Leveraging Nigeria’s 5G Policy

Technology is a meaningful part of human life or existence and this is true for a fact in Nigeria.
Africa’s giant is one of the technological hotspots across the African continent and makes great use of digital resources to prosper. A technology leap that many Nigerians are anxiously awaiting is the deployment of 5G.
Nigerians were exhilarated when the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, announced that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had approved the Fifth Generation Network, also known as 5G for Nigeria. Pantami said that the council, in ratifying the 5G, took cognizance of the report of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) that pronounced it safe to human health.
Assuring the safety of Nigerians, the minister said that the radioactivity of the network was lower than that of the 4G currently in use. He revealed that the deployment of the plan would be implemented in phases between now and 2025 and listed the benefits of the policy to include higher data rate, fuller capacity, lower latency, job opportunities and necessary assistance to the security agencies in localities where the high-quality frequency was lacking.
What is 5G? Very simply put, this is the next generation of mobile broadband. A real step up from the current 4G networks, it guarantees to be of great benefit to personal and business activities. 5G is the acronym for the Fifth Generation of wireless communications. Experts assert that it is an advancement on the previous 3G and 4G that can provide much faster connectivity and speed up technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Oddly enough, Nigeria was the first African country to test 5G but was not able to implement it. However, South Africa was the first to apply it, using Vodacom and MTN in 2019. Kenya came in second place last April when the network was run, utilising Nokia and Huawei simultaneously. Although 5G is still not widely available, more and more African countries are embarking on testing. Telecommunications in Morocco, Egypt, Gabon, Uganda and Lesotho are carrying out preliminary conduction tests. Even in this case, it may take longer to adopt the technology as a whole.
According to some connoisseurs in information technology, when the 5G network becomes heart and soul operational across the country, it should equally convey a boost to businesses, especially as they are increasingly going online in the modern age, and taking advantage of digital channels to prosper. Of course, this can be noticed in the way Nigerian companies use online marketing to boost brand awareness or sell their products worldwide through digital platforms and websites. An effective 5G network is expected to help Nigerian businesses work faster, more flexibly and more productively.
However, despite the pontifical benefits, controversies, theories and myths have consistently stood in the way of the Federal Government’s declaration to roll out the Fifth Generation network in the country. There are apprehensions as to the likely harmful impact of the latest technology to the country, with some quarters citing cybersecurity and privacy threats, while others have referred to possible health-related predicaments from electromagnetic radiation and other negative impacts on the environment. Those concerns must be dealt with as the technology becomes operational in Nigeria.
Other claims still deal with health risks since the launch of 5G in China and its deployment in several other countries. They are Covid-19 vaccines contain 5G microchips; that 5G release is used to cover up the Covid-19 pandemic; and that 5G causes headaches, migraines, and dizziness and even cancer. In addition, it is believed to suppress the immune system and increase the risk of SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19.
Nigeria’s National Security Adviser (NSA), Major-General Babagana Monguno (rtd), also raised critical national security concerns and caution regarding the introduction of the Fifth Generation (5G) network. Monguno spoke at the Senate investigative hearing on the current state of the 5G network in Nigeria and its technological impact on citizens, where he posited that if misplaced and left in the wrong hands, it could pose a threat to national security.
Many countries are finding it difficult to deploy the technology mainly because of the challenges and myths characterising it as well as its introduction. Similarly, Nigeria has its obstacles that have impeded the execution of the technology in the country. That was acknowledged by Pantami as one reason for the seemingly late take-off of the policy.
But those who should know better have come out invincibly to debunk the misgivings. The United Kingdom government recently issued perhaps the strongest rebuttal of these figments of the fertile imagination of some self-styled scientists. “There is absolutely no credible evidence of a link between 5G and Coronavirus; inaccurate information was being spread online about 5G”, the UK’s Department of Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) noted.
Though the reservations against the network are not scientifically proven, they must not be disparaged as there is a need for constant enlightenment to instil credence in Nigerians about the safety of the 5G technology. Enlightenment has to be intensified to encourage broader endorsement of the policy. Nobody should be held execrable for the pervasive misconception of robotics. When the origin of both the Covid-19 pandemic and the 5G technology is examined, it may easily be understood why people inter-relate them.
Notwithstanding the disinclinations, we believe the perks derivable from effectual 5G network deployment far outweigh the handicaps. Therefore, the Nigerian government should proceed with the declaration of information technology and telecommunications as vital infrastructure to facilitate the broadband strategy. Governments at all levels must also enhance their efforts to incorporate information technology with its potential to facilitate governance and deracinate corruption in the country.
The exhaustive adoption of information technology and migration of state operations from manual to digital will certainly ensure that the country conforms to the benchmark of government operations in the 21st century. 5G remains the best technology available; therefore, adopting it now is more suitable for the country to avoid playing catch-up later, which would be more exorbitant to bear up under.