ALTON Denies Rift with Comms Minister, Sets Agenda

ASSOCIATION of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has said there is no rift between it and Dr Isa Pantami, minister of Communications, over its position on the implementation of the country’s data protection regulations by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

Pantami was director-general of NITDA before he was appointed minister.

And while at NITDA, he pressed forward Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) which stakeholders faulted for various reasons; including conflicting with the powers of the

Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

Gbenga Adebayo, ALTON chairman however, said there was no rift between the association and Pantami.

“The issues we raised were about NITDA’s regulations; it has nothing to do with the person of the director-general. NITDA reacted; it was not the DG that reacted. The letter we wrote was addressed to our regulator, the NCC; and we sought clarification of the developments in the industry and how to proceed,” he said.

But Adebayo added that the issues concerning implementation of the regulations, over which ALTON raised eyebrows, had not been resolved.