Prof. Umar Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has said that the NCC will continue to promote cutting-edge and new technologies to reenergize the economy and sector in Nigeria for the benefit of the nation and its people.
Speaking to a variety of stakeholders at the recently concluded Cyberchain Abuja 2022, Danbatta claimed that the telecoms industry has been a major driver of Nigerian economic growth, changing the way people live and work and boosting productivity across the board.
In order to encourage greater contribution of the sector to the economy, Danbatta stated that the Commission is committed to promoting the deployment and adoption of emerging technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), exploitation of value of Big Data, Blockchain, Robotics and Virtual Reality, FINTECH, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Telemedicine, among others.
He added that it is encouraging because telecoms has facilitated Nigeria’s economic progress because it significantly raises the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“From $500 million investments in the sector as at 2001, the telecommunications industry has recorded over $70 billion investment till date, while the growth in the sector has been phenomenal, from some 400,000 functional phone lines in 2001 to over 209 million active mobile subscriptions, achieving a teledensity of 110 per cent, as at August 2022.
“The sector has provided over 500,000 formal and informal jobs for Nigerians. From an insignificant contribution to GDP in 2001, telecoms sector, as at the last quarter of 2021, contributed 12.61 per cent to GDP, while the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector as a group, has also contributed 18.44 per cent to GDP as at the second quarter of 2022”, he said.
“For us as a country to reap the full benefits of all these emerging technologies in ways that further spur growth in our national economy, NCC prioritises the need to improve and expand broadband infrastructure and the deployment of new technology such as the Fifth Generation of Mobile Communication (5G). Our efforts in diligently driving this will facilitate the actualization of the set targets in the Federal Government’s digital economy policy,” he said.
According to Danbatta, the country will be better able to develop a different economy for diversification, innovation, and creativity in e-commerce and digital entrepreneurship as a result of the rapid digital transformation taking place through the telecommunications sector. This will empower a sizeable portion of the population to become independent and self-employed.
NCC, however, declared that it is still dedicated to the FG’s fight against corruption. When the commission received a team from the Public Complaints Commission (PCC), who made a courtesy call to thank NCC for its role in facilitating the adoption of digital culture in the nation, Danbatta, represented by the Director, Human Capital and Administration, Usman Malah, was there.
According to Danbatta, out of 352 MDAs evaluated on the Ethics Compliance and Integrity Scorecard (ECIS) by the ICPC, the NCC received a score of 81.15 percent in 2020, placing it among the top 10 Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) of government.
With this performance, the Commission also became the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy’s most ethically compliant government regulatory institution for the year 2020, he told the PCC delegation.
He asserted that NCC’s backing of initiatives designed to combat corruption in the nation was only logical. He declared that the NCC was prepared to work with the PCC to further the Federal Government’s anti-corruption program, which aims to reduce corruption and unfavorable trends among Nigerian young.
The PCC Secretary, Philip Enyali, earlier praised Danbatta for upholding a zero tolerance policy for corruption and for the admirable accomplishments of the Commission under his direction. Enyali was speaking on behalf of the Chief Commissioner (Ombudsman of the Federal Republic), Abimbola Ayo-Yusuf. The telecommunications industry, according to Ayo-Yusuf, has made significant contributions to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the country’s overall economic growth.
