Deregulation of the Nigerian Telecommunication Sector: Interrogating the Nexus Between Imperialism and Development

Abstract

This study investigates the deregulation of the Nigerian Telecommunication Sector within the precinct of Imperialism and development. This is premised on the fact that Nigeria’s Telecommunication sector has not only been moribund over the years but has more importantly been dominated by foreign and local bourgeoisies after its deregulation in 1999. In view of this, the study borrows from Structural Imperialism which argues that the elites in the Centre and Periphery states connive, indeed conspire to undermine development in the latter. It relies heavily on the use of secondary data, by virtue of the nature of the work, thus probing the dynamics of these Centre/Periphery trajectories. Findings reveal that certain levels of development have been recorded in the Telecommunication sector particularly in terms of contribution to the Nigerian economy through the ubiquitous provision of telecommunication lines, especially the mobile phones. Similarly, jobs have been created within this sector in terms of its contribution to Nigeria’s GDP profile. However, beneath these efforts, the predatory and materialistic character of the foreign and local bourgeoisie, a permanent feature of the post-colonial Nigerian state remains the greatest bane of the growth of this sector. The study concludes that until this “unholy alliance” between the foreign and local bourgeoisies is demolished, the deregulation effort of the federal government will remain a mirage. To this end, it recommends an immediate measure to increase the legislative oversight of the regulatory body, Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) over the activities of the foreign mobile operators in Nigeria, while not neglecting, indeed promoting the indigenous operators of the telecommunication services in the country