All is now set for the confirmation by the Senate, of the reappointment of the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, by President Muhammadu Buhari, for another five-year term in office as the country’s chief telecoms regulator.
The development followed the acknowledgement of Prof. Danbatta’s outstanding performance in the last five years when he appeared before the Senate Screening Committee recently in Abuja.
A prominent member of the committee, Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe, who represented the Chairman of the Senate Screening Committee, Mrs Oluremi Tinubu, during the screening, as well as other committee members, including Sen. Sandy Onor, Sen. Abiodun Olujimi, Sen. Bamidele Opeyemi, Sen. Omar Jeff, Sen. Kashim Shettima and Sen. Bukachuwa, commended Danbatta’s impressive performance in piloting the affairs of the country’s digital ecosystem.
DigitalTimesNG gathered that during the screening, Danbatta demonstrated his deep knowledge of the industry, and extensively discussed his scorecard since he assumed office as the EVC of NCC on August 4, 2015.
This was followed by the Committee members applauding him for his sterling performance and exceptional leadership qualities which, they said had helped in accelerating the growth of the telecoms sector.
Senator Oloriegbe particularly noted that the screening and confirmation exercise is in accordance with the provisions of Section 8 subsections 1 and 4 of the Nigerian Communications Commission Act (NCA), 2003.
Section 8 subsection 1 of the Act states that “…all commissioners to be appointed after the coming into force of this Act shall be appointed by the President in accordance with Section 7 of this Act, from the six geo-political zones of Nigeria subject to confirmation by the Senate.”
Subsection 4 of the same section states that “…commissioners shall serve for a term of 5 years from the date of their appointment at the expiration of which the President may renew the term for a further period of 5 years and no more.”
While giving what could pass as a convincing account of his stewardship in the last five years, Danbatta said the diligent implementation of NCC’s auspicious strategic 8-Point Agenda, which he put in place when he assumed office in 2015, provided the basis for most of the Commission’s achievements in the last five years, especially in the areas of service availability, accessibility and affordability.
Danbatta reeled outstanding achievements under him in the past five years and provided relevant industry and macro-economic statistics to illuminate his efforts and strides in some areas.
These areas include the sector’s contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Quality of Service (QoS) delivery, broadband infrastructure deployment, broadband penetration, effective spectrum utilisation, consumer empowerment, technology innovation as well as the Commission’s efforts with respect to curbing fraudulent Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) registration and 112 Emergency Number towards ridding the country of insecurity, among others.
He thanked the lawmakers for their support over the last five years and pledged his renewed commitment to further accelerate the growth of the telecoms industry as the key driver of the country’s digital economy vision over the next five years.
“As a Commission, we are committed to challenging our current achievements. Consequently, we are poised to work more with the National Assembly and other necessary stakeholders in order to ensure we take Mr President’s digital agenda for the country to the next level in the next five years,” Danbatta said.
DigitalTimesNG understands that the Committee will report the outcome of the screening exercise to the Senate Committee of the Whole House for confirmation of Danbatta’s reappointment during the next legislative sitting.
