Fintiri reduces right-of-way fees to 100 naira, as telecoms set to support ICT in Adamawa.
The Adamawa State Government has welcomed telecommunications companies to benefit from a one-hundred-naira “tax on right of way” (RoW) payment in order to invest more in the state.
In an exclusive interview with our correspondent in Yola, Dr. Hamajam Ahmed Adamu, Special Adviser on ICT and E-Governance to Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, delivered the advice.
According to him, ‘right of way’ is an engineering term that effectively indicates authorization to lay a cable on a certain route held by an authority, which typically pays a charge per linear metre. A linear metre is a term primarily used in the building industry.
It’s often used to quantify and price materials by their length in a single direction. He claims that the cost of laying a cable is one hundred naira per linear metre and that other states charge more.
“To encourage carriers to invest in broadband infrastructure, Nigeria’s thirty-six governors opted to standardise the ROW price in 2020, setting it at N145 per metre.
“One year after the agreement, only Kaduna, Ekiti, Katsina, Plateau, Kwara, Anambra, and Imo have implemented the revised levies. While Benue, Ogun, and Lagos charge N2,500, N4,000, and N750 per linear metre, respectively, he did add that Governor Fintiri, in his magnanimity, decreased the price to entice more development in the state.”
“What we’re doing now is emphasising and proclaiming to the telecom sectors, stakeholders like the Nigeria Telecommunication Commission, Universal Service Fund, and Association of Licence Telecom Operators, that they should take advantage of the decreased rates and invest in the state,” he explained.
“At the moment, the governor has approved the establishment of a state Information Development Technology Agency, which will be responsible for regulating, developing, and deepening the digital economy, as well as ensuring the capacity of service for people to use technology by lifting themselves out of poverty through engagement in businesses both within and outside the state,” Dr. Adamu added.
He cited some of the advantages of a network-connected state, such as providing a platform for all government office holders to send and receive mail, free phone calls between ministries, departments, and agencies, and providing a platform for the government to deliver all of its policies digitally. As a result, he asked the state’s honourable citizens, especially the youth, to rally behind the governor’s administration for the good of the state.