The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Umar Danbatta, has reiterated the Commission’s commitment to ensuring there is a balance in the representation of females in the information technology (IT) ecosystem.

The EVC, speaking recently through the Head, Digital Media Management of the Commission, Nafisa Usman Rugga, at the ICT Quiz competition for Girl’s in Senior Secondary Schools organized by Nigerian Women in Information Technology (NIWIIT), said there was an urgent need to equip the girl child with adequate knowledge, access and use of Information Technology programmes and services which will give them the needed skill to compete in the digital space.

Danbatta further stated that the empowerment programme in commemoration of the International Girls in ICT Day, aligns with the Commission’s mandate of broadband penetration drive to women in rural and suburban areas for capacity building, employability, increased connectivity, and inclusion for gender equality throughout the Country.

The EVC also highlighted the Commission’s policies, projects and initiatives that show the importance of bridging gender disparity and ensuring that the Internet is a safe space for children. She laid emphasis on the Child Online Protection (COP) project of the Commission, which is aimed at educating children and their parents/caregivers on measures to safeguard themselves and their wards as they navigate cyberspace.

The CEO of NCC further informed the audience of the Commission’s commitment to re-skilling the girl child and women by collaborating with stakeholders in the ICT sector to create programmes to encourage, empower and expose them to the vast opportunities present in the digital world.

The two-day event which focused on creating awareness programmes for IT related services and products among women in the rural and suburban areas in Nigeria, targets special groups and students in secondary schools and tertiary institutions.

The event ended with the presentation of gifts to the winners from the quiz competition conducted at the forum.

Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta (Right) in a chat with the contractors during the inspection of the NCC Digital Park Project in Kano.

Ahead of the auspicious commissioning of the Digital Industrial Park (DIP) project in Kano State, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, has, once again, paid an inspection visit to the site of the ongoing construction of the project in Kano State where he got an unequivocal commitment from the contractors that the project will be completed by January 2023.

The Friday’s inspection call by the NCC’s boss was part of the routine visits to ensure close monitoring and effective supervision of important projects that will have great impacts on the country’s socio-economic development.

During the visit, the EVC, who was accompanied by the NCC’s Head of Projects, Philip Eretan, and the EVC’s Chief of Staff, Malam Hafiz Shehu, among others, with the Special Adviser to the Kano State Governor, Prof. Yusif Alhassan, in attendance, emphasized the need for the contractors to expedite efforts in completing the project on schedule.

Addressing the contractors, Danbatta said that both the Federal and the State governments are following the progress being made at the construction site with keen interest owing to the value addition the project would make not only to the economy of the North-West geo-political zone but also to the country as a whole.

“This is a project that Nigerians are eagerly waiting to be completed. The Federal Government and the State government are following it with keen interest, and at NCC, our responsibility is to ensure that there’s no further delay in delivery as we have been doing everything possible to ensure that we have the project commissioned in the next few months.

“While I promise you that we will give you all the support you need, I also demand that progress report to be sent to me fortnightly over the two months period in order to ensure effective monitoring by us at NCC,” he said.

Speaking further, the EVC commended the State Governor for proving land at a prime location in Kano for the project, which he said is an indication of the value the government attaches to the project.

The DIPs currently being built across the six geo-political zones of the country by the NCC are expected to provide Innovation Labs and Digital Fabrication Laboratories (Fablabs) for use by digital innovators and entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into products and prototypes. The parks are also designed to provide broadband services and to have access to constant power supply.

This is not the first time the NCC boss would pay a visit to the construction site of the project located at Audu Bako Secretariat in the ancient city, which doubles as the commercial nerve centre of northern Nigeria.

The EVC’s latest visit was sequel to a similar visit to the construction site in July 2022 and other visits he had made much earlier, essentially to assess the level of work that has been done so far to ensure that the project is delivered within the set deadline.

During the July 2022 visit to the construction site, Danbatta pointed out that the project was conceived to support the Federal Government’s digital drive by facilitating the availability and accessibility of digital services across the country, and promoting their adoption and usage across all sectors, as well as providing youth employment in the country.

“The idea of putting these two things (i.e., skill acquisition and innovation) at the forefront of this very important initiative is to produce youths that can be self-reliant, generate employment for themselves and other Nigerians,” he said.

Danbatta had also stressed that no part of the country would be left out in benefitting from the initiative. “The project is another move to boost youth digital skills acquisition, promote innovations, provide jobs for the teeming Nigerian youth and ultimately support the overall digital economy agenda of the Federal Government,” he said.

