By Kingsley I. Ilechukwu, Correspondent Lagos
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has been decorated with the 2021 ITRealms Telecom E-Waste Regulator Award.
The award was presented on behalf of the management of ITrealms Media group by the President of the National Association of Telecom Subscribers (NATCOMS), Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo, at the 2021 ITREALMS E-Waste Dialogue held Thursday at the Welcome Centre Hotels, Lagos, with the theme “e-Waste in Nigeria: Consumer as key to Circular Economy & 20 years of GSM.”
Chief Ogunbanjo was joined at the presentation of the award to the Commission by the President, Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) and publisher of RealNews, Maureen Chigbo; Publisher of Newsmart, Rose Moses; Teacher & Admin Officer at the E-Waste Producer Responsibility Organisation of Nigeria (E-PRON) Ms Mofesayo Oyedeji and Executive Director, DigitalSENSE Africa, Mrs Nkem Nweke.
Speaking on the award, the Executive Editor-in-Chief of ITrealms Media, Remmy Nweke, said the award was in recognition of the Commission’s commitment in the regulation of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) in the Telecom Sector.
The event keynoted by the Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer (EVC/CEO) of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, who was represented by the Head of Online Media, Dr. Omoniyi Ibietan, dwelt on “20 years of GSM and e-Waste in Nigeria.”
According to Prof. Danbatta, the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 empowered the NCC to regulate e-waste in the country, a mandate the Commission had been pursuing without levity. He updated the audience on efforts of the Commission to keep e-waste and disasters southwards.
It will be recalled that on Tuesday March 5, 2019, among other interventions, the Commission held a public inquiry on e-waste regulations and disaster recovery guidelines held at it’s head office.
Hear Danbatta on the occasion: “According to a recent report by the World Economic Forum (WEF), electronic waste (e-waste) is now the fastest-growing waste stream in the world. It is estimated that this waste stream spiked by about 48.5 million tonnes in 2018. In Africa, the challenge is even more dire. In a fast-paced telecoms industry where speed and capacity define the networks, rapid advances in technology make it easier and convenient to change malfunctioning gadgets than to repair them. Also, the illegal and predatory e-waste value chain, which encourages the movement of e-waste from developed to the developing countries, adds another layer to the global challenge of handling e-waste.
In Nigeria, due to low GDP per capita/low income, and the desperate quest for information, it is estimated that 75 per cent of electronics imported into the country are irreparable and toxic junk.
“Generally, e-waste refers to electrical or electronic equipment that is waste, including all components, sub-assemblies and consumables that are part of the equipment at the time the equipment becomes waste. Apart from their solid and non-biodegradable nature, some of the toxic elements found in e-waste include lead, mercury, lithium and other ozone depleting substances.
The global concern for the regulation of e-waste is two-pronged. Firstly, is the acute awareness of the hazardous properties and the potential risk on human health, as well as their capacity to degrade the environment. Secondly, is the business case and vast potential for wealth creation in recycling e-waste into more benign and productive uses.
In line with its regulatory mandate and to keep pace with efforts at managing e-waste related issues, the Commission has developed a draft Regulations on e-waste. The draft Regulations represents a holistic intervention aimed at providing clarity and delimiting the responsibilities of various stakeholders in the e-waste value chain within the telecommunications industry. While the draft Regulations is industry-specific, it nonetheless keys into other initiatives at national and international levels.
Disaster Recovery Guidelines
In line with its commitment to sustain the phenomenal successes recorded in the industry, the Commission is issuing proactive containment measures that will mitigate disasters likely to affect business continuity, in the event that they occur. The United Nations defines a disaster as a serious disruption of the function of a community, society or business.
Disasters often involve widespread human, material or environmental impact, which exceed the ability of the entity to cope using its immediate resources.
The Guidelines on Disaster Recovery therefore, ties into the Commission’s wider risk management initiatives introduced by the Code of Corporate Governance launched by the Commission in 2014, which are aimed at protecting telecoms companies from the threat of emergencies in their operations. It covers subjects such as disaster profiling, disaster preparedness, disaster relief and disaster recovery.
In line with the Commission’s participatory rule-making process and in the best tradition of regulatory transparency, the Commission uploaded these instruments on its website on January 21, 2019 and requested stakeholders to submit their comments.
Although no comments were made on the instruments, indicative of their general acceptance, the Commission has nonetheless convened this Public Inquiry as required by law and to allow stakeholders who missed the opportunity to now make comments which, as usual, will be taken on board and duly considered in producing these robust regulatory instruments.”
In order to achieve its mandate, the Commission under the able watch of Danbatta, has put in place some necessary licensing and regulatory frameworks for the supply of telecommunications services, especially using “ASPIRE 2024”which drives its strategic management principles.
