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Tag: NCC

  • NCC deploys 84 IT projects to support persons with disabilities

    NCC deploys 84 IT projects to support persons with disabilities

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has deployed 84 assistive Information Technology projects at different locations in Nigeria to support people with special needs while supporting policies that enable disadvantaged members of the society to live a more qualitative life.

    “The E-Accessibility project seeks to meet the ICT needs of persons living with disabilities in Nigeria by providing ICT tools, assistive technologies, training, and Internet provision in the identified locations. Between 2012 to 2020, the NCC has deployed the E-Accessibility Projects in, at least, 84 locations nationwide.”

    The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, disclosed this during a courtesy visit by a delegation from National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD) to the NCC over the weekend in Abuja, where the EVC also restated NCC’s commitment to continually support people with special needs across the country.

    Danbatta, while receiving the NCPWD team led by its Executive Secretary, James Lalu, said the telecom regulator has always implemented initiatives aimed at ensuring digital inclusivity for all Nigerians regardless of their circumstances.

    Represented by the Director, Human Capital and Administration at NCC, Usman Malah, the EVC said telecoms sector has become the backbone of the national economy and has recorded tremendous growth from 400,000 telephone lines on the eve of sectoral deregulation in 2000 to over 208 million active telephone lines now, just as active Internet subscription rose to 156 million in the last two decades.

    The EVC stated that the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Industry’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) currently stands at 18.44 per cent, going by the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) as at the second quarter of 2022. Additionally, Danbatta said that NCC has continue to ensure quality of service delivery to the consumers and digital inclusion for all.

    Accordingly, Danbatta said the NCC recognises and aligns with the noble objectives behind the establishment of NCPWD as enabled by the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act of 2018.

    The NCC Chief Executive stated that in addition to implementing the five per cent inclusiveness of persons with disabilities in NCC’s staffing efforts in accordance with the law, the telecom regulator, through the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), has executed many projects within the framework of its E-Accessibility Programme in last 10 years that targets the challenged members of the society.

    “In other words, the project provides ICT tools and Assistive Technologies (ATs) to the blind, the deaf, dumb, crippled, cognitively impaired, and other categories of people living with disabilities. As disadvantaged members of society, the project is designed to assist in improving the quality of life of people living with disability,” he said.

    In his remarks, the NCPWD’s Executive Secretary, Lalu, said the purpose of the agency’s visit was to keep the NCC management abreast of its mandates and activities, and to seek greater collaborations with NCC for the benefits of estimated 35.5 million persons with disabilities in Nigeria.

    He commended the NCC for the “wonderful work it has been doing through various projects in support of people with disabilities in the country.” Lalu slso appealed to the NCC to help in creating awareness among telecoms service providers to comply with the legal requirement to dedicate five per cent of their employment quota to persons with disabilities. He said this category of Nigerians are ‘smart, professional and intelligent’ and can make significant contribution to the growth of the respective organizations employing them, despite their disabilities.

    “What we want to achieve is to make Nigeria a country that is comfortable for PLWD by ending discrimination and providing adequate reporting system and we have seen NCC as a strategic and important partner in this journey,” Lalu said.

    The NCPWD was established, pursuant to section 31 of the Discrimination Against Persons with Disability (Prohibition) Act 2018, to promote, protect and prioritise the rights of persons with disabilities, and to further enhance their productivity through education, health, and other socio-economic activities and programmes.

  • NCC deploys 84 IT projects to support persons with disabilities

    NCC deploys 84 IT projects to support persons with disabilities

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has deployed 84 assistive Information Technology projects at different locations in Nigeria to support people with special needs while supporting policies that enable disadvantaged members of the society to live a more qualitative life.

    “The E-Accessibility project seeks to meet the ICT needs of persons living with disabilities in Nigeria by providing ICT tools, assistive technologies, training, and Internet provision in the identified locations. Between 2012 to 2020, the NCC has deployed the E-Accessibility Projects in, at least, 84 locations nationwide.”

    The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, disclosed this during a courtesy visit by a delegation from National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD) to the NCC over the weekend in Abuja, where the EVC also restated NCC’s commitment to continually support people with special needs across the country.

    Danbatta, while receiving the NCPWD team led by its Executive Secretary, James Lalu, said the telecom regulator has always implemented initiatives aimed at ensuring digital inclusivity for all Nigerians regardless of their circumstances.

