After almost 9 years of leading the country’s chief telecoms regulatory agency, Nigerian Commnications Commission, NCC, its Executive Vice Chairman, EVC/CEO, Professor Umar Dambatta successfully handed over to Dr Garba Maida as the Commission’s new helmsman more then 100 days ago.
Since that colourful handover and takeover, Dr Maida had swung into action to contribute his widow’s mite to strengthen the country’s telecom sector.
In celebrating his first 100 days in office, Dr Maida seized the opportunity to stylishly roll out his Strategic Vision for the Industry during an engagement with two segments of the public he called “critical stakeholders” which are CEOs of telecommunication companies and the media. His vision aligns with achieving the Minister of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani’s Strategic Blueprint and Five Pillars.
Dr. Maida laid bare to the stakeholders his 5-Drivers of his leadership which form the engine that would drive the vision he has for the telecommunications industry in the country.
These drivers are Investing in the people assets of the Commission; meticulous enforcement of compliance through Data driven decision making; Collaboration; and Digitilisation of the NCC to achieve optimum efficiency and turn-around time in delivering regulatory services.
In the words of Dr. Maida: “Our priority is to put a smile on the face of telecom consumers through giving telecom consumers a total Quality of Experience beyond improved connectivity, speed and tariffs.
Dr. Maida intends to reinforce the telecommunication’s resilience to deliver pervasive broadband infrastructure, improved license performance, elimination of industry debts and improved ease of doing business, among others.
He further pledged to improve Corporate Governance Framework for the telecommunications industry and also improve the business conditions for operators.
According to Dr Maida, NCC under his leadership will be responsive and accessible through digitalisation of the Commission’s processes.
Supporting the Digital Public Infrastructure drive of the government of PBAT, it will indeed be a priority for the Maida stewardship of NCC in the coming days, weeks, months and years.
Overall, Maida’s appointment as the new EVC and CEO of NCC is a positive development for the Nigerian telecom industry. His extensive experience and expertise will be invaluable in driving the industry forward and achieving the country’s broadband goals.
Born in 1979, the new NCC boss holds an MEng in Information Systems Engineering from Imperial College London and a PhD in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Bath, UK.
Prior to his appointment, Maida served as the Executive Director of technology operations at Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc, NIBSS.
He is a highly experienced technical professional with more than 15 years of diverse international experience in FinTech, Telecoms, and Enterprise Technology.
As the new head of NCC, Maida will be inheriting several ongoing projects, including the implementation of the Nigeria National Broadband Plan (NNBP 2020-2025). The plan aims to achieve 70% broadband penetration by 2025. Maida will be expected to deliver on this target and additionally, need to address other challenges facing the telecom industry, such as poor quality of service and declining investments.
