NTLA honours Danbatta as ‘Telecom Personality of the year 2016’
The Executive Vice-Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Umar Garba Danbatta was honoured with an award as the “Telecom Personality of the Year” at the 2016 Nigerian Telecom Lecture and Awards (NTLA) which was held recently in Lagos.
The award ceremony was held with lecture and serves as a platform to discuss and interact for the benefits of exchanging ideas about how to improve the telecoms industry in Nigeria.
Prof. Dambatta in his remarks reiterated the steps the NCC has taken to ensure that all telcos operating in Nigeria get listed on the Stock exchange as an important milestone reached by the commission.
He also reiterated that the sector has raised it’s 3.5 percent contribution to the GDP in 2015 to 5 per cent in Q1 2016 which translates to about N1.4 trillion according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
He reiterated that in 2009, there were over one billion fixed and mobile broadband subscriptions globally of which North America and Europe accounted for about 975 million of the figure while south Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa merely accounted for 3 percent of this figure and that this informed government to set up a task force which produced Nigeria’s broadband plan.
“There is an inequality squarely facing Nigeria on fixed and mobile broadband subscriptions which could create another digital divide if not confronted squarely.
“We will like to invite you who are here to another event the NCC will be organising to give a progress report on the journey so far.” Dambatta said.
He said that this is in line with the Commission’s 8-point agenda, adding that “Broadband networks are as important as Power, Water, Transport, as well as other sectors important to the socio-economic development of any country.”
The NCC boss congratulated all other winners of awards as having made contributions to making the telecom industry in Nigeria better than it was before now.
The event which chaired by the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, had in attendance, the Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu who delivered the Keynote address, Acting Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Dr. Vincent Olatunji; Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya among other telecom personalities.
Meanwhile the Commission has also participated in the 16th NECCIPR Roundtable with the theme: ‘Unleashing the Power of Public Relations’, which held recently with Mr. Ojobo as one of the resource persons.
Speaking on Managing Public Relations and Government Communications in the Age of New Media: Issues, Challenges, Opportunities and Implications for Career Development for the Emerging Practitioner, Ojobo posited that Public Relations and Government Communications Management is indispensable in today’s governance.
According to him, the Public Sector must create platforms for feedback on policies and decisions and posited that Government Communication must always be timely and strategic.