    Represented by the Director, Human Capital and Administration at NCC, Usman Malah, the EVC said telecoms sector has become the backbone of the national economy and has recorded tremendous growth from 400,000 telephone lines on the eve of sectoral deregulation in 2000 to over 208 million active telephone lines now, just as active Internet subscription rose to 156 million in the last two decades.

    The EVC stated that the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Industry’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) currently stands at 18.44 per cent, going by the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) as at the second quarter of 2022. Additionally, Danbatta said that NCC has continue to ensure quality of service delivery to the consumers and digital inclusion for all.

    Accordingly, Danbatta said the NCC recognises and aligns with the noble objectives behind the establishment of NCPWD as enabled by the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act of 2018.

    The NCC Chief Executive stated that in addition to implementing the five per cent inclusiveness of persons with disabilities in NCC’s staffing efforts in accordance with the law, the telecom regulator, through the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), has executed many projects within the framework of its E-Accessibility Programme in last 10 years that targets the challenged members of the society.

    “In other words, the project provides ICT tools and Assistive Technologies (ATs) to the blind, the deaf, dumb, crippled, cognitively impaired, and other categories of people living with disabilities. As disadvantaged members of society, the project is designed to assist in improving the quality of life of people living with disability,” he said.

    In his remarks, the NCPWD’s Executive Secretary, Lalu, said the purpose of the agency’s visit was to keep the NCCmanagement abreast of its mandates and activities, and to seek greater collaborations with NCC for the benefits of estimated 35.5 million persons with disabilities in Nigeria.

    He commended the NCC for the “wonderful work it has been doing through various projects in support of people with disabilities in the country.” Lalu slso appealed to the NCC to help in creating awareness among telecoms service providers to comply with the legal requirement to dedicate five per cent of their employment quota to persons with disabilities. He said this category of Nigerians are ‘smart, professional and intelligent’ and can make significant contribution to the growth of the respective organizations employing them, despite their disabilities.

    “What we want to achieve is to make Nigeria a country that is comfortable for PLWD by ending discrimination and providing adequate reporting system and we have seen NCC as a strategic and important partner in this journey,” Lalu said.

    The NCPWD was established, pursuant to section 31 of the Discrimination Against Persons with Disability (Prohibition) Act 2018, to promote, protect and prioritise the rights of persons with disabilities, and to further enhance their productivity through education, health, and other socio-economic activities and programmes.

  • Danbatta applauds four retiring NCC staff

    Danbatta applauds four retiring NCC staff

    Four retiring staff of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) have received encomiums from the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (EVC/CEO) of the Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, for their dedication to duties and rising to be counted as committed members of the team that is making the nation proud with their individual contributions to the development of telecommunications in Nigeria.

    The four staff, Mallam Aliyu Ibrahim, Deputy Director/Head, Administration Department; Okechukwu Christian Aninweke, an Assistant Director/Head, Risk Management; Patience Ante, Principal Manager, Lagos Zonal Office (LZO); and Daniel Agbi, Deputy Manager, also of the LZO, reached their mandatory retirement ages of 60 years and have embarked on their pre-retirement leaves, after their respective valedictory sessions that took place at the Commission.

    Mr. Ibrahim, who spent 26 years of active service in the Commission, had at various times served in several departments, before being appointed Lagos Zonal Controller; Kano Zonal Controller; and Head, Consumer Protection and Advocacy before retiring as Head of Administration of the Commission, a position he held for more than four years.

    The NCC boss said Aliyu’s various postings across departments, and his outline of contributions at his various posts were testaments to his hard work and dedication to duty. He specifically commended Aliyu’s administrative competence that enabled the Commission to start off NCC Digital Innovation Park project being constructed in Kano.

    Aninweke, joined the Commission in 2001, and is retiring as an Assistant Director and Head, Risk Management in the Corporate Planning Strategy and Risk Management Department, after 21 years of dedicated active service. He was also President of NCC Staff Cooperative and Multipurpose Society for two tenures.

    Mrs. Patience Ante, on her part, served the Commission for 18 years, having been enlisted in 2002 as Confidential Secretary at the Commission’s erstwhile Human Resources Department where she worked for seven years before her redeployment to Lagos Zonal Office. In Lagos, she first worked in the Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Unit where she served different sections of the Zonal Office operations. Before her retirement, Ante, rose to the position of  a Principal Manager and served as Head, Licensing and Authorization Unit at the Lagos Zonal Office.

    Agbi, popularly called ‘Apollo’ by the staff of the Commission, joined the Commission in 2005 as a protocol officer. His duties included working closely with high profile personalities in the Commission, including Board members, Ministers, and the Executive Management. His core responsibilities included liaising with the Nigerian Immigration Service. Agbi, also fondly called ‘Papa’ worked with uncommon zeal, passion and honourably. He is retiring from the Commission at the rank of Deputy Manager.

