The apex telecommunications regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) have drummed support for the 2021 edition of the ITREALMS E-Waste Dialogue scheduled for Welcome Centre Hotels, International Airport Road, Ikeja, Lagos by 9am this Thursday.
Just as experts from the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), Environmental Health Officers Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON) and E-Waste Producer Responsibility Organisation of Nigeria (EPRON) to name a few, have lined up to dissect the theme of the dialogue “e-Waste in Nigeria: Consumer as key to Circular Economy & 20 years of GSM.”
Confirming these at the weekend, the editor-in-chief, ITREALMS Media group, Mr. Remmy Nweke, said that the ITREALMS E-Waste Dialogue, slated for Thursday, December 9, 2021, at Adams Hall, Welcome Centre Hotels, Lagos would have the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta deliver a keynote address to the occasion.
Danbatta’s keynote, Nweke revealed would focus on “20 years of GSM and e-Waste in Nigeria” while ALTON chairman, Engr Gbenga Adebayo would share insight on “ALTON: 20 years of GSM and e-Waste in Nigeria.”
Nweke noted that the importance of tackling electronic waste in the country cannot be over-emphasised, as the nation celebrates 20 years of Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) which made it easier for inflow of electronic devices and usage in the most populated African nation.
Pointing out that the Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) emanates from the likes of mobile phones, computers, TV-sets, and fridges among other electronic devices have become a set of fastest growing waste streams across the globe.
Nweke also noted that Professor Danbatta as the Chief Executive Officer of NCC is serving a second term of five years in office, following the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2020.
Danbatta earned his BEng, MSc degrees from the Technical University of Wroclaw in Poland and received his PhD from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST).
As a multiple award-winning professor, Danbatta successfully spearheaded the attainment and surpassing of Nigeria’s national broadband target in 2018, and he is currently among those leading the charge for the realization of the new national broadband target of 70 per cent by 2025, after the country achieved and surpassed its earlier national target of 30 per cent penetration in 2018.
In no small measure, Danbatta has strengthened the role of the telecommunications sector as a major contributor to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, and boosted telecoms investment inflows from $36 billion to over $70 billion since 2015, among others.
Prior to his appointment as EVC/CEO of NCC in 2015, Danbatta, was a professor of telecommunications engineering, who worked in academia as lecturer where he supervised over 60 PhD, MEng and BEng projects in diverse areas of telecommunications, rising to the position of Acting Vice-Chancellor in a Nigerian university.
He was the Vice-President of the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), an international centre for advanced communications studies established in 2004 by the Commission (NCC) for capacity in diverse areas of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
Further, Nweke said that ALTON is a body corporate, duly registered in Nigeria and recognized by the government of and NCC as the official industry body for all providers of telecommunications and subsidiary services in Nigeria.
ALTON is ably led by Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, the Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer of Communication Network Support Services Limited Group of Companies, whose operations cuts across Telecommunication Network maintenance, Call and Contact Centre Service, Media, Broadcasting, Agriculture, Hotels and Hospitality Services, Medical and Hospital Services.
ITREALMS Media, he said, in commemoration of the International E-waste Day (IeWD) 2021, has advanced plans to host a day discourse on e-Waste in Nigeria: Consumer as key to Circular Economy & 20 years of GSM under its flagship ITREALMS e-Waste Dialogue scheduled for Thursday, December 9, at the Welcome Centre Hotels, International Airport Road, Ikeja, Lagos.

