By Clifford Agugoesi, Editor-in-Chief

I cannot wait to return us to this ongoing  conversation. At the risk of allowing oneself a moment of distraction, permit me, to say that Professor Umar Garba Danbatta is not only intellectually-loaded, but has a characteristic way of dispensing his intellect to the delight of his audience.  Add to these his imposing height and infectious smiles and you could not but admire him. He is also a frontliner on strategy.

 Recall that the particular week the chief telecoms regulator chose to rekindle his interaction with the media was  one replete with conspiracy theory around many subjects and people, especially the sacking of some  agencies boards, by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.  I cannot recount the number of colleagues of mine who called in to inquire whether  or not Danbatta and his board members were affected. 

Instead of doing a press statement, to put the records straight as it were,  Danbatta strategically chose to reunite with a critical segment of the telecoms value chain –the media that have been relevant in his agency’s evolution  and redefinition story. The purpose of this, I guess, was for him not to give further room to speculations that could prove dangerous, especially with the understanding of how critical a predictable regulatory environment is to our telecommunications equation.  I am sure that the choice of date was apt as the venue-The Colossus , Ikeja was condusive. His physical presence, miscibility with the media and the message he delivered  all combined additively  to erase whatever speculations  were hanging in the air regarding his future at the NCC, until his second 5-year term expires  in 2025!

Now, back to interrogating his message.  In it, Danbatta sought to draw the media’s attention, once more, to their role in the digital transformation of the national economy. This is what Slide 1 of his address presented: “The media remain a strategic partner of the Commission. As a central stakeholder, the media have been very supportive in the areas of  timely, adequate and  accurate reporting of the telecoms industry to Commission’s various stakeholders,” he said .  Put in other words, the EVC/CEO at NCC, saw the interactive session as an ample opportunity for him to reiterate that all players in the telecommunications, media and technology (TMT) value chain need to take up their share of responsibility, that it is either all the parts of the chain are resilient or we might put the whole ecosystem in jeopardy.

Situation Analysis as At 2015

Danbatta explained to his audience that he was appointed in the current position in August 2015, when the Federal Government had already embraced broadband as a catalyst for sustainable development.  The Government had introduced the Nigerian National Broadband Plan(NNBP)for the fiscal years 2013-2018.  According to Danbatta: “The NNBP is a broadband strategy and roadmap for our country to underscore the strategic nature and importance of broadband.  The national target in the NNBP 2013-2018 was to increase broadband penetration from around 6 per cent to 30 per cent from 2013 to 2018. The task of spearheading the national target fell squarely on NCC as the key Driver.” It could not have been otherwise going by its mandate as enunciated in the NCC Act.

Vision is critical

The nation’s chief telecoms regulator stated that in order to strategically coordinate and align resources and actions to better achieve the mandate of the Commission and facilitate the emergence of a knowledge-based economy in Nigeria, the Commission, under his watch, developed a Strategic Vision Plan (SVP) 2015 – 2020, premised on 8 pillars referred to as the 8-Point Agenda.  Recall that his first formal meeting  with this constituency(an International Press Conference) was convened on January 27, 2016 to introduce this rather disruptive agenda.

The 8-Point Agenda include:

• Facilitate Broadband Penetration
• Improve Quality Of Service
• Optimise Usage And Benefits Of Spectrum
• Promote ICT Innovation And Investment Opportunities
• Facilitate Strategic Collaboration And Partnership Protect And Empower Consumers Promote Fair Competition And Inclusive Inclusive Growth and
• Ensure Regulatory Excellence And Operational Efficiency

Danbatta informed(reminded would just be appropriate) that each of the items in the 8-Point Agenda had its focus and targets.  In Part 3 of this series, we shall present to you the Commission’s  scorecards based on the performance results of each Agenda item under the SVP 1, which Danbatta said, were diligently implemented from 2015-2020.