By Dayo Omoogun
The Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy has taken over as the Chairman of the National Frequency Management Council (NFMC) at the 48th Meeting
of the Council and relying on the extant provisions of the Act establishing it, reinstated the Council’s autonomy.
According to the statement made available to the media by the Minister’s Spokesperson, “At his inaugural meeting as Chairman of Council, Dr Pantami faulted the domiciling of the Council as a department under the Ministry, citing Section 30(2) of the Act which expressly states that officials of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, shall serve as Secretariat to the Council. This he emphasised, does not translate to the Council being reduced to the status of a department within the Ministry, as the independent status of the Council, is clearly maintained in the Act establishing it.”
The high point of the meeting was the inauguration of the National Frequency Management Council and Nigeria Police Force (NFMC/NPF) Joint Committee on the evaluation of Police 450Mhz equipment as well as the critical resolutions reached as follows:
i. The Council should be positioned properly as an autonomous body with the secretariat serviced by officials of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, as against its current status as a department under the Ministry;
ii. That a Frequency Audit be carried out on all the Spectrum Licenses issued from inception till date, to determine the amount paid and to determine if Spectrum licenses issued, were been used for the purposes they have been assigned accordingly; and
iii. The Management of regulatory bodies represented on the Council, particularly, the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC), should immediately propose subsidiary legislation to support the existing Act, for enhanced efficiency and fairness to the consumers, with regards to payment of Satellite Television stations and exploitation, by some of them.