    During their different valedictory sessions, the retirees appreciated the opportunity given to them to serve Nigeria officially in various capacities through the NCC. They also profoundly commended the EVC, Prof. Danbatta, for his remarkable leadership qualities and finesse which have repositioned the Commission as a flagship Nigerian public sector institution.

  • NCC commits to bridging digital gender divide

    NCC commits to bridging digital gender divide

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has reiterated its unwavering commitment to bridging growing gender-oriented digital divide to accelerate inclusive economic prosperity for all Nigerian citizens.

    Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta who restated this commitment in Lagos at the 2022 Nigerian Women Entrepreneurs and Executives in Tech Summit (WEETS), Thursday, September 15, 2022, where he was conferred with the ‘Icon of Digital Revolution Award’ for his role in stimulating digital connectivity in Nigeria, said promotion of gender equality is a major component of ICT development.

    He noted that the gender dimensions of ICT, manifests in access and use; capacity-building opportunities; employment and potential for empowerment, and that all these dimensions need to be explicitly identified and addressed, to leverage on technology and communication as powerful catalysts for political, economic, and social empowerment of women, and the promotion of gender equality.

    Speaking to the theme of the event, “Reskilling Women and Girls to Thrive in the Digital Economy”, Danbatta, who was represented by NCC’s Head, Digital Media Management, Nafisa Usman Rugga, said the theme resonates deeply with the drive by the Federal Government to ensure an all-inclusive digital economy that drives the strategic vision plan of the Commission.

    He expressed his appreciation to organizers, Techlife Media and Communications Limited, a Lagos-based media organisation, for the iconic recognition for his contribution to Nigeria’s digital progression which is an encouragement that he would dedicate to the entire NCC team of professionals that are dedicated to the digital revolution in the country. Danbatta commended the organization for holding forth its annual gathering that pivots discussions on promotion of digital access, skills and knowledge among the women and girls in Nigeria.

    Danbatta indicated that one of the ways through which the Commission strives to achieve an inclusive growth, is through increased digital connectivity to all, regardless of gender and other accidental circumstances, and that the Commission has continued to play a front-seat role in driving the implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), 2020-2030; the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP), 2020-2025; and related policies aimed at deepening connectivity for all citizens, thereby bridging digital gender disparity.

    “The NCC has put in the front burner the need to expose girls and young women to more opportunities in the digital ecosystem, in line with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) resolution 70, which advocates gender mainstreaming and promotion of gender equality, as well as the empowerment of women through information and communications technology (ICT), and we are fully committed to this,”, Danbatta said.

    The organizers, while justifying the reason for conferring the award on Nigeria’s chief telecom regulator, stated that after“ reviewing the criteria set for the award, we reckon that Prof. Danbatta deserves the award for blazing the trail in accelerating digital revolution in Nigeria, especially with the historic auction of 3.5 GHz spectrum in a fair, transparent, and credible manner, and considering the various initiatives embarked upon by the Commission under his leadership, to inspire girls and women to play active roles in the evolving global digital economy,”.

  • For telecoms, the curse of the low hanging fruits – By Okoh Aihe

    For telecoms, the curse of the low hanging fruits – By Okoh Aihe

    They came on the wings of hope. Was it building castles in the air? Oh, the commonality of cliché! Nigeria will be good again. Life will be worth celebrating. Life will be safe. Food will be available. The dollar would return to the pre-1999 value. They would put an end to fuel subsidy, and electricity would be available to the people, because any government that couldn’t resolve the problem of electricity or power within six months was irresponsible. Their government would not be irresponsible. Transportation – rail, road and air – will work once again in our nation.

    The only thing this government didn’t promise us was that they would bring the moon down so that, like Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, the American astronauts that went to the moon in July 1969, Nigerians could also step on it and say “we come in peace for all mankind.”

    Come to think of it, Nigeria needed peace at the time. The nation needed hope and needed good men to stay in the gap and raise the standards. APC, as a political party, raised the men that filled that gap and began to feed the people with the sweetness of hope. They took the word, Panglossian, and painted it on a canvass of hope so that Nigerians would have no reason to despair ever again. Nobody ever thought of the flip side.

    The unquestioned flip side has become a haunting reality. Having placed some men and women of questionable competence in strategic offices, this government has failed so miserably that it is looking for all kinds of channels to raise finances to fund its operations. One of such channels, unfortunately, is the telecommunications industry which, at the moment, continues to outperform other sectors in spite of the government’s failure to protect the sector.

