Following an accepted presentation by Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ibrahim Pantami, the Federal Executive Council has approved the National Policy on Fifth Generation 5G Network for Nigeria’s digital economy.
The implementation of the 5G Policy, which was approved at the Council meeting today, September 8, 2021, is with immediate effect.
According to a statement by Dr. Femi Adeluyi, the Technical Assistant on Information Technology to the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy revealed that has undergone development over a two-year period as part of efforts to draw extensive stakeholders engagement as well as getting adequate public awareness as and sensitization.
Continuing, he said that the stakeholder engagement was thorough and multi-sectoral in nature.
The approval of the 5G network, in Nigeria, Adeluyi said, came after the Council took into account the three-month trial of the network that commenced on the 25th of November, 2019.
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The health and security implications of deploying 5G in Nigeria were also critically reviewed and studied by the report presented by Prof Pantami.
This further implies that:
- The 5G network leaves no adverse health effects and is safe. This was confirmed by the World Health Organisation (WHO), and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), an organ of the United Nations.
- 5G networks offer significant advantages over the current technologies
- It has a higher bandwidth
- The technology has greater device density
- It also has longer battery life for nodes and greater network flexibility.
Meanwhile, several countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Republic of Korea, South Africa, Lesotho, and more, have already commenced the deployment of 5G and are reaping the benefits. These countries include the
In the meantime, the National Frequency Management Council (NFMC) will soon release spectrum to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) that meet all the required conditions, while the NCC, will continue to develop the regulatory instruments required for the deployment of the technology across states of the federation.
