Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami has revealed that the federal government will soon deploy 5G network in the country to increase connectivity.
He disclosed this in Abuja when he featured on a special News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) interview programme.
Pantami stated that the decision to deploy the 5G network followed an outcome of thorough investigations, research and trial absolving it of posing security or health threat.
He explained that the work on the national policy on 5G stands at 95 percent done and will be presented to the federal executive council (FEC) in due course.
Pantami expressed that the primary concern of government was to ensure security and welfare of Nigerians in their utilisation of services in the telecommunications sector.
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He blamed the delay in the deployment of the 5G network on conspiracy theories.
“Our government is a listening one; so we listen to constructive criticisms, respect it and appreciate it and at least we value it,” he said.
“We’d reached an advanced stage of 5G, then, an issue came up that 5G was related to COVID-19; many people including the educated ones started circulating it without verification.
“Naturally, people are a bit scared and sceptical about technology.
“So we gave enough time to do more consultation, creating awareness in local languages so as to engage our citizens to address all the challenges.
“We set up a technical team that accommodated security, health and environmental institutions and the public sector so that we can be on the same page.
“I want to give you the assurance that 5G communication network is in the pipeline.”