By Prince Osuagwu & Emmanuel Elebeke

Umaru Garba Danbatta, New NCC boss

The newly appointed Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Prof Umar  Danbatta, who has resumed duty in acting capacity pending confirmation by the Senate, has promised to tackle the quality of service issues in the industry very seriously.

But that was not before first reshuffling the staff structure and offices at the commission. Although, HI-tech reliably gathered that a few staff have been moved from their positions, but no official confirmation to the new development.

Some of the people reportedly affected by the reshuffle, included the Secretary to the Universal Service Fund, Abdullahi Maikano. Other s included  Mrs. Maryam Bayi, who was Director in charge of the Consumer Affairs Bureau, but has now been moved to the Human Capital and Infrastructure Group. Reliable sources also told Hi-Tech that Engr.

Fidelis Onah, who was the Director, Human Capital and Infrastructure Group may be named the new Director in charge of Spectrum Administration Department,

While Mrs Iyabo Solanke, Director of Finance of NCC was also affected in the shake-up as well as Ms. Funlola Akiode, Director of Special Duties, who are being assigned new responsibilities in the telecoms regulatory agency. Professor Danbatta who was said to have addressed a cross section of top management and Staff of the NCC at the headquarters in Abuja, weekend, said that he will bring his experience to bear in confronting the challenges of the telecom industry in Nigeria.

“I want to pledge that I will bring to bear, my wealth of experience in tackling the issue of quality of service in order to meet the expectations of the public that we are servicing’ he said. The Professor of Electronics engineering, said he would focus on those internationally acceptable ideals in telecom regulation, as stipulated by the International Telecommuni-cations Union, ITU that makes quality of service a compelling attraction for the achievement of universal service.

“The concept of universal access is premised on three ‘A’s, as the hallmarks of universal access and they include Availability of service, Accessibility of Service, and Affordability of service. Those will dictate at all times what we do, and I am sure those were the dictating parameters for improvement in the quality of service”, he said.

Professor Danbatta admitted there are challenges in the telecommunications industry but that they are not insurmountable. He enjoined the support and cooperation of the staff of the Commission to succeed, affirming that NCC still reckons as the number telecom regulator in Africa and the need for the staff to brace up for sustaining the prime position in the interest of the nation.

“We will judiciously use the resources of the Commission to ensure that we maintain this position in a manner that will enhance the image and prestige of the Commission as well as serve as a reminder to government of the important role that this agency can play in improving the GDP. This we can only do if all of us live up to our responsibilities as ambassadors of the Commission, and in these I urge everybody’s cooperation to enable us accomplish this very important task for the country”, he added

Agenda

Meanwhile stakeholders in the ICT sector have provided guide to where Danbatta should anchor his leadership focus. They however charged Him to use his wealth of experience in Digital Bridge Institute (DBI) and Bayero University as a lecturer to take the Commission to higher level from where his predecessors left it.

Critical among their demand is improvement on the quality of service, multiple taxation, creating enabling environment for operators, friendly policies, engendering more competition, widening the scope of the broadband plan for deployment of service and above all resist the temptation of sacrificing competence on the altar of mediocrity by breaking the established rules of the Commission.

Warned against policy summersault

The President of the Association of Telecom-munication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Engr. Lanre Ajayi, who described the appointment of Danbatta as a welcome development, said that  he should strive to bring positive change in the personality of the leadership and improvement in the success recorded by his predecessors. Ajayi, who expressed confidence in the ability and experience of the new EVC urged him to work harder in order to exceed the mile stone achieved by his predecessors by improving on the quality of regulation and standards of service delivery in the industry.

He warned the new EVC not to lock himself in policy summersault and inconsistency, which he feared might plunge the bourgeoning industry into unnecessary setback and loss of confidence. ‘‘I congratulate him and wish him well. His emergence is all about Change. Change is one thing I know that is permanent in life, it is something we must have. I am hoping for his line of activities.

‘‘We are very optimistic that he will deliver and move the industry forward. Our industry has recorded a lot of progress because of the consistency of policy by his predecessor. I am hoping that this appointment will not take us backward but take the industry some steps forward from where he met it because I know that his predecessors have done well in the areas of liberalization of the industry, licensing of spectrum, regulation and other areas of their core mandate.

‘‘The industry is doing well, contributing over eight per cent to GDP, which a good one. We just hope that the new EVC will not only move the industry forward but make it better than he met it.’’ Tasked on better regulatory standards On his part, the Chairman of Association of Licensed Telecommunications of Nigeria (ALTON), Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, who congratulated the new EVC on his appointment urged him to come up with better regulation standards that would reduce punishment and sanctions to the operators.

Adebayo, who frowned at what he called a suffering regime of the past administration, said the operators expect the new NCC boss to unleash a more friendly policies that would aid the operators thrive in the challenging environment.