Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, the Executive-Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission has stated that the Nigerian online media is critical to the success of the Commission’s digital economy agenda.

 He stated this during an online virtual meeting with the crop of online media practitioners to keep them abreast of the developments and programmes of the Commission in the Nigerian Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry.

Prof. Danbatta was represented at the virtual meeting by Dr. Ike Adinde, Director, Public Affairs, NCC, said, “We see you as a major part of our success and will like to appreciate your contributions, timely and accurate dissemination of news and information regarding our regulatory activities as a telecoms industry regulator.

“There is no doubt that journalism and the way we report and disseminate news have changed in fundamental ways by virtue of technology. The Covid 19 pandemic has also drastically changed the way we communicate and interact with digital platforms becoming the norm for carrying out official and personal activities.

“This virtual meeting today is a testament to this new normal. The digital media environment has brought about new opportunities and challenges for online journalists. One of the many benefits of what you do as an online journalist is the real-time dissemination of information and the immediacy it involves.

“The availability of online news 24/7 and its accessibility and availability to consumers make your work very important, you are therefore constantly faced with the challenge of not only reporting events real-time, sometimes, but balancing that need for speed with the accuracy and integrity demanded by your profession.

“There has been a considerable increase in the number of people accessing the news via online platforms, especially among younger audiences, it’s our vision therefore to make NCC the leading public sector brand in the use of online media for organizational communication and stakeholder engagement,” he said.

Danbatta noted that the communications sector and telecoms, in particular, is indeed the most vibrant and dynamic sector of the economy and requires excellent leadership and stewardship, no wonder President Muhammadu Buhari recently approved the reappointment of Prof. Umar Danbatta as the EVC/CEO of the NCC for another term of five years which has since been confirmed by the Senate.

He said “The fate of Nigeria’s telecommunications industry has yet again been entrusted to a tested and trusted hand and you have a role to play to ensure factual reportage of the Commissions activities and initiatives.”

The EVC said, NCC on its on part, will continue to work with the online media to accomplish the goals and objectives which define their shared interests in building the ICT sector and telecom in particular for the greater good of Nigerians.

Danbatta further stated that the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), the New National Broadband Plan (2020-2025), the NCC Strategic Management Plan (2020-2024), creation of the Digital Economy Department all underscore the policy directions of the federal government which the NCC is expected to drive working with our supervising ministry and other relevant industry stakeholders to extend the frontiers of the digital economy for Nigerians.

He used the opportunity to solicit the online media’s continuous support in the area of enlightening the general public on the various consumer-centric regulatory initiatives of the Commission.  “As our online media partners, I urge you to constantly visit the NCC’s official website (www.ncc.gov.ng) which is a repository of information and necessary latest statistics on the performance of the telecommunications industry.

“We also urge you to always contact the Commission for necessary clarifications to ensure accurate and adequate reporting of the industry, as the NCC runs an Open House to our media stakeholders. We call on your support and continued collaboration in reporting our activities and initiatives for the good of every Nigerian and for the growth of the telecom industry, your role is indeed very critical,” he said.

The EVC reiterated the NCC’s resolve in ensuring that Nigerians are enlightened and carried along on the Commission’s journey to advance the digital economy agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari, and reminded them that as members of the fourth estate of the realm, the online media are indeed critical stakeholders on this journey.

Last week Thursday, Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) disclosed that the Commission is in the process of reviewing the agreement establishing Broadband Infrastructure Companies (InfraCos).

Danbatta made this known in a presentation he made at the sectoral virtual forum organised by the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON).  The meeting focused on the need of Telecom and ICT Consumers in the Era of Covid-19 and Post Covid-19 Pandemic cum Digital Economy Era with a view to meeting the New Broadband Target of 70 per cent.

 Its theme was: Meeting the Interests of Government, Consumers and Telecom and ICT Companies in the Era of Covid-19 and Post Covid-19 Pandemic for Digital Economy Development.

The sectoral forum converged regulators’ interests, to ensure a competitive telecom market and fast track development of the telecom and ICT industry; operator’s interests, to enable an environment for businesses and protection of investment in the sector; and consumer’s interests, a satisfaction in terms of quality of services, affordability access and connectivity; for digital economy development. 

According to the EVC, the Commission is reviewing the InfraCo Framework as mandated by the new National Broadband Plan 2020-2025. He also disclosed that six InfraCos agreement processes are currently ongoing.

Open Access Model

The Danbatta-led NCC has been pursuing deepening broadband penetration to several unserved and underserved areas through its Open Access Model (OAM) project aimed extending access to digital services across the 774 local government councils through licensing of InfraCos.

In 2015, the Commission licenced two companies as Infracos. One for Lagos (Main One Cable Company) and the other for North Central (HIS Ltd) but the second company returned its licence. In 2018, NCC licenced additional five companies as InfraCos covering other geo-political zones to drive the deployment of broadband infrastructure.

