NCC: Champion Newspapers’ ‘Most Outstanding Regulator of the Year Award.’

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is one agency that has been committed to driving sustainable economic growth and development of the country and to support a market-driven communications industry and promote universal access.

Despite the challenges and unpredictable operational environment witnessed by many sectors of the Nigeria economy, NCC has continued to initiate transformational innovation and complimenting the Federal Government’s policies on sustainable economic development, job creation and industrialization.

Today, under the leadership of Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, NCC, the agency  has not only emerged the best independent National Regulatory Authority in Nigeria and Africa telecom Industry but also a model in terms  of value creation.

As the independent National Regulatory Authority for the telecommunications industry in Nigeria, the Commission has been responsible for creating an enabling environment for competition among operators in the industry as well as ensuring the provision of qualitative and efficient telecommunications services throughout the country.

Indeed, it has earned for itself a reputation as a foremost Telecom regulatory agency in Africa, as it receives the Champion Newspapers’ 2022 Most Outstanding Regulator of the Year Award.

Interestingly, the Commission is hoping to catalyze the use of ICT for different aspects of national development. The Commission has also initiated several programmes such as State Accelerated Broadband Initiative (SABI) and Wire Nigeria Project (WIN) to help stimulate demand and accelerate the uptake of ICT tools and services necessary for the enthronement of a knowledge society in Nigeria.

Absolutely, NCC has become a symbol of care, providing solutions carefully engineered to drive wealth creation. It has also created an enabling environment for competition among operators in the industry as well as ensuring the provision of qualitative and efficient telecommunications services throughout the country and beyond.

NCC’s steady rise in Africa and the global stage has also been acknowledged; a fact underscored by its deployment of 5G network Nigeria, thereby becoming the third country in Africa that had rolled out the 5G network.

The agency is being celebrated today for achieving several milestones and carrying out its tasks and targets with focus and dedication.

Among them are the enablement of the fastest-growing mobile phone network in Africa, carrying out one of the best and transparent licensing regimes and achieving the five-year target of 30 per cent broadband penetration set for it in 2013.

It also licensed infrastructure companies, providing them the necessary enablement to take access to underserved and unnerved parts of Nigeria.

Recently, more than 2,000 Nigerian youths from the six geopolitical zones of the country were trained in digital job acquisition in an intervention programme promoted by the Commission while the ongoing edition of the programme has 600 youths being trained.

It is expedient to note that the man behind the agency’s success and great achievements is no other person than the distinguished and amiable Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta. Hereunder is the his profile

Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta is the Executive Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (EVC/CEO) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). He is currently serving a second term of five years in office, following the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2020.

Danbatta earned BEng, MSc degrees from the Technical University of Wroclaw in Poland and received his PhD from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology.

The multiple award-winning Professor successfully spearheaded the attainment and surpassing of Nigeria’s national broadband target in 2018, and he is currently among those leading the charge for the realization of the new national broadband target of 70 per cent by 2025, after the country achieved and surpassed its earlier national target of 30 per cent penetration in 2018. As of October 2022, broadband penetration has finally reached 48.49 per cent, indicating 93 million broadband connections, up from five per cent in 2015.

Through effective regulatory regime and various cutting-edge initiatives, Danbatta has strengthened the role of telecommunications sector as a major contributor to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, and boosted telecoms investment inflows from $36 billion to over $70 billion since 2015, among others.

Among several concrete achievements, Danbatta, in 2021, ensured the successful auction and assignment of three frequency lots in the 3.5 GHz spectrum band for the deployment of Fifth Generation (5G) network in Nigeria towards harnessing the potential benefits of emerging technologies for the advancement of the socio-economic development of Nigeria.

Before his appointment to lead NCC in August 2015, Danbatta, who is a professor of telecommunications engineering, had worked in academia as lecturer where he supervised more than 60 PhD, MEng and BEng projects in diverse areas of telecommunications, rising to the position of Acting Vice-Chancellor in a Nigerian university.

He was the Vice-President of the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), an international centre for advanced communications studies established in 2004 by the Commission (NCC) for capacity in diverse areas of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

While at DBI, Danbatta developed expertise in the major areas of ICT implementation, policy and regulation, including Regulation of the Telecommunications Sector of the Nigerian Economy; Competition, Interconnection and Price Regulations in a Developing Economy; and Issues Concerning Authorization of Telecommunications Services in a Developing Economy.

The other areas of his expertise are Strategies for ensuring Universal Access and Service to Telecommunications Services; Strategies towards Effective Spectrum Management in a Developing Economy; Issues on Institutional and Legal Framework for Effective Regulation of Telecommunications Services; and, New and Emerging Technologies and Impact on Regulation of the Telecommunications Sector of a Developing Economy, among others.

He is a recipient of scores of distinguished awards and certificates of honour both nationally and internationally, including the prestigious Zik Prize in Professional Leadership. His strides in reviving the Emergency Communications Centers (ECCs) and the introduction of harmonized national emergency communication number, 112, helped the NCC to win the International Public Relations Association Golden Award in the year 2021, as the centers played a pivotal role in containing the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.

Prof. Danbatta has served two terms of five years as a Member of Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN). He is a Fellow of many professional bodies, including the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Nigerian Academy of Engineering (NAEng), Renewable and Alternative Energy Society (RAES) and Nigerian Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (NIEEE).

Prof Danbatta, an author and philanthropist, is married with children.