Plan has just rolled by. How do you rate the plan and its implementation looking at what can be said to be its benefits to Nigerians?

Implementation of the 2013 – 2018 Broadband Plan has been very good and I have reasons for this. One, a good many of the telecommunication companies in Nigeria are today offering LTEs, the high broadband and internet speed and Nigerian Communications Commission NCC allowed this to work because of the universal licences that was given to them. Without needing to buy Spectrum, apart from MTN, these services are here for us and it means lower costs. That was because of a consensus at one point by government.

Another reason is the waivers of right of way. We are all aware that there are lots of capacities sitting at the shores of Nigeria. We have close to 20 terabytes per seconds sitting at Lagos alone. There was the challenge of taking this capacity from Lagos to far flung areas of Nigeria like Kaura Namoda, Maiduguri, Birnin Kebbi, Oron and deeper into Bayelsa State. The waivers of right of way gave some respite. Beyond that, I also expect government to invest in this. We have the moribund NITEL with huge existing national capacities belied therein. It would have been delivering new services at lower costs but all these are lost with the demise of NITEL. Then again where government is not doing that as was the case with Telcomms of South Africa that gave soft landing to MTN etc and the companies moved faster, they should make capacities available at pickup points such that would not be expended by service providers. They should provide capacities in certain cities as a form of ‘rights subsidies’ allowing these penetrations move from states’ capitals down to the villages to transform the communities.

The government can incentivize the private sector by committing to putting capacities in a large pipe from which it draws, creates its services online and the private operators will now pitch for the rest, most importantly these large pipes they’ve created can be run by the private sector operators. There is no gainsaying that internet has a direct effect on the lives and ways of people such that when a community gets connected to the internet, the opportunities that go with it are endless. Farmers get to know lots of innovative ways of improving on their yields – that is agriculture. Same goes for the health, education, commerce and so forth. These are the numerous benefits we have derived from the proper implementation of the Plan so government should not rest on its oars. They should push more to ensure this does not just end here as a plan, knowing we are good at drawing up plans and programmes but lacking in the discipline to fully implement to the benefit of all.

Were there drawbacks, challenges in the implementation of this plan and how much did it affect the project?

The 2013 -2018 Broadband Plan had lots of external shocks. The devaluation of the naira created lots of draw backs and resistance to the plans implementation as operators had to go back to source for more funds to run with. Creating the needed infrastructure and other resources as had been planned was affected as these equipment are not only imported but are deeply capital intensive. You also note the effect of this devaluation on the purchasing power of the average Nigerian.

Secondly, Telecom companies were not allowed to access Forex at CBN rates, we were put on the 41 exemption list yet we needed this forex to bring in equipment and other investments. That also was a disincentive as it hindered us from getting the amount of foreign capital we needed to attract to the sector. This is a sector that runs on huge capital and to attract this kind of investment, we have to have the right environment, the right economy the right infrastructure in place and majority of these were lacking. These were some of the things that militated against the smooth implementation of the plan. However, we are not crying over spilt milk because at the last check, we discovered that we met and surpassed the set target notwithstanding these drawbacks. That goes to show the resilience of the average Nigerian entrepreneur, his and or her ability to recreate and reinvent himself in the face of all odds, that’s the Niger spirit, the Niger brand, I salute them.

Kudos and moving forward, are there any deserving commendations here?

Before we over celebrate these successes thus made, let us ask ourselves what is the concentration of this 31.5% penetration target achieved, what is the spread? Most of them are concentrated in Lagos and a few other enterprise centres across the country but not to homes as in South Korea and Singapore where you have over 100mbbs tied to flats/homes. Looking forward, we should target the average person on the streets of the remotest places in the country, taking for granted that we should be in every home and office across the country.

It certainly will not be out of place to salute organisations and persons who made these successes possible. NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Prof Danbatta, is indeed a square peg in a square hole. He was able to steer the ship of activities so well that success became like an everyday thing. Again, the President and the Ministry of Communications need be mentioned here. We had seen several situations where a new administration meant dumping all old projects no matter how good. That was not the case with. They carried on with the plan even when it was initiated by the erstwhile President Jonathan’s administration and today we are all the better for it.