Victor Salami
The Chief Executive Officer and Executive Vice Chairman (CEO/EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta has commended the Swedish Government and Ericsson for their continual support and partners with the NCC on capacity building, which has strengthened the Commission’s regulatory activities.
Speaking at a workshop jointly organised by NCC and its Swedish partners within the framework of the Swedish Programme for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in Developing and Emerging Regions (SPIDER), Prof. Danbatta highlighted the substantial progress made by NCC in the field of ICT.
He further stated that “This workshop signposts the significant role the Nigerian Communications Commission, as a regulator, has been playing in the West African sub-region. It also stressed the unending aim of keeping up with the times and ever-evolving dynamics of the telecommunication sector”
- Advertisement -
Danbatta also reiterated on the long lasting commitment of the Swedish Government and SPIDER as relates to the development of ICT in developing regions and praised their roles in providing better access to education, income generation, healthcare and employment opportunities in West Africa thereby reducing the poverty rate.
Mrs. Annika Hahn, the Swedish Ambassador to Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroun and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) reiterated the importance of ICT regulation and capacity building as key drivers for economic development and social progress. She further praised the NCC for hosting the event and enhancing collaboration between the two countries and she highlighted the crucial role ICT has played in Sweden’s economic growth, being the nation where Ericsson, one of the world’s oldest and largest ICT companies originated from with an influential history in the sector.
The Ambassador also stressed the current global technological revolution and it’s potential to catalyse industrial and economic development. According to Hahn, “to cope with this new and swiftly-developing environment, we need to regulate in a modern and adaptable way. Therefore, human capacity building in ICT regulation is crucial for all of us. “
The Ambassador also cited the period of the COVID-19 pandemic and how it skyrocketed the adoption of ICT across the universe, leading to a drastic increase in Internet users as the shift positively impacted diverse sectors including commerce, education and financial services. There were also e-learning practices on various platforms that also further promoted and played a huge role in the transformation.
Furthermore, the Ambassador said Ericsson reported that there more than 900 million registered mobile subscriptions in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2022, with a significant amount of those in Nigeria.
The Swedish Ambassador concluded that education must be an integral part of the regulatory development strategies and policies, hence the need to work together in knowledge-sharing and up-skilling of human resources by all stakeholders.
BV.