    Globally, the telecoms industry suffers the fate of the low hanging fruits, readily available for any government in need to quickly pluck and solve its problems. For some of us with roots in the village, the expression, low hanging fruits, only stirs a nostalgia, some pleasurable throwback of those journeys to the farms after school, to meet your parents, and the joy of savouring the fruits of those economic trees that lined the sides of the farm route, to quench your immediate hunger.

    Low hanging fruits. You didn’t need to struggle much before harvesting enough to fill your stomach. But life has changed so much. Nostalgia can now inflict pains because going to the farm has become more dangerous and deadlier than suicide. This is one dreadful legacy this administration is going to bequeath to Nigerians.

    As it is, some top officials are throwing everything into the fire to do whatever salvaging is possible. So, it was with respectable aplomb and fait accompli that the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, announced in July this year, the implementation of a five per cent Excise Duty on telecommunications services.

    There was outrage. But it was the curse of the low hanging fruits. Industry bodies, the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), and the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), said this was one tax too many. There was already a 7.5 per cent VAT,  bringing the total to 12.5 per cent tax that the subscribers would have to pay. It would be an overkill for the subscriber, an overkill for the industry and even an overkill for the government that may enjoy some advantages in the immediate.

    History will record it as a pleasant surprise that an elite member of the ministerial coterie,  Dr Isah Pantami, whose rambunctious posturing has done so much damage to the telecommunications industry, has broken ranks to fight on the side of the industry. His remonstrations have led to a suspension of the 5 per cent Excise duty while also compelling the government to set up a committee to take another look at the decision.

    The minister’s position is very clear. You don’t need to strangle a front-line performer as a reward for good performance and efficiency. He observed that in spite of the tax overload being borne by the operators, the industry has continued to perform well.

    “Three unprecedented positive developments have occurred in the digital economy sector in the last three years. In the last quarter of 2020, ICT alone, without including digital services, contributed 14.70 per cent to the GDP. In the second quarter of 2021, we saw another record where the sector contributed 17.90 per cent to the GDP. The last record was in the second quarter of 2022 where ICT contributed 18.44 per cent to the GDP. By implication the sector has been contributing a lot to the GDP,” the minister stated.

    On this matter the minister is right and enjoys overwhelming support. What irks me a little bit is that the regulator of the industry, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), had enough material to defend the operators but I wouldn’t know how much it tried. Otherwise the minister didn’t need to get into the fray at all.

    In a 2020 research titled, A Compendium of Taxes, Levies and Fees by State Governments on Telecoms Operators in Nigeria and its Effect on the National Digital Economy, the regulator which sought tangible proofs of payments from the operators, was able to establish 41 sundry taxes in the basket of the operators with the minister of finance scheming to add even more.

    “The Telecommunications Operators in Nigeria reportedly pay more than 40 different taxes and levies to different Agencies of the Government at Federal, State and Local Government levels in Nigeria,” the report said.

    In talking about tax, I particularly like the researchers’ choice of K. Nightingale’s definition, which says: “A tax is compulsory contribution, imposed by Government, and while tax payers may receive nothing identifiable in return for their contributions, they nevertheless have the benefit of living in a relatively educated, healthy and safe society.”

    While one may observe here that some individuals and organisations do pay their taxes to the government, it is difficult to establish how much education is going on, and how healthy and safe the environment is. Universities are shut for nearly seven months and insecurity is pervasive and hovering at the fringes of a full blown war. What returns are the people and corporates getting from their taxes?

    The evils of multiple taxation were also clearly listed. The word, multiple, speaks well for itself. The researchers describe multiple taxation as follows: an income that is subjected to tax more than once, often by two or more different authorities in a way that may be unfair or illegal. Illegality and unfairness distinguish multiple taxation from double taxation.”

    A grim reality established by the research is that “the higher the taxes the higher the level of unserved areas – areas not covered by telecommunications services. It shows that taxes hinder the expansion of the telecommunications industry towards areas that are unserved and as a result might hinder the achievement of the digital economy.”

    Here is my little observation. It is in the nature of government to look for multiple channels to increase revenue; more so in a world where the global economy is challenged, and further exacerbated locally by installed incompetence in high places. But it is also the responsibility of the regulator to stand firm and defend the industry and its customers with available statistics. Otherwise, regulation only becomes an instrument of legitimised extortion.

