On Thursday, the Senate confirmed his nomination as Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the NCC to replace Mr. Ernest Ndukwe who served two terms on that position.

The man Eugene Ikemefuna Juwah is said to have over 30 years experience in Information Communication Technology, with more than 20 of these years at a directorial level.

He is touted to have a knowledgeable and core competence in digital exchanges, base station construction, data communication and subscriber access networks and operations. He has equally played leading roles in the set up of ETACS, GSM and CDMA Mobile Networks in Nigeria.

Fresh out of university, he started his career as a computer systems programmer with Shell BP Petroleum Development Company from 1976 – 1978. As a young graduate working in a multi-national company, he developed and maintained computer applications programs in the Commercial Information Systems Section of the Information and Computer Systems Department (ICS). He worked with the team that repositioned business activities such as General Ledger, Accounts Payable/Receivable, Materials Resource Planning and Payroll as a practical demonstration of his hands- on experience

It was from Shell BP that he moved to Leventis Technical Ltd, a computer systems/telecoms subsidiary of the famous Leventis Group. Juwa was credited to various positions during his stint with the company, including System Analyst from 1982 to 1984, Sales Manager from 1984 to 1986 and Marketing Manager from 1986 to 1988. It was in 1988 that he was elevated to the position of Divisional General Manager (Computer systems). He held this position until 1993 when he was poached by one of the pioneer cellular telecoms company in Nigeria –MTS.

Juwah was later to be appointed to serve as Director, Cellular Operations, MTS which gave him the opportunity of being one of very few people that participated in the erection and testing of the first privately owned mobile telecommunications network in Africa.

Some of the officials who worked with Juwa at MTS , told Hi-Tech that he was personally responsible for the quality of service that MTS delivered at that time through his direct supervision of several departments like the Technical, Dealer Sales and Support, Customer Service, Switch and Billing Operations and Engineering operations.

However, by 1996 his technical know-how was noticed by CIL (now Globacom) and drafted into the new company in 1997 in preparation for the roll-out of the new era in the history of Nigerian telecommunications.

CIL was one of the very few companies that won provisional bid to operate GSM in Nigeria during the regime of late General Sani Abacha before the license was voided by the regime of Olusegun Obasanjo. Between 1997 and 1999, at CIL, Juwah rose to Director, Special Duties whose duties include the supervision of CIL’s 30,000 capacity GSM Network infrastructure the company had before its metamorphosis into Globacom.

During his period with the company, he coordinated the technical, business and commercial aspects of negotiations leading to the signing of agreement for purchase and start up of a 30,000 GSM 900 Mobile Cellular Network with Alcatel of France.

He also led negotiation teams to NCC for license award and revalidations as well as frequency allocation and regulatory compliances. He also supervised detailed radio network study and microwave transmission network survey for the successful take-off of the project, in addition to. coordinating site acquisitions and the construction of MSC and base stations for the initial 30,000 GSM Network capacity.

Following the re-alignments in the evolving mobile telecoms sector in 1999, Juwah was again poached by MTS as Executive Director (Network and Operations), a position he held until  2005.

Juwah is said to take serious delight in enhancing his career, leading to many trainings including Prepaid Calling Solutions, Alcatel SEL , Stuttgart, Germany, in 1998; Customer Care and Billing Systems, Alcatel SEL, Stuttgart, Germany, 1998; GSM Infrastructure Manufacture and Testing, Alcatel SEL, Gunsenhausen, Germany 1997 and Telecommunication Regulation and Operator Interconnection, IBTC, London, 1995. Others include Pricing, Billing and Fraud in Telecommunications, IBTC, London 1994; TACS Infrastructure and Operations, Cellnet, Slough , England 1994; Computer Systems Management, Control Data, Minneapolis , USA 1991 and Advanced Computer Systems, Control Data, Minneapolis , 1990.