The Project Director, Broadband Implementation Steering Committee, Abubakar Maina, has disclosed that the Federal Government may fail to meet its target to provide cheaper smartphones in line with the Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2020–2025.
This was according to a presentation document he made on the implementation status of the NNBP 2020–2025 to the National Digital Economy Council recently.
A copy of the presentation document was obtained from the Technical Assistant (Research and Development) to the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Femi Adeluyi.
In the NNBP 2020–2025, the Federal Government targets at least one locally assembled smart device by 2023 with a target price of N18,000 and three locally assembled smart devices by 2025 with a price of N9,000 each.
The government said that it would incentivise local manufacturers of devices to facilitate access to low-cost broadband devices.
However, in the document sent to our correspondent, it was noted that economic realities might hamper the government from meeting this target.
