By Prince Osuagwu

ABUJA—The Federal government yesterday announced the appointment of former Vice President, Digital Bridge Institute, DBI, Prof. Umar Danbatta as the new Executive Vice Chairman, EVC of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC.

Danbatta takes over from Dr. Eugene Juwah whose first tenure as EVC expired June this year.

Vanguard gathered that Juwah’s tenure was allegedly extended beyond first tenure by former President Goodluck Jonathan- an action which many adjudged as illegal considering that the first tenure had not expired as at the time Jonathan vacated office.

With the new appointment, it, however, seems President Buhari has up turned the re-appointment of Juwah.

ICT experience
Meanwhile, Danbatta is neither new to life in the technology sector nor alien to the affairs of NCC.

He was the Vice President of the Digital Bridge Institute, DBI, International Centre for Advanced Communications Studies, which was established in the year 2004 by the Nigerian Communications Commission to build capacity for the Nigerian/African telecom industry in the diverse areas of Information and Communication Technology, ICT.

Danbatta while at DBI was said to have developed expertise in major areas of ICT implementation, policy and regulation, including Regulation of the Telecommunications Sector of the Nigerian Economy; Competition, Interconnection and Price Regulations in a Developing Economy.

He was also said to be versatile on issues concerning Authorization of Telecommunications Services in a Developing Economy; strategies for ensuring Universal Access and Service to Telecommunications Services; strategies towards Effective Spectrum Management in a Developing Economy; Institutional and Legal Framework for Effective Regulation of Telecommunications Services, and new and Emerging Technologies and Impact on Regulation of the Telecommunications Sector of a Developing Economy.

Academic background
Danbatta who hails from Danbatta Local Government Area of Kano State, has a BEng., MSc and PhD degrees from the Technical University of Wroclaw in Poland and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, UK respectively. He had served as a lecturer in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Technology of Bayero University, Kano for 28 years, where he taught courses in telecommunication engineering and electronics and held academic positions of Dean of the Faculty and Head of Department at different times.

His main administrative responsibilities, in the university, included Deputy and Acting Dean of Students’ Affairs, Administrator of the Works Department and later, Director of the Centre for Information Technology, CIT.

He was also chairman to, or member of, over 60 University committees and task forces.

In administrative and other responsibilities outside the university, he has served as chairman or member to over 20 committees, prominent among which was the Chairmanship of the Implementation Committee of Kano State University of Science & Technology and subsequently became its pioneer Deputy and Acting Vice-Chancellor when it took off in 2001.

Prof. Danbatta has supervised more than 60 PhD., MEng. and BEng. projects in the diverse areas of telecommunications and has also served as external examiner to seven universities and polytechnics and is an assessor, technical reviewer and editorial member to eight research journals.

He is a recipient of 18 distinguished awards and certificates of honour. Prof. Danbatta, who had served two terms of five years as a Member of Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, COREN, is also a COREN registered engineer and member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, NSE.