There was a power play at the National Assembly on Friday between members of the Senate and House of Representatives Joint Committee on ICT and Cybersecurity over a bill to repeal and re-enact the National Information Technology Development Agency.
The bill seeks, among others, to empower NITDA to fix licensing and authorisation charges, collect fees and penalties and issue contravention notices and non-compliance with the Act.
The proposed legislation also seeks to establish the National Information Technology Development Fund, which shall be funded by a levy of one per cent of the profit before tax of companies and enterprises with an annual turnover of N100m and above.
Stakeholders raised concerns about some provisions of the bill, which they said overlapped or usurped statutory powers and authorities of other agencies of government.
The joint committee on Friday organised a public on the bill to take inputs from stakeholders in the industry but the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, and the Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Abdullah, were conspicuously absent at the hearing, a development that prompted some committee members to call for an adjournment.
Some members of the House of Representatives, Isiaka Ibrahim (Ogun), Uzoma Nkem Abonta (Abia) and Unyime Idem (Akwa Ibom) raised objections to the continuation of the public hearing citing the absence of the minister and the NITDA DG, non-availability of materials on the bill and the fact that the event came at a time the National Assembly members were already on ‘holiday mood’.
They also expressed disappointment that there was no apology received either from the minister or the NITDA DG while none of their representatives was at the public hearing.
“The drivers of this bill seem to be driving in low gear. The necessary ingredients for us are not here. We don’t have the documents before us. Members are not here, the minister is not here, what needs to be done should be properly done,” Abonta said.
However, their submissions were unacceptable to the co-Chairman of the panel, Senator Yakubu Oseni (APC, Kogi), who insisted that the proceedings should go ahead as planned.
Oseni said copies of the bill had been circulated to all committee members digitally, and that the NITDA boss was represented by the agency’s legal adviser.
“I want to put it on record here that if there is any anomaly or any document that is missing that should be a fault from your side, the House of Representative members. For us in the Senate, everything is intact and the necessary documents concerning the bill have been circulated through digital means, so I believe if you are conversant with your system, you should have been able to see that.
