The Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, has said that recent awards to the telecom industry regulatory commission underscore the importance of the industry’s increasing contribution to the nation’s economic growth.
Describing year 2022 as a momentous year for the Commission which had already received the ‘Regulator of The Year 2021’ while the EVC also bagged the ‘Public Official of The Decade award, Danbatta stressed that the two awards in the first month of the year eloquently expressed the significance of telecom sector’s contribution to Nigeria’s economy.
It would be recalled that telecoms industry’s 12.45 percent contribution to the nation’s GDP in 2020 was pivotal in lifting the nation’s economy out of recession.
The awards by Nigerian News Direct, a multimedia entity, were presented to the NCC and its EVC at the weekend in Lagos to commemorate its 11th Anniversary.
The presentation of the awards was preceeded by the Nigerian NewsDirect Anniversary public lecture titled ‘Public Sector Financing: The Oil Revenue, Challenges, Solutions and Prospects’ delivered by Dapo Okubadejo, Ogun State Commissioner for Finance and Chief Economic Adviser to the Governor.
Okubadejo’s paper reflects essentially on the increasing challenges of the nation’s dependence on oil revenues for public sector financing and also proffers solutions to better public sector financing from the context refocusing on the opportunities and prospects inherent in the oil sector but particularly in other sectors.
By sheer coincidence, or conscious contextual social intervention, the topic of the Lecture and its treatment were not just poignant reflections of the state of the economy, they were fluent and persuasive of the role of NCC in midwifing and enabling the utilisation of telecoms and ICTs’ applications for economic recovery and growth. A fact that gives concrete expression to the imperative of diversification of the nation’s economy from oil, which is being vigorously pursued by the Federal Government and which NCC is a key sectoral driver.
Interestingly, the role NCC is mandated to play in enhancing Nigeria’s growth and development is not lost on its management. This strategic role and commitment to it, was emphasized by Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, NCC’s Director Public Affairs, who received the awards on behalf of the Commission and the EVC/CEO.
Adinde, while conveying NCC’s gratitude for the award, said the Commission will not rest on its oars but rededicate itself towards demonstrating its worthiness of the public trust and confidence reposed in it as an agency central to re-diversification of the nation’s economy.
These garlands, swelling the repository of awards to NCC would not surprise discerning watchers of national events.
For instance, in November 2021, the Commission conducted a historic auction of the 3.5GHz spectrum, in preparation for the deployment of 5G services to be activated this year.
It was not the first time NCC will conduct an auction but it was the first time it had completed an auction with the final bid ending at a price more than 30 percent higher than initial bid offer. The auction, which started with initial offer of $197.4 million, closed after 11 rounds at $273.6 million. Two companies, Mafab Communications and MTN Nigeria Plc, won the bid.
A forth night ago, the EVC delivered the Convocation Lecture of the Fountain University, at Osogbo, where he emphasised the imperative of youth’s embrace and exploration of the opportunities the ICT revolution has offered them to contribute to the nations growth and development.
Similarly, just a day after the Convocation Lecture, a digital training centre, facilitated by the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), an arm of NCC, was commissioned at Ijesa Muslim Grammar School, Ilesha, Osun State.
The foregoing shows that the Commission is unwavering in its commitment to expanding the nation’s frontiers of growth and development within the context of its mandate.
