The Nigerian Senate is set to confirm the reappointment of Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta as the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
This follows the reappointment by President Muhammadu Buhari for another five-year term in office as the country’s chief telecoms regulator and an acknowledgment of his outstanding performance in the last five years when he appeared before the Senate Screening Committee recently in Abuja.
The EVC was commended by the Committee members during the screening as the EVC demonstrated his deep knowledge of the industry, extensively discussed his scorecard since he assumed office as the EVC of NCC on August 4, 2015.
The Committee members applauded him for his sterling performance and exceptional leadership qualities which, they said had helped in accelerating the growth of the Nigerian telecoms sector.
The Chairman of the Senate Screening Committee, Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu, represented by Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe, and other members of the committee including Sen. Kashim Shettima, Sen. Bamidele Opeyemi, Sen. Omar Jeff, Sen. Sandy Onor, Sen. Abiodun Olujimi and Sen. Bukachuwa lauded the Prof. Danbatta’s outstanding performance in directing Nigeria’s digital ecosystem.
According to Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe, 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,” while subsection 4 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.”
The EVC, who gave convincing accounts of his stewardship in the last five years, 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 also 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 the areas of 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.
The EVC expressed his appreciation to the senators 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.”
Meanwhile, 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.
Featured Image: Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) during his screening by the Senate Committee on Communications for his reappointment as EVC of NCC at the National Assembly.
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