The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has called for deeper collaboration among African Telecommunications and Communications regulators to strengthen the use of data, evidence and market intelligence for more effective and responsive regulations across the continent.
Speaking at the Heads of Regulators Roundtable during the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) Conference of Plenipotentiaries (CPL-26) in Abuja, the Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of the NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida, said communications regulation had become increasingly crucisl to economic growth, digital transformation, and national development across Africa.
He noted that although regulators were operating within different market environments and legal frameworks, they face many common challenges, including infrastructure development, cybersecurity, affordability, satellite services, resilience of networks, and the rapid emergence of artificial intelligence technologies.
The NCC Chief Executive maintained that exchanges among regulators often revealed shared experiences and lessons that can help institutions address complex policy and regulatory issues more effectively. He stressed the need to make such knowledge-sharing more deliberate, systematic, and beneficial to regulatory authorities across the continent.
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According to him, very often, the challenge one regulator is trying to solve has already been encountered, in one form or another, by a colleague elsewhere on the continent.
Maida described the event’s theme, “Building Africa’s Network Intelligence Ecosystem for Evidence-Based Regulation” as both timely and highly relevant to the future of communications regulation on the continent.
“It gives us an opportunity to consider how better use of data, evidence and market intelligence can strengthen regulatory decisions, and how African regulators can learn more systematically from one another,” he added.
During the roundtable session, NCC’s Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, Rimini Makama, who chaired it explained that “developments such as broadband expansion, satellite services, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and digital public infrastructure are making communications ecosystems increasingly complex and requiring regulators to move beyond traditional regulatory approaches”.
She noted that regulators across Africa now had access to growing volumes of technical, market and consumer data, but stressed that the real challenge lies in translating this information into actionable intelligence capable of supporting better regulatory outcomes.
The Heads of Regulators Roundtable was part of ongoing efforts by African communications regulators to promote evidence-based regulation, enhance regional cooperation and build more resilient, innovative and consumer-focused communications ecosystems across the continent.
Photo Caption
L-R: Dr. Aminu Maida, Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC); Engr. Nadungu Gagare, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy; and Barr. Rimini Makama, Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, NCC, at the Heads of Regulators Roundtable during the 7th Ordinary Session of the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) Conference of Plenipotentiaries (CPL-26) held on 21 July 2026 at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre, Abuja
