The Honourable Minister of Communications, Barrister Adebayo Shittu has said there is a need to generate revenue for the Federal Government from other sectors of the economy in the wake of the steep drop in revenue derivable from oil resources which has impacted negatively on the economy and resulted partly in the current recession Nigeria is going through. The Minister disclosed this at the inauguration of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on “International Gateway Management Service” in Abuja.
“Apart from the importance of tracking incoming and outgoing voice and data traffic to and from Nigeria, there is the need to ensure the Federal Government derives appropriate revenue from international voice and data traffic”, the Minister asserted. He hoped the Committee would discharge its responsibilities as he tasked the Committee to get to work immediately.
The Committee is chaired by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Communications, Arc. Sonny Echono, while members are drawn from Federal Ministry of Communications, Federal Ministry of Finance, Federal Ministry of Justice, Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Department of State Services (DSS), National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and Galaxy Backbone Limited.
The Committee is expected to work out modalities and framework including agreement between the Federal Government and the Gateway Service Manager for actualizing deployment of Gateway Communications tracking technology in Nigeria. However, the report of the Committee is expected within a month from the date of its inaugural meeting.
It should be noted that the Gateway represents the access of the Country to the world and it can be connected either through satellite, marine or through international fibre cables.
The exclusivity of the Gateway for incoming and outgoing international traffic to the Government will result in restoration of lost revenues through proper management, prohibiting illegal Gateways to operate hence achieving more control over security issues.
Signed
Ozoya Imohimi
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