Danbatta Emerges EFCC’s Ambassador
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), in line with global best practices, is currently creating another initiative to build digital skills acquisition and provide jobs for the teaming Nigerian youths, promote innovation, and facilitate the delivery of the Federal Government’s digital economy agenda.
While the Commission, as the country’s independent national telecoms regulatory authority, has always played and continued to play strategic roles in the digital transformation of the Nigerian economy, most especially in the area of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure and digital skill development, it is increasing such commitments through building of ICT parks across the country’s six geo-political zones.
The ICT Parks will go a long way in boosting to the Federal Government‘s National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) unveiled by President Muhammadu Buhari last year. The NDEPS has eight pillars which include: Development Regulations; Digital Literacy; Skill Development; Solid Infrastructure; Service Infrastructure; Soft Infrastructure; Digital Societies and Emerging Technologies; and Indigenous Development.
It can be recalled that the ICT Parks Project resonates with the pillars 2, 3 and 8 of the NDEPS. The
NDEPS provides the direction on major activities that the ICT industry must embark upon towards consolidating on achievements already recorded in the industry and highlighting new areas that should be focused on in order for the country to achieve a truly digital economy for the country.
An ICT Park comprises an area or location with concentration of all ICT facilities which enables a concerted leap into the digital age by creating a dynamic environment in which local talent is incubated,
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said the ongoing process to auction two additional lots in the 3.5GHz spectrum for Fifth Generation (5G) is part of efforts that will further democratise access to high-speed mobile broadband for all Nigerians.
The Executive Vice Chairman/ Chief Executive Officer (EVC/CEO) of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, stated this in Lagos over the weekend while speaking at the 10th Annual Brands and Marketing Conference of the Brand Journalists Association of Nigeria (BJAN) where the NCC was conferred with the “Regulator of the Decade” Award. cultivated, and shared. ICT parks are best tested and trusted institutional mechanisms to address the needs of technology-intensive, knowledge-based Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) globally.
Essentially, the NCC said the four main objectives of establishing the ICT Parks are to provide Innovation Labs and Digital Fabrication Laboratories (Fablabs) for use by ICT innovators and entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into products and prototypes; provide a Commercial Hub for ICT capacity building and digital skills; create employment and entrepreneurial activities; and facilitate
Represented by the Commission’s Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, Adeleke Adewolu, the EVC noted that the ongoing process, for which arrangements are in top gear, followed the successful auctioning of two bands of the 3.5GHz spectrum in December of 2021.
Danbatta disclosed that the Commission is currently reviewing the licences and frameworks for fixed broadband to update them in line with current challenges and make them more effective as part of the pivotal initiatives deployed by NCC that are already bearing fruits.
The EVC was emphatic that the Commission, in pursuit of its mandate, has been relentless in creating the conducive atmosphere for the rollout and adoption of new technologies, and government has taken the firm position that the country must leverage digital technologies to grow the economy.
As such, he said the development of policies such as the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030 and the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2020-2025, which the NCC and other agencies and partners are assiduously implementing.
Danbatta informed the participants at the conference that content creation and consumption have grown around the telecommunications infrastructure provided by technology, which Nigerian entertainers smart city deployment across the Digital Industrial complex.
An initiative under the leadership of Prof. Garba Danbatta, as the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, the NCC’s ICT Parks Project involves the construction and equipping of fullyfunctional Tier-4 Digital Industrial Complex (DIC) in each of the six geopolitical zones across the country. have leveraged to become global brands.
“Due to heavy leverage on digital platforms, the Nigerian entertainment industry has gone global. Nollywood is one of the biggest movie industries in the world. In fact, more movies are produced by Nollywood yearly in comparison to Hollywood.
“Nigerian music stars are in hot demand worldwide because of their popularity and brand recognition on social media. We should add that many of these global superstars emerging from Nigeria launched into stardom by leveraging Caller Tunes and other mobile content platforms to grow their brands and huge followers online,” the EVC stated.“
In recognition of his effort toward entrenching a culture of anti-corruption in the communications industry, the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta has received an ambassadorial badge from the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa.
Bawa presented the badge to Danbatta yesterday in Abuja when the latter paid a courtesy visit to his office to deepen the synergy between the two agencies.
The NCC, under the leadership of Prof. Danbatta has been in the vanguard of promoting transparency and openness with the strengthening of its Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit in line with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) Act.
The ICPC in 2020 ranked the NCC above other departments and agencies of the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy (MoCDE). The NCC topped the list among three other agencies under the ministry, which featured in the intra-ministerial agencies’ ranking in ethics compliance and institutional integrity with 81.15 per cent.
Similarly, the Commission led 24 other regulatory agencies to emerge as the most ethicallycompliant parastatal among 25 different regulatory agencies assessed in the anti-graft agency’s Ethics Compliance and Integrity Scorecards (ECIS), 2020.
In 2017, the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) awarded the NCC the topmost Platinum recognition for its institutional work processes, courtesy of its robust business organizational structure, policies, and practices that facilitated effective and efficient service delivery.
In arriving at this conclusion, the BPSR also listed accountabilities and responsibilities for setting Standardized Operating Procedure (SOP) manuals of the Commission’s 19 departments as some of the high points.
In the same vein, the NCC’S Computer Security Incident Response Team (NCC-CSIRT) has been at the forefront of rolling out series of preventive measures in the country, helping in the process to curbing cyber-related crimes.