The licencees include Raeana Nigeria Limited for the South-South Zone; O’dua Infraco Resources Limited for South-West Zone; Fleek Networks Limited for North-West Zone; Brinks Integrated Solutions for North-East Zone; MainOne Limited for Lagos Zone and Zinox Technologies Limited for the South-East Zone.

The remaining licence for North Central Zone is being processed, according to the Commission.

As a stimulus to encourage investors of InfraCo to roll out, NCC made provisions in the 2017 and 2018 budgets for subsidies to the InfraCo licensees and it is now working with the federal government, through the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, to ensure disbursement of the counterpart funding to the licensed InfraCos upon attainment deployment milestones.

Under Prof Danbatta’s guidance, Nigeria’s broadband penetration rose from a mere 6.0 percent in 2015 to 40.14 per cent in May, 2020. Active Internet subscriptions also increased from 93 million to over 141 million currently during the period.

The number of active telephone subscribers also rose from 150 million in 2015 to 192.32 million in May 2020 with teledensity currently standing at 100.72 percent, following the rebasing the teledensity to 91 percent in March, 2019.

Broadband As Bedrock of Digital Economy

Meanwhile, speaking at the virtual forum The President, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Olusola Teniola stated that with Nigeria’s telecom sector is witnessing several important developments from President Muhammadu Buhari’s renaming of the ministry which supervises the telecoms and ICT sector to the Federal Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy back in October 23rd, 2019.

He said this is further expanding its mandate to capture the goals of digitalisation of the Nigerian economy in line with the Economic Growth and Recovery Plan (EGRP), to the recently launched National Broadband Plan 2020 to 2025, the unveiling of a National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), to the constitution of Implementation and Steering Committee for the plan, all these would empower Nigerians (consumers) to take advantage of the Nigerian digital economy. 

He emphasised that interdependence and collaboration among the government, telecom and ICT companies and Nigerians are clearly necessary but each of separate stakeholder has limitations and potentials. 

Effective Delivery of ICT Services

Teniola added that to attract further investment into the sector through consumerism and enactment of friendly policies and regulation by the government, the need for the forum couldn’t be overemphasised as the platform would provide for governments, consumers (corporate and personal) and telecommunications and ICT companies on how consumers can be better off in terms of effective delivery of telecoms and ICT services and products in Nigeria. 

Chief executive officer, MainOne Cable Company, Funke Opeke, said, “In this digital age where broadband connectivity is the bedrock of a thriving digital and national economy, we need to focus on increasing access to broadband penetration beyond Lagos and Abuja for our shared economic prosperity, job creation and digital security.

“We will need to take advantage of the opportunities the digital economy provides if we are to create jobs for Nigerian youth in the not-too distant future,” Opeke, said while presenting a keynote speech at the Startup South Conference held in Uyo, Akwa Ibom recently with the theme “Unlocking the Next 60 Million: Making Broadband Accessible and Affordable.”

She said for Nigeria to make appreciable progress in job creation, the country needs to ensure that broadband penetrates all the villages, towns and cities in all the 744 local government areas of the nation.

In the opinion of Mr. Ayotunde Coker, chief executive officer, Rack Centre Limited, leading datacentre operator, “Right of Way (RoW) permit is still a big issue in Nigeria. There is a standardised RoW rate but it is not being implemented by some state governments. I would rather advise state governors to give incentives to telecom companies to come to their states to lay fibre because penetration of fibre brings reliable telecoms services to the people wherever they are. It brings in industries, the state’s gross domestic product (GDP) will increase significantly because fibre is there.

“RoW should be encouraged and telecom companies should be encouraged to invest in infrastructure. If you get infrastructure right then every other thing will work. You cannot have technology hubs such as Co-creation Hub and tech villages without the underlining factor of infrastructure. And they wouldn’t be feasible if the infrastructure was not in place at the right price,” Coker said.

PHOTO. L-R: Akor Akpenyi, CSR Coordinator, SystemSpecs; Fikayo Aremu, father of 2nd place winner; Toluwalase Aremu of Blooming Lights Montessori Schools, Omole Phase 1, Lagos (2nd position, junior category); ‘Deremi Atanda, Executive Director, SystemSpecs, as prizes were awarded in Lagos to winners and top entrants in the 2020 SystemSpecs Children’s Day Essay Competition

Before COVID-19 caused St. Anthony’s Grammar School Ijebu-Mushin in Ogun state to shut down physical activities, the school had imparted enough knowledge in David Onuoha-Okoro and his sister, Praise, to emerge first in the junior category and ninth position in the senior category respectively of the 2020 SystemSpecs Children’s Day Essay Competition. This was ahead of about 2000 other promising youngsters from ages 9 to 16 across Nigeria who had also sent in entries for the contest.