  • NCC, Civil Defence Corps align to tackle telecoms crimes

    NCC, Civil Defence Corps align to tackle telecoms crimes

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has teamed with the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to tackle some of the criminal activities bedeviling the telecom industry, such as telecom equipment vandalism and fraudulent registration of Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards among others.

    Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, who addressed a gathering of senior management staff of NSCDC in the South West Zone, at an exclusive workshop organised by the Commission, hailed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) sealed between the agency and the Commission, for which the gathering was to explore how the Corps will deploy enabling laws, subsidiary legislations, and extant guidelines to arrest any form of criminality in the sector.

    Danbatta, who was represented at the workshop by the Director, Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement at the Commission, Ephraim Nwokonneya, said, over the years, the NCC has been working with relevant law enforcement agencies, and in particular the NSCDC, towards protecting telecom sector from all kinds of criminal behaviour.

    “Through despicable activities that are criminal and totally at variance with national security concerns of government, the deviant elements in our midst have been acting to undermine efforts put in place to consolidate the gains of the sector,” the EVC said.

    Danbatta declared that “These criminal activities include theft and vandalism of telecommunications infrastructure, the illegal use of fraudulently-registered Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards, operating without license, illegal call masking, and so on.”

    He said while the NSCDC officers have been of tremendous assistance, the objective of the workshop was to constantly engage and update them on new trends and existing regulations, requiring concerted efforts for their implementation towards enhancing sanity in the telecom sector.

    Danbatta said the NSCDC and other agencies have done very well with the assistance of their personnel in carrying out raid exercises and mopping up fraudulently-registered SIM cards found in circulation, as well as in raising the banner of awareness on the need to protect critical national telecom infrastructure.

    Some of the topical issues discussed at the workshop covered the activities of the Commission as presented by the relevant departments in the context of laws and other regulations, and in relation to the roles of NSCDC, as depicted in the presentation made by the NCC’s Head of Enforcement, Salisu Abdu, during the workshop.

  • NCC-CSIRT alerts on Google Chrome extensions malware

    NCC-CSIRT alerts on Google Chrome extensions malware

    The Nigerian Communications Commission’s Computer Security Incident Response Team (NCC-CSIRT) has identified five malicious Google Chrome Extensions that surreptitiously track online browser’s activities and steal their data.

    According to NCC-CSIRT, the five malicious extensions which the McAfee Mobile Research Team earlier discovered are Netflix Party with 800,000 downloads, Netflix Party 2 with 300,000 downloads, Full Page Screenshot Capture Screenshotting with 200,000 downloads, FlipShope Price Tracker Extension with 80,000 downloads, and AutoBuy Flash Sales with 20,000 downloads.

    The NCC-CSIRT said the five google chrome extensions identified have a high probability and damage potential and have been downloaded more than 1.4 million times and serve as access to steal users’ data. The telecom sector-focused cybersecurity protection team alerted telecom consumers to be cautious when installing any browser extension.

    “The users of these chrome extensions are unaware of their invasive functionality and privacy risk. Malicious extensions monitor victims’ visits to e-commerce websites and modify the visitor’s cookie to appear as if they came through a referrer link. Consequently, the extensions’ developers get an affiliate fee for any purchases at electronic shops,” the advisory said.

    In addition, the advisory stated that, although the google team removed several browser extensions from its Chrome Web Store, keeping malicious extensions out may be difficult. The NCC-CSIRT, thus, recommended that telecom consumers observe caution when installing any browser extension.

    “These include removing all listed extensions from their chrome browser manually. Internet users are to pay close attention to the promptings from their browser extensions, such as the permission to run on any website visited and the data requested before installing it. Although, some extensions are seemingly legit, due to the high number of user downloads, these hazardous add-ons make it imperative for users to ascertain the authenticity of extensions they access.” the advisory stated.

    Google Chrome extensions are software programmes that can be installed into Chrome in order to change the browser’s functionality. This includes adding new features to Chrome or modifying the existing behavior of the program itself to make it more convenient for the user. They serve purposes such as block ads, integration with password managers and sourcing coupons as items sent to a shopping cart.

    The Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) is the telecom sector’s cyber security incidence centre set up by the NCC to focus on incidents in the telecom sector and as they may affect telecom consumers and citizens at large.

  • NIPR Fellowship to Muoka, Ibietan meritorious – Danbatta

    NIPR Fellowship to Muoka, Ibietan meritorious – Danbatta

    The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, has hailed the conferment of the Fellowship of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, (fnipr) on two management staff of the Commission, as meritorious and a testimony to the Commission’s promotion of professionalism and excellence in its scheme of management.

