The former executive vice-chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission ( NCC) Dr. Ernest Ndukwe and the Commission’s current EVC, Professor Umar Danbatta received awards at the celebration of 20 years of the Telecommunications Revolution which was held in Lagos on Thursday.
National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS)
Others who also received awards include Mr. Usoro Usoro, a telecom lawyer and senior advocate of Nigeria ( SAN), Aaron Ukodie, Nigeria’s pioneer ICT journalist, and Mr. Bayero Agabi a broadcast journalist.
They were awarded and celebrated for their contribution to changing the face of telecommunication in Nigeria, improving the country’s gross domestic product, and changing the way Nigerians communicate, do business, and interact.
Ndukwe was appointed NCC EVC in 2000 and he was responsible for organising one of the most transparent auctions in 2001 that brought in three GSM companies and increased Nigeria’s income by over $855 million, and thereafter other licenses that brought in over $200m, and ran one of Nigeria’s most productive and efficient government agencies for 10 years. The auction was globally acclaimed and it became a reference point for other telecom regulatory bodies.
Danbatta, who assumed the role of EVC in 2015 has consolidated on the gains of the Ndukwe era and raised telecom contribution to GDP to 17 percent, and telephone lines to 189 million, as of August 2021. Danbatta, who is in his second term of five years, is now focusing on pushing the frontiers of digital and broadband connectivity across the country and social and economic classes.
Usoro as one of the pioneer telecom lawyers in Nigeria has helped to draft some of the regulatory instruments that are helping to shape telecom development in Nigeria.
At the event which was put together by Compact Communications, one of the foremost ICT public and media relation agencies, only Mr. Ukodie and Mr. Agabi were the two journalists that were celebrated for their contribution to ICT reporting.
Ukodie, for his pioneering role in ICT reporting, and Bayero for creating a niche in ICT broadcast journalism, the first in that area.
Ukodie received the award, according to the organisers, for his ” supportive role and enduring solidarity that have helped sustain the gains of the Telecommunications Revolution in Nigeria”.
The awards were endorsed by [rofessor Laz Ekwueme, chairman, board of directors of Compact Communications Limited.
