Distinct commonalities
often stand out in bold relief about most academics and intellectual
heavyweights who find themselves in public service. They are usually
transformational, out-of-box thinkers who swiftly roll out comprehensive
blueprints, which encapsulate their vision and mission for new
challenges. Exuding supreme confidence is another trait they share, which
perhaps explains why they could be daring in decision-making. Nonetheless, they
won't shy away from chipping in quality contribution to public discourse -
which their intellectual cutting-edge enables them to do rather effortlessly.
Prof Charles Chukuma
Soludo probably shocked the nation’s banking industry with his audacious
consolidation policy. Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s out-of-box strategy
provided the shield we badly needed as a nation during the 2007 global
financial meltdown. Akinwumi Adesina boldly attempted to revolutionalise our
agricultural sector with his business model. And, Malam Nasiru Elrufai was
fearless both as the Director-General of Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) and
as the Minister the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
However, while Soludu
as the number one banker in the country chose to consolidate, Elrufai as the
man spearheading the privitisation of the nation’s public utilities was busy
unbundling the behemoth energy corporation that was supplying meagre amount of
megawatts of electricity to the giant of Africa. He also midwifed the telecom
sector reform we currently enjoy.
Yet, we now have Prof
Umar Garba Danbatta, the Executive Vice-Chairman of the Nigerian Communications
Commission (NCC), who announced his entry into the telecom industry with yet
another big-bang decision. No sooner had President Muhammadu Buhari
appointed him than he wielded the big regulatory stick in the nation’s telecom
sector. He would follow that with his 8-Point Agenda, a roadmap of aligned
strategic management policy of NCC.
Interestingly - like
Soludo or other intellectual giants mentioned above - that Danbatta has managed
to mix his time-consuming assignment at the NCC with public intellectualism is
something worth underlining. Indeed, it is not only the nation’s broadband that
is witnessing a quantum leap in terms of expansion under Danbatta’s leadership
of the NCC - growing from 10% to close to 21% as revealed by ITU-ENESCO
Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, but his contribution to
public discourse cannot go unnoticed.
Danbatta received a
standing ovation of respected colleagues last year when he presented a lecture
titled, "The National Broadband Plan as a Catalyst for Social and Economic
Transformation: The NCC Mandate", at the Nigerian Academy of Engineering.
It wasn’t the first
time though that he would receive this kind of appreciation. It is on
record that the professor of telecommunications engineering was the first NCC
boss to address the executive course of National Institute for Policy and Strategic
Studies (NIPSS). Just last week, Danbatta wowed the academic community of
University of Nigeria Nsukka after joining the league of eminent Nigerians like
former President Olusegun Obsanjo to deliver the convocation symposium of the
revered varsity. He spoke on the Role of ICT Infrastructure in Tertiary
Education in Nigeria: NCC Intervention.
However, it was much
more than what the title suggests. Danbatta referenced the works of
renowned economists and social scientists to buttress points. He would intermittently
quote from Joseph Eugene Stiglitz, Rodrick or Joseph Schumpeter.
Indeed, while the
presentation was generously spiced intellectually, in terms of statistics and
academic citations, Danbatta chose to draw the curtain on it with a clarion call
for all and sundry to begin to see the role of digital transformation beyond
the realm of statistical figures churned out by the industry.
“We talk about the
benefits of ICT and we normally do this by dishing out e-readiness indicators.
We say broadband penetration is 21%, internet penetration 97%. All these are
ICT-readiness indicators that do not tell the entire story," he observed.
He went on, "We
can go beyond that and explain how ICTs have impacted to provide shared and
sustainable prosperity; how ICTs have succeeded in reducing poverty; how they
improve learning and make the society more open, more mobile and cohesive. And,
above all, how they encourage the economy to be more competitive and
innovative. These are the ends of digital transformation and not the
input-output figures we normally reel out."
For Professor
Danbatta, "It is in Nigeria’s national interest to harness potentials that
exist in the information-driven age through the deployment and exploitation of
ICT to facilitate socio-economic development and improvement of the human
condition.”
He said the Less
Developed Countries (LDCs) are now grappling with a broadband divide in
addition to infrastructure, knowledge and information divides. “Of the world’s
over five billion broadband subscriptions, North America and European Union
control over 50% while South America and Sub-Saharan Africa, where Nigeria
belongs, account for only 3% of this global share,” he lamented.
Yet, as Danbatta
continues to use the platforms of different public forums to spray us
generously with his intellectual perfume, we must not lose sight of the fact
that the industry he superintends over has also shown remarkable performance
during his tenure.
Figures from the
National Bureau of Statistics (BPE) shows that in spite of the challenging
waters of economic downturn the nation is waddling through, the telecom sector
was, last year, contributing between N 1.4 trillion to N1.5 trillion to the
GDP, the highest it has recorded in its history. The industry is hoping
that the trend will be sustained for a very long time. And it has Danbatta
who is not short of both the passion and the blueprint to ensure that.
Yakubu Musa, SA
(Media) to the EVC-NCC, wrote in from Abuja
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