The Federal Executive Council has approved the National Policy on Fifth Generation (5G) Networks in Nigeria.

The 5G Policy, aimed at catering for the country’s digital economy, was approved at the Council meeting on Wednesday, following the presentation by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami).

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In a statement signed by the Technical Assistant on Information Technology to the Minister, Femi Adeluyi, the implementation of the National Policy is with immediate effect.

According to reports, the National Policy was developed over a period of two years, due to the need for extensive stakeholders’ engagement and the need to ensure adequate public awareness and sensitisation.

The multi-sectoral stakeholder engagement took into account the report of a 3-month 5G trial that commenced on the 25th of November 2019.

The report critically reviewed and studied the health and security implications of deploying 5G in Nigeria.

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Leading international organisations such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), an organ of the United Nations, have confirmed that the deployment of 5G networks leave no adverse health effect and are safe.

According to experts, 5G networks offer significant advantages over the current technologies.

Some of its advantages include much lower latency, higher bandwidth, greater device density, longer battery life for nodes and greater network flexibility.

Some countries have already commenced the deployment of 5G.

They include the United States, United Kingdom, Republic of Korea, South Africa and Lesotho among others.

The National Frequency Management Council, chaired by Pantami, said it will soon release a spectrum to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) that meet all the required conditions.