Abraham Oshadami
Deputy Director, Head, Spectrum Database Management, NCC

The status of the Nigerian Communications Commission as a flagship public sector brand, got another fillip recently as Engr. Abraham Oshadami, a Deputy Director at the Commission and Head of Spectrum Database Management, was declared winner of the CIO OF THE YEAR AWARD for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), a nomenclature for one of the awards to the public sector group.
The Award, conferred on Oshadami in Lagos, “celebrates and honours successful and outstanding individuals and organisations that are using digital innovation and information technology systems to bring about real growth and transformation to businesses.”
Oshadami was Head of NCC’s Information Technology Department since 2016 until 1st September, 2021 when he was reassigned to Spectrum Administration Department in keeping with Commission’s strategic realignment.
Organised annually by Edniesal Consulting Limited – an enterprise governance and corporate services firm – the Chief Information Officer (CIO) award is given in both public and private sector categories to Nigerian or African citizens or persons eligible to work in Nigeria. Such persons/executives must be serving in the capacity of senior Information Technology Executives, Chief Technology Officers, Chief Digital Officers or Chief Information Officers, and their entities must have been registered and doing business for at least two years by July 31 when entries are submitted for assessment annually.
The CIO Award by Edniesal Consulting Limited is the “Largest CIO Awards in Africa”. The awards are in different categories, namely: MDAs, banking, telecoms, insurance, technology, energy and so on.
Participants, who are usually persons primarily responsible for IT operations in the organisations they work, officially submit applications,Wow which are reviewed by a project team. The reviews are forwarded to an interim jury which undertakes the first major assessment. The Interim Jury then presents three top nominees in each category to a Grand Jury for assessment. The grand jury conducts assessment and presents a list of final winners to an Independent Assurance Team for a final review and submission of report.
This is the process Engr. Oshadami’s application passed through and he’s adjudged the best CIO in all Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government as the best of the public sector executives supervising Information Technology operations where they work. The NCC website, one of the items in the purview of the IT Department of the NCC which Oshadami supervised for 5 years, is been serially referred to as a forest of resources, due to the volume and quality of resources therein and its reliability as a source of credible information to journalists, other communication professionals and several close and far-flung stakeholders seeking information about Nigeria’s telecom sector.
In 2018, the Nigerian Communications Commission’s website was adjudged the Best Website of the Year in the MDAs’ Category by the Nigerian Online Merit Awards (NIOMA). The award particularly noted NCC website as the most “interactive, current, relevant and error-free” among all MDA websites assessed.
Same year, the NCC also received the best awards for use of social media to disseminate information and to promote visibility on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube to promote visibility and interaction. The social media handles are solely in the purview of the Public Affairs Department of the Commission, while the Information Technology Department and the Public Affairs Department collaborate in administering some aspects of the Commission’s website.
Oshadami, a first-class graduate of electrical and electronics engineering from the University of Ibadan, has worked in different capacities and mostly in Management positions since September 2004 when he joined the Nigerian Communications Commission.

An estimated 37 per cent of the world’s population – or 2.9 billion people – have still never used the Internet.
New data from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs), also reveal strong global growth in Internet use, with the estimated number of people who have used the Internet surging to 4.9 billion in 2021, from an estimated 4.1 billion in 2019.
This comes as good news for global development. However, ITU data confirm that the ability to connect remains profoundly unequal.
Of the 2.9 billion still offline, an estimated 96 per cent live in developing countries. And even among the 4.9 billion counted as ‘Internet users’, many hundreds of millions may only get the chance to go online infrequently, via shared devices, or using connectivity speeds that markedly limit the usefulness of their connection.
“While almost two-thirds of the world’s population is now online, there is a lot more to do to get everyone connected to the Internet,” said ITU Secretary General Houlin Zhao. “ITU will work with all parties to make sure that the building blocks are in place to connect the remaining 2.9 billion. We are determined to ensure no one will be left behind.”
The unusually sharp rise in the number of people online suggests that measures taken during the pandemic – such as widespread lockdowns and school closures, combined with people’s need for access to news, government services, health updates, e-commerce and online banking – contributed to a ‘COVID connectivity boost’ that has brought an estimated 782 million additional people online since 2019, an increase of 17 per cent.

What it means for sustainable development
The 2021 edition of Facts and Figures, ITU’s annual overview of the state of digital connectivity worldwide, shows the number of Internet users globally growing by more than 10 per cent in the first year of the pandemic – by far the largest annual increase in a decade.
Strong growth since 2019 was largely driven by increases in developing countries, where Internet penetration climbed more than 13 per cent. In the 46 UN-designated Least Developed Countries (LDCs), the average increase exceeded 20 per cent.
“These statistics show great progress towards ITU’s mission to connect the world,” said Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau, which oversees ITU’s data and analytics work. “But a vast ‘connectivity chasm’ remains in the LDCs, where almost three quarters of people have never connected to the Internet. Women in LDCs are particularly marginalized, with roughly four out of every five still offline.”
Many of these ‘digitally excluded’ face formidable challenges including poverty, illiteracy, limited access to electricity, and lack of digital skills and awareness.
“Digital solutions would be needed to re-energize sustainable development and help put countries back on track to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030,” Bogdan-Martin added.
“Unfortunately, the communities identified in the 2030 Agenda as most at risk of being left behind are the very same communities now being digitally left behind.”