    The NCC EVC’s assertion followed the recent investiture and induction of Mr. Reuben Muoka, Director of Public Affairs, and Dr. Omoniyi Ibietan, Head, Media Relations in the Public Affairs Department of the Commission, as Fellows of the Chartered Institute during its AGM and Conference at the International Conference Centre in Abuja.

    Danbatta, in congratulating the duo, said the Commission is proud to have produced these two individuals who have been considered worthy of elevation to the fellowship cadre of the prestigious institution like the NIPR, and that their emergence resonates with two of the Commission’s core values; Excellence and Professionalism; which the Commission coincidentally shares with the NIPR.

    The NCC boss, a Professor of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, with many Fellowships like: Nigerian Society of Engineers, Nigerian Academy of Engineering, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and Renewable and Alternative Energy Society of Nigeria, expressed delight at the level of performance of the Commission’s staff in their different areas of professional calling.

    He commended the NIPR as a body for its commitment in the regulation of the practice of public relations in Nigeria for which it has found an ally in NCC. “This can only rekindle the healthy collaboration and partnership existing between the NCC and NIPR, especially in the area of capacity-building and commitment to appropriate national social orientation”, Danbatta stated.

    Muoka, the Director of Public Affairs Department of the NCC, holds M.Sc. in Mass Communication from the University of Lagos with specialisation in Public Relations and Advertising, after a Postgraduate Diploma in the same field from the same University; and he had earlier obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Performing Arts from the University of Ilorin. Besides being a fellow of NIPR, he is also an associate of the Registered Practitioners of Advertising, (arpa).

    He had worked for many years as Communications Editor in Vanguard Newspapers during which he also chaired the League of Communications Correspondents, one of the platforms that championed the deregulation of the telecom industry in Nigeria. He also worked for MTS First Wireless, Nigeria’s first mobile network operator, where he rose to the position of Deputy General Manager. In 1999, Muoka received a fellowship involving a Pan-African training and tour, leading to the award of a Diploma in Journalism, at the instance of the Egyptian Ministry of Information, and the African Journalists Union (AJU), in Cairo, Egypt.

    Ibietan earned a PhD in Communication from North-West University in South Africa. He had earlier obtained MA in Communication and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan, a BA in Communication Arts from the University of Uyo, and a Journalism Diploma from the Moscow-based International Institute of Journalism, Abuja Campus. A noted advocate of freedom and democracy, he was Freedom House Nigeria Project’s Regional Media Researcher in the Niger Delta until his appointment in 2006 as Special Media Assistant to the Federal Minister of Information and Communication, during which he popularised the use of new media for public communication in Nigeria. He is a member of the African Council for Communication Education (ACCE) and the International Institute of Communications (IIC).

    Ibietan joined the NCC in 2008 and was deployed to Legislative and Government Relations (LGR) Department where he was frontline liaison staff of the Commission with the National Assembly. Much later after the merging of the LGR Department with the Public Affairs Department in 2010, he served as Manager Media and Public Relations under Muoka’s supervision and became Senior Manager Media Management until January 2017 when he was redeployed to PAD’s emergent Online Media and Special Publication Unit, and subsequently designated as the head of the Unit. He also worked at the Consumer Information and Education Unit of the Commission’s Consumer Affairs Bureau (CAB) until his redeployment to PAD. He became an Assistant Director in January 2021 and was appointed Head Media Relations in July 2022.

  • NIPR Fellowship to Muoka, Ibietan meritorious – Danbatta

    NIPR Fellowship to Muoka, Ibietan meritorious – Danbatta

    The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, has hailed the conferment of the Fellowship of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, (fnipr) on two management staff of the Commission, as meritorious and a testimony to the Commission’s promotion of professionalism and excellence in its scheme of management.

    The NCC EVC’s assertion followed the recent investiture and induction of Mr. Reuben Muoka, Director of Public Affairs, and Dr. Omoniyi Ibietan, Head, Media Relations in the Public Affairs Department of the Commission, as Fellows of the Chartered Institute during its AGM and Conference at the International Conference Centre in Abuja.

    Danbatta, in congratulating the duo, said the Commission is proud to have produced these two individuals who have been considered worthy of elevation to the fellowship cadre of the prestigious institution like the NIPR, and that their emergence resonates with two of the Commission’s core values; Excellence and Professionalism; which the Commission coincidentally shares with the NIPR.

