By Joy Baba-Yesufu
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said the commitment and consistency of the Swedish government and Ericsson in strategic partnership with NCC on capacity building has strengthened the Commission’s regulatory activities.
The Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (EVC/CEO) of the Commission, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, stated this at a workshop jointly organised by NCC and its Swedish partners within the framework of the Swedish Programme for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in Developing and Emerging Regions (SPIDER),
He said the workshop signposts the vital role the Nigerian Communications Commission, as a regulator, has been playing in the West African sub-region. It also highlights the unending objective of keeping up with the times and ever-evolving dynamics of the telecommunications sector.
The NCC Chief Executive reiterated the enduring commitment of the Swedish Government and SPIDER to the cause of ICT development in emerging regions and acknowledged their roles in improving access to healthcare, education, income generation, and employment opportunities in West Africa, thereby contributing to poverty reduction.
According to him “this periodic strategic engagement under the auspices of SPIDER over the years has made the Commission a more effective regulator and enhanced it contribution to the development of the telecommunications sector. It will further support the creation of an ecosystem that is beneficial to the economies and people of the region.”
In her address, the Swedish Ambassador to Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroun, and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Mrs. Annika Hahn, highlighted the significance of ICT regulation and capacity building as key drivers for economic development and social progress.
The ambassador also commended NCC for hosting the event and fostering collaboration between the two nations while acknowledging the pivotal role ICT has played in Sweden’s economic growth being the birthplace of Ericsson, one of the world’s oldest and largest ICT companies, with a rich history in the sector.
She stressed the need for global technological revolution and its potential to catalyse industrial and economic development to enable modern and adaptable regulation to navigate this rapidly-evolving landscape.
She said “to cope with this new and swiftly-developing environment, we need to regulate in a modern and adaptable way. Therefore, human capacity building in ICT regulation is crucial for all of us.”
“COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of ICT across the globe, leading to an increase in Internet users as the shift impacted various sectors, including education, commerce, and financial services”
She further said that e-learning practices on various platforms played a significant role in the transformation.
Speaking further, the Ambassador said Ericsson has reported that there were more than 900 million registered mobile subscriptions in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2022, with a considerable portion of those in Nigeria.
Hahn said that, in driving growth and contributing to the ambitious goal of over a billion mobile subscriptions by the end of 2023 within Sub-Saharan Africa, “education must be an essential part of our regulatory development strategies and policies, hence the need for collaboration in knowledge-sharing and up-skilling of human resources by all stakeholders.”