Key report findings

The digital gender divide is narrowing globally, but large gaps remain in poorer countries.
• Globally, an average of 62 per cent of men use the Internet compared with 57 per cent of women.
• Although the digital gender divide has been narrowing in all world regions and has been virtually eliminated in the developed world (89 per cent of men and 88 per cent of women online) wide gaps remain in Least Developed Countries (31 per cent of men compared to just 19 per cent of women) and in Landlocked Developing Countries (38 per cent of men compared to 27 per cent of women).
• The gender divide remains particularly pronounced in Africa (35 per cent of men compared to 24 per cent of women) and the Arab States (68 per cent of men compared to 56 per cent of women).
The urban-rural gap, though less severe in developed countries, remains a major challenge for digital connectivity in the rest of the world.
• Globally, people in urban areas are twice as likely to use the Internet than those in rural areas (76 per cent urban compared to 39 per cent rural).
• In developed economies, the urban-rural gap appears negligible in terms of Internet usage (with 89 per cent of people in urban areas having used the Internet in the last three months, compared to 85 per cent in rural areas), whereas in developing countries, people in urban areas are twice as likely to use the Internet as those in rural areas (72 per cent urban compared to 34 per cent rural).
• In the LDCs, urban dwellers are almost four times as likely to use the Internet as people living in rural areas (47 per cent urban compared to 13 per cent rural).

A generational gap is evident across all world regions.
• On average, 71 per cent of the world’s population aged 15-24 is using the Internet, compared with 57 per cent of all other age groups.
• This generational gap is reflected across all regions. It is most pronounced in the LDCs, where 34 per cent of young people are connected, compared with only 22 per cent of the rest of the population.
• Greater uptake among young people bodes well for connectivity and development. In the LDCs, for example, half of the population is less than 20 years old, suggesting that local labour markets will become progressively more connected and technology-savvy as the younger generation enters the workforce.

ITU continues monitoring the world’s evolving digital divide.

• ITU figures also point to a glaring gap between digital network availability versus actual connection. While 95 per cent of people in the world could theoretically access a 3G or 4G mobile broadband network, billions of them do not connect.
• Affordability of devices and services remains a major barrier. The widely accepted target for affordable broadband connectivity in developing countries sets the cost of an entry-level mobile broadband package at 2 per cent of gross national income (GNI) per capita. Yet in some of the world’s poorest nations, getting online can cost a staggering 20 per cent or more of per capita GNI.
• Lack of digital skills and an appreciation of the benefits of an online connection is another bottleneck, compounded by a lack of content in local languages, as well as by interfaces that demand literacy and numeracy skills that many people do not possess.

The 2021 edition of the ITREALMS E-Waste Dialogue has been slated to hold on December 9, 2021 at Welcome Centre Hotels, International Airport Road, Ikeja, Lagos by 9am.
This is coming as the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), Environmental Health Officers Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON) and E-Waste Producer Responsibility Organisation of Nigeria (EPRON) are warming up among other members of stakeholders for the dialogue on December 9, 2021.
The editor-in-chief, ITREALMS Media Group, Mr. Remmy Nweke disclosed these in Lagos on Wednesday, and said the update has become necessary due to importance of tackling electronic waste as the country attained 20 years of Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) which paved the way for influx of electronic devices and usage in Nigeria.
Nweke also said that the Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) emanates from the likes of mobile phones, computers, TV-sets, and fridges among other electronic devices have become a set of fastest growing waste streams across the globe.
Nigeria, he noted, is particularly burdened by the WEEE with estimated 1.1 million tonnes of e-waste annually arising from both local and imported Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) under the guise of second hand or fairly used.
The editor-in-chief of ITREALMS Media, organisers of the E-Waste Dialogue cited a recent UNEP report which showed that in 2015 alone, Nigeria had 56,000 tonnes of imported e-waste; in 2017, this figure increased to 288,000 tonnes; over four times higher than two years earlier.
These, he said underscored the need for a massive and sustained campaign of Nigerians on e-waste and its likely effects when disposed wrongly.
According to him, experts have been assembled to give a roadmap on e-Waste in Nigeria: Consumer as key to circular economy with focus on 20 years of GSM.
“ITREALMS Media in commemoration of the International E-waste Day (IeWD) 2021, is hosting a day discourse on e-Waste in Nigeria: Consumer as key to Circular Economy & 20 years of GSM” under its flagship ITREALMS e-Waste Dialogue scheduled for Thursday, December 9, at the Welcome Centre Hotels, International Airport Road, Ikeja, Lagos,” he said.
Stressing the importance of raising awareness and exchanging knowledge of this complex waste stream, Nweke said it would provoke thought and support the transition to a sustainable society and circular economy as the nation looks forward to the full implementation of the fifth-generation (5G) networks.

L- R: Engr. Bako Wakil, Director, Technical Standards and Network Integrity, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC); Mr. Yakubu Gontor, Director, Finance Services, NCC; Mrs. Tolulase Omodele-Rufai, Assistant Director, NCC Lagos Zonal Office; Mr. Adeleke Adewolu, Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, NCC; Mr. Babajika Mohammed, Director, Licensing and Authorization, NCC; Mr. Chidi Ibisi, Executive Director, Business Development, Broadband Communications Limited; Mrs. Chinwe Maduabum, 2021 Chairman Committee on Talk to the Regulator; Mr. Damian Udeh, Associate Director, Regulatory Affairs, IHS

The Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, has said that continuous dialogues between the regulator and its various licensees is central to finding lasting solutions to issues negatively impacting licensee’s compliance with extant regulations and challenging the growth of the telecoms industry.

