The Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Umar Garba Danbatta, the chairman, the Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, Managing Director, Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), Muhammed Rudman and Chief Executive Officer of Wisdom Computer Technologies, Francis Uzor would be leading a team of speakers at the 2023 Nigeria DigitalSENSE Africa Forum (NDSF) series on Internet Governance for Development (IG4D) holding this Thursday, June 8, in Lagos.
Confirming on Monday, the Lead Consulting Strategist, DigitalSENSE Africa, and Group Executive Editor, ITREALMS Media, Remmy Nweke, said that the speakers would address various aspects of the main theme, ‘5G: Data Governance, Safety, and Security in Nigeria.’
Nweke revealed that Danbatta of NCC would lead the speakers/faculty with his keynote on the theme under the chairmanship of the president of the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Adesina Sodiya.
Just as the Vice President, Internet Society, Nigeria Chapter, Kunle Olorundare, Rudman, and Adebayo would be dwelling on “5G: Open Access and Role of Stakeholders” as a team of panelists,
While the CEO of Wisdom Computer Technologies, Francis Uzor, would make a special subtheme presentation on “5G: Open Access and the Role of Citizens” at the event.
NDSF series on IG4D, powered by ITREALMS Media Group and hosted by DigitalSENSE Africa, an At-Large Structure (ALS) certified by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), in collaboration with the NCC alongside IXPN, ALTON, and ISOC, among others.
NCC, under the leadership of Danbatta, was decorated in 2021 with the ITREALMS Telecom E-Waste Regulator Award.
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Nweke recalls that Danbatta, who is currently serving a second term of five years in office, earned his BEng and MSc degrees from the Technical University of Wroclaw in Poland and received his PhD from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST).
NCC led by Danbatta banks on an effective regulatory regime and various cutting-edge initiatives. Danbatta has strengthened the role of the 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.
Before his appointment to lead NCC in 2015, Danbatta, who is a professor of telecommunications engineering, had worked in academia as a 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 center for advanced communications studies established in 2004 by the Commission (NCC) to build capacity in diverse areas of information and communication technology (ICT).
While at DBI, Danbatta developed expertise in the following major areas of ICT implementation, policy, and regulation: 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.
Additionally, his expertise includes strategies for ensuring universal access and service to telecommunications services; strategies towards effective spectrum management in a developing economy; issues on institutional and legal frameworks for effective regulation of telecommunications services; and new and emerging technologies and their impact on regulation of the telecommunications sector of a developing economy, among others.
He is the recipient of scores of distinguished awards and certificates of honor 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 the harmonized national emergency communication number, 112, helped the NCC win the International Public Relations Association Golden Award in the year 2000, as the centers played a pivotal role in containing the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.
Towards the last quarter of 2022, Nigeria awarded three 5G licenses across Airtel, MTN, and Mafab, among other sterling achievements of Danbatta.
(omayowa@globalfinancialdigest.com; Newsroom: +234 8033 964 138)
