The newly-appointed Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (EVC/CEO) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Aminu Maida, has said that his management will actualize President Bola Tinubu’s digital economy plan to create jobs, jumpstart national economy and unleash potential under the Renewed Hope agenda of the Federal Government.
Dr. Maida stated this at his maiden management meeting in Abuja, lauding the giant efforts of past chief executives of the commission at up-scaling the telecoms industry. He said that affordability and reliability of broadband services to Nigerians was non-negotiable and reiterated the need for effective broadband infrastructure diffusion.
He particularly highlighted the importance of improving the quality of service on telecoms networks and supporting the vision of the Federal Government under the direct supervision of the Hon. Minister of Communications, Innovations and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani .
He said in line with President Tinubu’s vision for the sector, NCC was committed to increasing broadband penetration to 70 per cent and providing coverage to 90 per cent of the population by 2025, adding that he recognised the need to address critical challenges such as Right of Way (RoW) and ensuring the security of telecoms infrastructure.
Emphasizing that the president’s noble agenda focused on job creation and enabling the digital economy, Maida urged the entire NCC staff to align with the strategic plan of the Minister of Communications, Innovations and Digital Economy and work towards supporting the Renewed Hope agenda.
The appointment of Dr. Maida as the new NCC boss, according to industry observers, signifies a commitment to President Bola Tinubu’s vision of advancing Nigeria’s digital economy within a short time.
With his focus on improving broadband connectivity and supporting digital training initiatives, Maida said he aimed to accelerate the country’s digital transformation efforts.
The new EVC of the NCC promised to align the commission’s regulatory focus to achieving the promises of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda geared towards advancing the nation’s digital transformation agenda.
He told senior management team of the commission at its head office in Abuja that there was need to ensure that the NCC focused strategically on ensuring that all Nigerians had access to affordable and reliable broadband services.
“Part of this is to ensure effective broadband infrastructure diffusion across the length and breadth of Nigeria,” he said.
“Considering the fact that many people are going more digital and virtual in everything they do, the telecoms infrastructure is now under much stress. President Tinubu’s vision emphasises the need to build more robust broadband connectivity that will not only facilitate seamless digital transactions but also serve as the bedrock for e-governance and other socio-economic initiatives.
“As such, we would align with this aspiration to increase broadband penetration to 70 per cent and to cover 90 per cent of the population by 2025. Therefore, we need to build a reliable telecom industry with impressive Quality of Service (QoS) indicators with Quality of Experience (QoE) as our watchword and ultimate goal.
“This also requires us to address a number of issues such as the Right of Way (RoW) challenge, ensuring security of our telecoms infrastructure, among others. Efforts must be made to significantly improve service delivery by ensuring the NCC is performance-driven.
“Mr. President has a very clear agenda from which all of us are going to take our direction. The two major areas are job creation and enabling the digital economy. Where we are going in a nutshell is; everything that we do in this commission has to align directly with the strategic plan of the Hon. Minister of Communications, Innovations and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, and ultimately to the Renewed Hope agenda of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. We would not deviate from that.
“We would not entertain anything that deviates from this direction because my Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are fed into the minister’s KPIs and the president KPIs come from the electorate that put him into power.
“The Hon. Minister has said clearly that he is ready to build a robust digital infrastructure and empower three million Nigerians digitally and we have to do our best to support him in this regard,” he added.