L-R: Managing Director/Chief Operating Officer, ThisDay Newspapers, Eniola Bello; President, African Public Relations Association, Yomi Badejo-Okusanya; Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Adeleke Adewolu and Chairman, STB-McCann, Steve Omojafor, during the annual conference of the Brand Journalists Association of Nigeria (BJAN) where the NCC received “The Regulator of the Decade Award” in Lagos at the weekend.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said the ongoing process to auction two additional lots in the 3.5GHz spectrum for Fifth Generation (5G) is part of efforts that will further democratise access to high-speed mobile broadband for all Nigerians.

The Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer (EVC/CEO) of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, stated this in Lagos over the weekend while speaking at the 10th Annual Brands and Marketing Conference of the Brand Journalists Association of Nigeria (BJAN) where the NCC was conferred with the “Regulator of the Decade” Award.

Represented by the Commission’s Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, Adeleke Adewolu, the EVC noted that the ongoing process, for which arrangements are in top gear, followed the successful auctioning of two bands of the 3.5GHz spectrum in December of 2021.

Danbatta disclosed that the Commission is currently reviewing the licences and frameworks for fixed broadband to update them in line with current challenges and make them more effective as part of the pivotal initiatives deployed by NCC that are already bearing fruits.

The EVC was emphatic that the Commission, in pursuit of its mandate, has been relentless in creating the conducive atmosphere for the rollout and adoption of new technologies, and government has taken the firm position that the country must leverage digital technologies to grow the economy.

As such, he said the development of policies such as the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030 and the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2020-2025, which the NCC and other agencies and partners are assiduously implementing.

Danbatta informed the participants at the conference that content creation and consumption have grown around the telecommunications infrastructure provided by technology, which Nigerian entertainers have leveraged to become global brands.

“Due to heavy leverage on digital platforms, the Nigerian entertainment industry has gone global. Nollywood is one of the biggest movie industries in the world. In fact, more movies are produced by Nollywood yearly in comparison to Hollywood.

“Nigerian music stars are in hot demand worldwide because of their popularity and brand recognition on social media. We should add that many of these global superstars emerging from Nigeria launched into stardom by leveraging Caller Tunes and other mobile content platforms to grow their brands and huge followers online,” the EVC stated.

Increasing the intensity of his submission, Danbatta declared that “Digital platforms are fostering different types of systemic change, creating new brands, eroding the value of some brands, whilst at the same time increasing the value of other brands. The innovation-transformation-disruption cycle have come to stay and will be exacerbated as technology continues to evolve.”

The EVC left the impressive audience with reasons to be hopeful when he said, “Let me assure you that the NCC will continue to aggressively drive the roll out and seamless operation of infrastructure to drive new digital technologies for the benefit of all sectors of our economy. It is our hope that Nigerian brands will continue to leverage on robust infrastructure to grow their value and ensure that our country derives maximum benefit from unfolding digital transformation efforts.”

Africa’s leading integrated payments and digital commerce company, Interswitch, has restated its commitment to continue supporting customers to meet urgent needs through its technology-driven lending solution called Value Financing.

The Value Financing solution is designed to provide customers with credit facilities as an alternative  option for the payment for goods and services on e-commerce platforms and other digital platforms; consequently, allowing customers to meet their pressing needs with loans.

In the wake of the rising inflation across the globe, the firm said it has become necessary for customers to explore the use of credit facilities to meet their urgent needs.

Innocent Itobore, Head, Interswitch Lending and Data Services at Interswitch made these assertions at the third edition in the series of Regional Breakfast Sessions which held at the Carlton Swiss Grand Hotel, Enugu state. He said that Interswitch will continue to support customers and businesses to scale and thrive through the provision of innovative products and solutions.

He said “At Interswitch, we understand the peculiar needs of our customers, hence we continue to design products that will allow financial institutions and merchants meet the urgent needs of customers with loans, leveraging our cutting-edge technology systems. These solutions will, in turn, expand the lending offerings for financial institutions and give merchants the ability to grow their businesses as they get more purchases from customers, who can buy now and pay later.”

He said Interswitch organised the Regional Breakfast Session to provide insights and discuss robust opportunities for businesses to enable them to get first-hand information about Interswitch products and solutions.

Itobore further explained “The Regional Breakfast Session is an opportunity for us to introduce our customers to new, game-changing products that promise a range of digital competencies that will drive growth and profitability for their organisations. Essentially, these solutions will help remove costs that businesses would have incurred to develop enabling systems that foster seamless collection and disbursement of funds.”

During the course of the event, participants were onboarded on to other new Interswitch products which include; Tokenisation, Fintech-in-a-box, Interswitch-Security-as-a-Solution, Banking-as-a-Service, Payment-as-a- Service, Mobile Banking-as -a-Service and Biometrics on POS.

The Regional Breakfast Session series has been organised to gather financial industry players to discuss critical issues within payment ecosystem with the goal of deepening digital payments in the country and beyond.

After successfully hosting the events in Ibadan, Port Harcourt and Enugu, the event train is expected to move to Abuja and Lagos.