Buhari’s Gov’t Signs MOU With Niger Republic On Border Frequency Coordination

President Muhammadu Buhari-led government of Nigeria has penned a signature on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Niger Republic to coordinate frequency utilization along their borders.

The development is expected to ensure seamless service deployment between the two sister countries.

Naija News understands that the signing ceremony was one of the highlights of the two-day Digital Economy Regional Conference, hosted by the Nigerian government and facilitated by the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, last weekend.

Giving an update on the development on Sunday in Abuja, the Director of Public Affairs (DPA), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Reuben Muoka, said the document signed by the two sister countries covered the coordination of frequencies in the Nigeria-Niger transboundary areas ranging from 87.5 megahertz (MHz) to 30 gigatonnes (GHz) (GHz).

According to him, the agreement will help in effectively coordinating and sharing frequencies and channels in the ‘buffer zone or area’ on borderlines between the two countries.

“It will also help to address one of the major issues of signal interference regulation that may arise in telecoms signal transmissions by terrestrial telecoms service providers, as it spells out the procedures for regulating such cases,” Mouka noted.

He added: “It will provide, in part, that in case of harmful interference affecting one of the parties, the affected party shall inform the other party in writing for necessary action to be carried out.

“Also, the party from whence the interference is originating shall ensure that all necessary means are used to resolve the harmful interference within 30 days of receipt of the notice.”

The NCC official explained, however, that the agreement did not affect the party’s rights and obligations under the Convention. He said the agreement was governed by the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) Constitution and other inter-governmental agreements.

“Land and mobile services whose use is restricted for security, maritime, or national defence purposes, or for which information is unavailable, shall not be subject to the agreement’s provisions,” Mouka added in a statement.

Naija News learnt that Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, signed on behalf of the African Giant, while Niger Republic’s Minister of Post and New Information Technologies, Moussa Baraze, signed on behalf of his country.

Others present during the signing ceremony include NCC’s Executive Vice-Chairman, Prof. Umar Danbatta, and Niger Republic’s Chairperson of the National Council for Regulation of Electronic Communications and Post, Aichatou Oumani.