…..As Danbatta Lists NCC’s Achievements
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ibrahim (Pantami), has commended agencies in the communications and digital economy sector for their commitment to the implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030 and urged them to work collaboratively in order to achieve the Federal Government’s strategic objectives as articulated in NDEPS.
The minister gave this commendation at a retreat organised by Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy (FMoCDE) for senior management staff of the Ministry and all its agencies, which kicked off on Thursday in Abuja.
A statement by the NCC’s Director, Public Affairs, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, indicated that the retreat was convened to evaluate the implementation of NDEPS in the context of what has been achieved, what needs to be achieved, and what processes should be put in place to enhance the capacity of the Ministry and Agencies it superintends to mobilise all stakeholders to accomplish the objectives of NDEPS.
The Minister, who cited the most recent report of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in his keynote address, told the participants that synergy among stakeholders in terms of co-operative posture, collaboration, coordination, deployment of social skills such as good listening skills, critical and analytical thinking, emotional intelligence, as well as project management and quality assurance skills, were crucial to organisational effectiveness, successes and the future of work, as projected by WEF.
He urged all the agencies and their staff to challenge themselves to do more rather than think of themselves as competitors.
Also speaking at the retreat, the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (EVC/CEO) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta said that the NCC acted well in implementing the NDEPS and in the context of government’s vision.
In his presentation that chronologically documented NCC’s accomplishments under each of the eight pillars of NDEPS, the EVC cited 10 of the 16 regulations that had been put in place in giving expression to government’s vision on developmental regulation, which is the first pillar of NDEPS.
He explained that the regulations were focused on Enforcement Processes, Lawful Interception, Quality of Service, Competition Practices, Licensing Regulations, and Universal Access and Universal Service among others.
Danbatta promised to also complete the review of the remaining soonest and activate their implementation.
The industry regulator, who used a triangulation method in contextualising the achievement of NCC under the first pillar, itemised the guidelines, regulations and policy development initiatives to discharge the burden of proof of NCC’s effectiveness in the regulation of ICT and digital economy sector through approaches that enabled development.
On the implementation of the Digital Literacy and Skills, the second pillar, Danbatta also stated in his presentation, that the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), set up by NCC in 2004, had trained 5,352 students through 49 institutions, provided educational training software to 398 secondary schools, and endowed 7 professorial chairs in various Nigerian universities across all the geopolitical zones.
He also stated on Solid Infrastructure, the third pillar of NDEPS that broadband penetration as at December 2021 was 40.88 percent, thus enabling 80 million Nigerians to have access to broadband services.
To reinforce NCC’s commitment to improving broadband penetration, the EVC said that NCC had put in place a process for the deployment of optic fibre cable using Infrastructure Companies (Infracos).
Danbatta further stressed that the licensed Infracos had been directed by the Commission to commence immediate roll out without recourse to counterpart funding because the licence issued to them is independent of the counterpart funding agreement.
He disclosed that the Infracos were expected to lay 38,296Km of fibre optic cable.
He further disclosed that in keeping with Government’s directive through a Federal Executive Council decision of 2005, the NCC had constructed 32 Emergency Communication Centres (EECs) in various states, and 32 of those have been activated and are operational.
Danbatta, in his presentation, also highlighted the Commission’s achievements in the other five pillar areas.
In his presentation, an innovative and technology-for-development specialist and guest speaker at the forum, Dr. Armstrong Takang, commended the Federal Government for aligning ICT, and digital economy with national economic imperatives as well as the NCC for driving the necessary infrastructure purposely and strategically, and for its effectiveness in regulating the telecom sector.
He cited Lagos State and the Federal Capital Territory Administration as good models in the adoption of technology or automation in economic growth and effective governance, crediting technology for improved internally-generated revenue, amongst other benefits.
The expert recommended that Nigeria must link technology to specific programmes that were impacting and sustainable, stressing that the country needs to undertake pilots for projects that are planned for implementation and utilise the results of the pilots to scale up and for budgeting.
Takang also bemoaned the human capital challenge in the nation’s ICT sector, noting that at least 500,000 software engineers are required to redirect efforts for effectiveness of policy.