Danbatta stated this during the second edition of NCC’s 2021 Talk to The Regulator (TTTR) forum held in Lagos over the weekend. The theme of the discourse is, “Improving Stakeholders Satisfaction”. The Lagos edition of the programme followed the successful hosting of a similar dialogue in Kano on 16th October, 2021.

The objective of the forum is to get direct feedback from licensees on how the Commission, as a regulator, is meeting licensees’ expectations.

The programme was also designed to identify areas for regulatory improvement, highlight areas where licensees are defaulting as well as address critical industry challenges undermining full accomplishment of the set objectives for consolidating the gains in the telecoms sector.

According to Danbatta, who was represented at the forum by NCC’s Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, Adeleke Adewolu, the forum is orgainsed in keeping with the Commission’s commitment to continually ensure regulator-licensee interactions to develop collaborative solutions and implementation programmes to the challenges of the telecom ecosystem.

“The Nigerian Communications Act (NCA, 2003) invests the NCC with powers and responsibilities for the regulation of both the technical and market-related aspects of telecoms infrastructure and services in Nigeria. We consider our role as regulator very vital to ensuring industry sustainability, because NCC considers consultation as the lifeblood of regulation” the EVC emphasised.

The EVC also declared that, “we have consistently deployed stakeholder engagement tools like public enquiries, private investigations, written information requests, one-on-one discussions as we are having it now and diverse consumer engagement platforms.

These tools enable us to ensure that our interventions are well-grounded and that our decisions are based on a clear understanding of stakeholders’ perspectives.”

Danbatta said that such interactions fit squarely within the five pillars of the Commission’s Strategic Management Plan (2020-2024), which include Regulatory Excellence, Promotion of Universal Broadband Access, the Development of the Digital Economy, Facilitation of Market Development, and Strategic Partnering.

“Through regular interactions with our licensees, the Commission is able to gain valuable insights to enhance our regulatory output and enabled us to drive excellence in consonance with the five pillars of our strategic vision for the industry as streamlined in the Commission’s Strategic Vision Plan (SVP), 2021-2025,” he said.

The EVC also reinforced the Commission’s belief that only through optional performance by the licensees will Nigeria be able to achieve the national objectives and targets in the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030, the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP), 2020-2025 and other national policy instruments targeted at developing the nation’s digital economy ecosystem.

He said on this basis that the Commission is, “Therefore, we intend to use this forum to seek support for many initiatives that the commission has carefully developed in our quest to enhance market opportunities for all our licensees,” Danbatta said to emphasise NCC’s faith in collaboration with stakeholders and its licensees in order to address any concerns that may impede the attainment of the relevant policy objectives.

The NCC CEO also emphasised that the Commission will continue to roll out forward-thinking and all-inclusive regulatory initiatives to provide market opportunities for all its licensees. Additionally, Danbatta said NCC is also committed to constantly reviewing licensing framework as well as key regulatory instruments so as to refresh the Commission’s regulatory frameworks and ensure better service delivery for consumers and efficient attainment of other national interest objectives.

However, Danbatta said some licensees are not doing as much as they ought to be doing. “Several licensees are struggling to pay their staff, many are unable to comply with basic licence obligations, some are defaulting in the payment of their Annual Operating Levies (AOL) while the level of interconnect and other inter-licensee indebtedness is still unacceptably high.

Therefore, we are required to ensure regulatory interventions are put in place to address challenges, bottlenecks and grievances that may arise among the licensees in this regard,” he said.
Also addressing the gathering, the Director, Licensing and Authorisation at NCC, Mohammed Babajika, said the forum was intended to foster a harmonious relationship with licensees, identify their challenges and provide feedback on licensees’ fulfilment of their licence obligations and to re-emphasise the role of licensees in ensuring good quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE) for the consumers.

While intimating the licensees of some regulatory initiatives focused on licensing issues, Babajika said despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and its resultant challenges, the Commission was taking measures to further liberalise the telecoms industry by finalising the framework for Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) while also reviewing existing licensing regulations.

In addition, the Director also informed the licensees that the Commission was finalising work on Information Memorandum (IM) for Fifth Generation (5G) technology deployment, which will promote emerging technology trends such as Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Over-The-Top (OTT) Services and Big Data Analytics, Blockchain, among others.

At the event, presentations were made by Management staff of the Commission to the licensees and others, who participated actively through listening, making observations and suggestions, as well as seeking clarifications to improve the quality of discourse and the expected outcomes.