    The NCC boss, a Professor of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, with many Fellowships like: Nigerian Society of Engineers, Nigerian Academy of Engineering, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and Renewable and Alternative Energy Society of Nigeria, expressed delight at the level of performance of the Commission’s staff in their different areas of professional calling.

    He commended the NIPR as a body for its commitment in the regulation of the practice of public relations in Nigeria for which it has found an ally in NCC. “This can only rekindle the healthy collaboration and partnership existing between the NCC and NIPR, especially in the area of capacity-building and commitment to appropriate national social orientation”, Danbatta stated.

    Muoka, the Director of Public Affairs Department of the NCC, holds M.Sc. in Mass Communication from the University of Lagos with specialisation in Public Relations and Advertising, after a Postgraduate Diploma in the same field from the same University; and he had earlier obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Performing Arts from the University of Ilorin. Besides being a fellow of NIPR, he is also an associate of the Registered Practitioners of Advertising, (arpa).

    He had worked for many years as Communications Editor in Vanguard Newspapers during which he also chaired the League of Communications Correspondents, one of the platforms that championed the deregulation of the telecom industry in Nigeria. He also worked for MTS First Wireless, Nigeria’s first mobile network operator, where he rose to the position of Deputy General Manager. In 1999, Muoka received a fellowship involving a Pan-African training and tour, leading to the award of a Diploma in Journalism, at the instance of the Egyptian Ministry of Information, and the African Journalists Union (AJU), in Cairo, Egypt.

    Ibietan earned a PhD in Communication from North-West University in South Africa. He had earlier obtained MA in Communication and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan, a BA in Communication Arts from the University of Uyo, and a Journalism Diploma from the Moscow-based International Institute of Journalism, Abuja Campus. A noted advocate of freedom and democracy, he was Freedom House Nigeria Project’s Regional Media Researcher in the Niger Delta until his appointment in 2006 as Special Media Assistant to the Federal Minister of Information and Communication, during which he popularised the use of new media for public communication in Nigeria. He is a member of the African Council for Communication Education (ACCE) and the International Institute of Communications (IIC).

    Ibietan joined the NCC in 2008 and was deployed to Legislative and Government Relations (LGR) Department where he was frontline liaison staff of the Commission with the National Assembly. Much later after the merging of the LGR Department with the Public Affairs Department in 2010, he served as Manager Media and Public Relations under Muoka’s supervision and became Senior Manager Media Management until January 2017 when he was redeployed to PAD’s emergent Online Media and Special Publication Unit, and subsequently designated as the head of the Unit. He also worked at the Consumer Information and Education Unit of the Commission’s Consumer Affairs Bureau (CAB) until his redeployment to PAD. He became an Assistant Director in January 2021 and was appointed Head Media Relations in July 2022.

  • A government and a regulator in difficult placement – By Okoh Aihe

    A government and a regulator in difficult placement – By Okoh Aihe

    A government should be concerned about demonstrable proof of performance, what the political savvy would call the dividends of democracy, for it to earn sustainability into the future. But where there are evidential reasons making performance impossible, the government should, at least, maintain structures inherited.

    This government does not enjoy this credit at the moment. What is most visible to the eyes is that everything is down to where they call rock-bottom. Life has become a nightmare and there is hardly anything reflective of a global standard. The government has created a demeaning standard for the nation and, if anything, they would wish for a homogenised lobotomy of the citizenry so that their failures and misdeeds would be clearly forgotten. Except there is supervening health challenges, the human brain hardly forgets, not when the body suffered the impairment of a failed system. The record books will be opened at some point and performance metrics released for all to see.

    Today, I will take a little strand of this administration by way of demonstrating how the the government undermines things that used to hold value for the people, including institutions. The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) came into existence on August 4, 1992. Decree 38 which gave birth to the regulator under the Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (rtd) administration, also charged it with the responsibility of introducing private broadcasting into the broadcast ecosystem, thereby permanently removing broadcast operations from the stranglehold of the various governments – Federal and States.  Such audacious decision by a military government has witnessed the birth of  a plurality of stations of different genres – radio, TV and DSTV – to the nation. Beyond expectations the stations, some of them very successful, have provided robust alternatives in terms of content and technology, that have proven difficult for government stations to rival.

    The NBC was an elite regulatory institution which initially had far better prospects than its other peer, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) until Engr Ernest Ndukwe turned things around for the latter from the year 2000. Under the various administrations, including some tough military rulers, the NBC did not only survive but it has also done very well, leaving quite an attractive legacy.

