Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami, has sponsored the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, and some National Assembly members to Turkey in a bid to bribe them to get his controversial bill which will destroy ICT startups to scale through.
SaharaReporters had earlier reported how Pantami bribed top officials of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) with the foreign trip to buy their support for the controversial bill.
It was learnt that Malami was also on the trip to Turkey as part of moves by Pantami to bribe his way through for the bill to be passed.
Malami while in Turkey also visited the hospital for the treatment of an undisclosed ailment.
“The Attorney General of the Federation, Malami was also on the trip, he even used the opportunity to seek medical treatment in Turkey. Some members of the National Assembly were also sponsored by Pantami to Turkey.
“The chairmen and members of both Senate and House of Representatives’ Committees on Information Communication Technology and Cybercrime were in Turkey last two months,” a source told SaharaReporters.
The new bill for which Pantami is lobbying Malami and National Assembly members is targeted at repealing the National Information Technology Development Agency Act, no 28 2007.
SaharaReporters obtained a copy of the bill titled ‘A bill for an Act to repeal the National Information Technology Development Agency Act, no 28 2007 and enact the National Information Technology Development Agency Act to provide for the administration, implementation, regulation of information technology systems and practices as well as digital economy in Nigeria and for related matters’.
The bill, according to sources, seeks to repress (regulate) the information technology sector as it highlights weighty penalties for offenders ranging from N3 million for individual offenders to N30 million for corporate offenders.
Section 20 of the bill under Licensing And Authorisations explicitly spells out the requirement for licences, registrations, and authorisations for operators in this sector.
It read, “The Agency shall by Regulation issue licenses and authorisations for operators in the information technology and digital economy sector, and such regulation shall provide for licensing and authorisation criteria including renewal, suspension, and revocation conditions to promote free-market operation and competition, among others.”
Subsection 2 states, “The Agency shall determine and register operators in the information technology and digital economy sector. Such register shall be published.
”Any person or body corporate who operates an information technology or digital economy service, product, or platform contrary to the provisions of this Act, commits an offence.”
Section 21 lists the classes of licences and authorisations to include: Product License, Service Provider License, and Platform Provider License.
The bill states a N3 million to N30 million fine for offenders over “non-payment upon expiration of a demand notice of an assessed levy within 2 months by a corporate body… Where a person or body corporate fails to comply with the regulations, standards, guidelines, frameworks, circulars, directives or any subsidiary legislation issued by the Agency in the discharge of its duties under this Act…”
It adds, “Where a person or body corporate attempts to or denies any person authorised by the Agency or by law, entry into premises or access to records or data, in pursuance of the provisions of this Act, such a person or body corporate commits an offence and is liable on conviction: (a) in the case of an individual, to a fine of not less than N3,000,000.00 or imprisonment for a term of not less than 1 year or both; and (b) in the case of a body corporate, to a fine of not less than N30,000,000.00 and in addition, every director and principal officer of such body corporate shall individually be liable to not less than N3,000,000.00 or imprisonment for a term of not less than 2 years or both.”
The bill also states in subsection 4: “Where a person or body corporate imports or deploys the usage of any information technology equipment that has been designated by the Agency as requiring approval before importation or deployment, without first obtaining such approval or complying with the conditions imposed by the Agency for the importation and usage of the equipment, the person or body corporate commits an offence and is liable on conviction…”