vi. Facilitate and nurture local ICT content development; and vii. Undertake collaborative research, advocacy, and consultation to monitor the impact of the adoption of ICT initiatives on the society and disseminate the findings as appropriate. 7.15 Investment and Funding Investment and funding are critical to the success of any national ICT development plan and programs. Typically, sources for such funding would include Government, the private sector, as well as international organizations. Government has the critical role of creating an enabling environment that will attract investment and funding from these various stakeholders. 7.15.1 Situation Analysis Although the ICT sector has witnessed tremendous investments over recent years, the occurrence of multiple regulation and taxation - a phenomenon where players in the ICT sector are subjected to various rules, regulations and taxes, for the same aspect of a “service providers” operation, by different tiers and agencies of Government (Federal, State and Local) – tends to discourage investors, consequently threatening investments and potentially depriving the sector of the necessary funding required for ICT improvement and expansion. Therefore, these issues must be urgently and appropriately addressed. 7.15.2 Objectives i. To create an enabling environment and facilitate foreign direct investment as well as national private sector investment in the ICT industry; ii. To further deregulate, liberalise and increase competition in the ICT sector; iii. To encourage public-private partnerships for the development of ICT; iv. To provide funding of government ICT projects through appropriate budgetary allocation; and v. To pursue elimination of multiple regulation and taxation within the ICT sector. !"#$%&"'()*+(,%'$-.(/(0120( ( ( ,"34(67(