.as Danbatta receives Nigerian Academy of Engineering honour
To drive Nigerian economy to desired and total transformation, the Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission, Professor Umar Danbatta, has expressed hope in young men and women within the Nigerian university system. He stated that their talents can be deployed in order to drive the economy in the desired growth direction as well as to engender social transformation.While being inducted as a Fellow of Nigerian Academy of Engineering, NAE, at the University of Lagos, weekend, Danbatta said:  “I think it is important to recognize that there are a lot of talents resident within the Nigerian university system and government has deemed it appropriate to tap on these talents and bring same in driving the economy in various sectors.”

A cross section of Nigerian University graduates

The event coincided with the 2018 Annual Lecture of the NAE and investiture ceremony of the10th president of the Academy.Organisers of the event said Danbatta was selected because he is an erudite engineer and astute administrator whose administration in the commission has tremendously transformed the telecom sector and grown Nigeria’s broadband penetration from 8% to 22%, according to the ITU UNESCO Broadband Commission. In appreciation, Danbatta thanked the Academy for the honour which he said was firstly to the Nigerian Communications Commission as a corporate body and then to himself as an engineer. “It is an honour done to spur us on to work harder in order to deliver on the mandate assigned to us courtesy of the acts that established the Nigeria Communications Commission. Through this recognition, we are going to continue to ensure delivery of efficient telecommunications to Nigerians,” he said.

He added that the recognition is a testimony to the relevance of NCC and efforts made over the years to use robust regulation as a measure to drive economic growth and  revealed that the NCC has some frameworks that will unfold soon to further develop the industry to enviable heights but however pleaded that the commission would not disclose details until they are fully ready.  “We don’t want to talk about it now but as I am talking to you, there are already new frameworks; one is on spectrum trading. There is going to be a new per price flow for data, work is going on. We have a lot of regulatory mechanism to engender growth but we are not disclosing some of them until they are tested and found to be efficient,” he added.

…. doles out N50m to universities for R&D

In a related development, the commission also disclosed that it recently donated N50 million to members of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering and staff from various universities in Nigeria to aid research and development.The Executive Vice-Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta disclosed this in Lagos at a dinner organized by the Nigerian Academy of Engineers.Danbatta, who was inducted into the Academy the same day, noted that the N50 million, which was given to the Academy is part of the NCC’s 8-point agenda, which seeks strategic collaboration and partnerships.“Only recently, we gave out N50 million to members of the Academy and staff from various universities in Nigeria to facilitate research that will translate into innovation and  ultimately address challenges in the industry” he said.

He contended that NCC has always sought collaboration of both the private sector and the academia to properly situate disruption of innovation that will usher in new ways of doing things in Nigeria as that will enhance efficiency and productivity.He said: “The Nigerian Communications Commission realizes the importance of this collaboration. That is why we seek strategic collaboration and partnership in our 8-point agenda”.Being a former university lecturer, Danbatta noted that the collaboration between the academia and the industry has taken a firm root with a lot of work going on. He stated that very soon, NCC will announce the results of these collaborations with the academy.