11-year-old David and his sister, Praise (13) had heard about the competition on their school’s WhatsApp platform. Like many other schools in Nigeria and across the world, their school had fully embraced digital learning. And with the encouragement of their English teacher and their father – and also relying on the knowledge garnered from the Civic Study classes, they submitted their entries.

“I got the inspiration to write from my Civic Studies note, particularly through the topic, ‘National Consciousness,’” David said. The ideas from that note with his original thoughts of how technology could hasten the attainment of a better country, formed the foundation of the ideas that won him an internship placement at SystemSpecs, a brand new a high-performance laptop and a high impact headphone, among other prizes. It also afforded him the avenue to share his bright ideas with the world!

To achieve the Nigeria of his dreams, a country that is globally recognised as a pacesetter, David believes that leaders and followers have vital roles to play: “We can achieve the Nigeria of my dreams when everyone cooperates with the authorities and when the people in authority enhance the adoption of technology in Nigeria,” he said.

“I look forward to a Nigeria where all schools have access to the internet, interactive boards in classrooms, e-learning availability even in rural communities and conducive environment and well-equipped libraries,” David had written in his essay.

“In a competition, you either win a prize or an experience,” said Barr. Innocent Onuoha-Okoro, father of the two youngsters. This clearly was the mentality that helped his children attain success well ahead of hundreds of other participants. 

For Toluwase Soniran of Baptist Academy Obanikoro Lagos, the story is a bit different. “I heard about the competition through one of my sister’s friends who had seen the poster and sent it to me. She said it was worth giving a shot.” That shot landed Toluwase the 3rd position in the senior category of the competition.

He started writing less than two days to the submission deadline. “The experience of writing, trying to meet the deadline, was frantic,” he said. Brining with a smile, when his was announced among the top entries, he could not contain his excitement: “Merely looking at the statistics of entrants, I was blown away. Even though I believed in what I had written, the statistics did not appear to have been in my favour. I never expected the competition to be of this magnitude,” said an overjoyed Toluwase.

Giving a glimpse into the Nigeria of his dreams, he shared a vision of “a world superpower, a haven for technological tourism. Advanced transport systems. Young people and everyone being able to access IT. People thinking as innovators and trying to make the world and our country better.”

Toluwase has a word for other young people who would like to participate in the competition in future: “Give it your best shot. Keep trying. Don’t be afraid to fail. We are young; we can make a lot of mistakes right now.” Actually, it is a generally useful piece of advice.

As with many things in life, parents hold a huge bloc of influence in the lives of their young ones. This much was clear in the way Laja Soniran, a management consultant, financial coach and father of Toluwase Soniran encouraged his son.

He said: “I must confess, I did not quite understand most of the things he wrote. So, I wondered where all the ideas came from – talking about mining, steroids, outer space. He knew what he wanted to say. I could not even edit for him.”

Toluwase Soniran and his father are a team and it is not their first time of winning this kind of competition. However, it is the first time the family’s first child would be winning personally. Nonetheless, it appears to only be a sign of greater things to come: “Succeeding does not mean you are not a success; it means you have to do more,” said the head of the Soniran family.

Fikayo Aremu, on his part, provided his 10 years old son Toluwalase – who emerged in 2^nd position in the junior category, with the competition’s banner. “I knew it was the kind of things he loves to do, and the first thing he said when he saw it was, ‘I am going to win.’ He came up with his ideas and wrote them one by one. His mom and I encouraged him to research online if he needed to know more. He wrote everything himself! We are really excited at his performance.”

The younger Aremu described the experience of writing the essay as “fine and also very fun.” He would love to see Nigeria become a developed country with the use of technology. His ideas include, among others, the use of technology could improve security, achieve uninterrupted power supply and position Nigeria as a leader in telemedicine and engineering.

Like him, Akorede Otuforowa, 12, of Corona Secondary School, Agbara, Ogun state who came third in the junior category envisions a prosperous and technologically advanced country. The Nigeria of his dreams is one where online schooling, electric trains and cars, internet of things, artificial intelligence and such other advancements are the norm and not an exception.

The SystemSpecs Children’s Day Essay Competition is part of the leading Nigerian technology firm’s corporate social responsibilities geared towards advancing the country’s capacity development and preparing its young population to take charge of a technologically-enabled future. The 2020 edition, which was the first, received from all geopolitical zones across the country – and all states except seven.

Toluwase Soniran had a word for SystemSpecs and corporate Nigeria: “I would like to thank SystemSpecs for reaching out to the younger generation because, right now, older people are in power, making decisions. But it is really nice for a company like SystemSpecs to cater to the interest of the younger generation. And I expect to see more of it from other companies.”