    Painfully the regulator has faced serious challenges in recent times. It is mired in unnecessary controversies and litigations while its authority over the broadcast industry has come under serious scrutiny. The legacy is threatened and people are  saying a prayer for its survival.

    Oh, the situation is not so bad? Let’s stimulate our memory. About a week before the NBC would hit the nation with surprise withdrawal of 53 licences because of inability to pay license fees, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and culture, while speaking at an MOU signing ceremony between Integrated Television Service Ltd (ITS) and NTA-Star Times had said that other broadcast stations in the country would soon be directed to migrate to the platform of ITS for signal distribution. For a start, GOTV would be asked to migrate immediately.

    That sounded right and quite something to celebrate except that such directive would be too perfunctory to be reasonable. Just a little history in addition to the one we already started would do. ITS and Pinnacle Nigeria Limited were licensed by the NBC as super signal carriers to play lead role in the Digital Switch Over (DSO) exercise in Nigeria. It means that ITS and Pinnacle would provide the digital platforms to carry broadcast signals for other operators anywhere in the country. The operators would direct their efforts and resources to content generation. Good intentions but the climb to the top of an iroko tree is not a very simple one, so goes the saying among my people.

    The readers of this column would attest to the fact that I am an apostle of the DSO exercise in Nigeria and would wish that the process succeeded from the day the first launch took place in Jos in April 2016. That has not happened as Nigeria lives outside the window of implementation, having missed the target twice, 2015 and 2020.

    The DSO was a cardinal programme for this administration which the Minister said was prioritised because of its multi-pronged capacity to generate jobs and reflate an economy that seriously needed help. Few months to the end of a government that has run the nation aground, Mohammed wants to embark on knee-jerk decision to fast track the process: direct GOTV and other stations to go on the platform of ITS. One other thing however, GOTV has a Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) license which will run out in a couple of years.

    Let this be stated. The Minister cannot force any station to take a business decision especially with the availability of choices. The broadcasters may be more interested in taking a ride with Pinnacle. Unfortunately, not even ITS and Pinnacle have the capacity to embark on reasonable signals carriage at the moment.

    Following the position of the Minister, Nigeria may at last be trying to fit the engine of a Formula 1 race car into a very small Volkswagen Golf car. Reason being that while ITS and Pinnacle have points of presence only in about seven states of the federation, GOTV has facilities in about seventeen states of the federation. The other broadcasters – AIT, TVC and Channels, among others, even have more. There is an observation here we have refused to make which is nothing but a positive.

    A significant development last week was the decision of the Federal High Court in Lagos which stopped President Mohammadu Buhari and the NBC from revoking the licenses of 53 operators for their failure to pay their renewal fees. It was an interim injunction granted to the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE); in the case before Honourable Justice Akintayo Aluko.

    It was the third case against the NBC just within months. In May, a Federal High Court in Lagos thrashed the 6th Edition of the Nigeria Broadcast Code for being ultra vires, incompetent null and void, and perpetually restrained the Commission from implementing it. In July, an Appeal Court sitting in Port Harcourt asked the NBC to make a determination in the programming sublicensing complaint between Multichoice and Metro Digital Licensing within 21 days. I will want to state here that I am yet unaware of a resolution of this particular case. There are many more ongoing litigations.

    The irony in the foregoing however, is that each case is self-inflicted. The nullification of the Code was consequent upon the discontent some people felt about the manipulation of the amendment. There can be ample evidence that some very powerful forces involved in the process had some conflict of interest they tried to service. The Metro case also emanated from some flaws in the Code, where one operator would try to build a business on the sweat of another organisation because the amended Code gives him the latitude to make a demand.

    I have been asked the question, whether the broadcasters were not supposed to pay their license renewal fees. My tacit answer is: yes they must pay. However the handling was like a fellow taking home firewood infested with ants: messy. There were so many ways to handle that regulatory process without attracting litigation. After all, I have seen a copy of the letter of appreciation the NBC sent to some operators after a presumed settlement, it didn’t seem the quarrel was to the death. So, what happened?

    Here are my observations, including the positive earlier speculated. The DSO is not making meaningful progress. Time has come for the Ministry and regulator to drop all latent personal interests, call a stakeholders crisis resolution meeting, and tap into the capacity available in the industry.

    The NBC must look for a way to enjoy some independence as a regulator because the walls have ears, as they say. People are aware of some of the drama that played out before the list of debtors was released. Most of the workers there are technically competent. They should be allowed to do their job without encumbrances. And finally, the NBC Act must be amended if the broadcast industry is to have a future.