If there was ever a frost of doubt about the growing stature of Nigeria in the global Information Communication Technology (ICT) marketplace, such doubt was thawed at the 2017 World Telecom Forum held in Busan, the coastal city of South Korea. The Forum is the annual flagship programme of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) flew the Nigerian flag; and it did it with aplomb. An elegant Nigerian pavilion which spoke of the innovativeness and resilience of Nigerian ICT organisations drawn from both the public and private sector, an array of Nigerian techies and technocrats who participated at different sessions and forums and an ambitious team of five SMEs completed the Nigerian ensemble.

The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of NCC, Professor Umar Danbatta who also made brilliant interventions and appearances at other Leaders Forums at the event said Nigeria’s participation provided the nation an opportunity to benchmark her activities in the sector against those from other jurisdictions.

“We come to the ITU Telecom World every year to tell our story, share our experiences and borrow a leaf from global best practices to address our concerns, engage and collaborate with the global community to strengthen the growth and impact of the Nigerian Telecoms Industry.

“We therefore come to enlist the support of other players, governments, regulators and the global community from whom there is always a basket of ideas to take back home to Nigeria.  The implementation of these ideas will ensure a better regulatory environment, even though ours has been seen as a very robust and consultative regulatory agency right from 2001 when the Digital Mobile Licences (DML) were issued”, Danbatta told the audience at the formal opening of the Nigerian Pavillion.

Nigerian telecom regulator, the NCC, is regarded globally as one of the best models from emerging markets. Little wonder regulators from Africa and other emerging markets have made sorties to Nigeria just to understudy the Nigerian regulator.

With over 150 million active subscribers in the voice segment, over 102 percent teledensity and over 92 million internet connections in barely 16 years, the Nigerian telecom market is indeed robust and resilient and this attests to the prevalent regulatory excellence.

A nation with such profile is no longer a fry in the global telecom community. ITU Telecom World is a place for any nation to strut her stuff. It is usually a big show. This year’s is even bigger especially in the quality of light-years-ahead technologies on parade.

Some statistics. Over 9,000 participants featured. According to ITU, “some 450 exhibitors from 35 countries took part – among them 271 SMEs, and with national pavilions featured from around the world. Tech innovations spanned areas from 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), e-Health, e-Finance, Internet of Things (IoT) to radio frequency spectrum solutions, spectrum management, smart city technologies, and self-driving vehicles”.

Further breakdown by ITU shows that over 125 speakers from 41 countries – from public and private sectors – took part in plenaries, panel debates, workshops, high-level roundtables and networking sessions as part of the event’s Forum and Leadership Summit. There were debates around smart digital transformation including: how digital transformation is impacting the telecommunication sector; new approaches to connectivity; the development of new technologies such as AI, IoT and 5G; the importance of content and capacity; digital literacy and skills for the smart era; digital resilience and cyber-security.

In the midst of this galaxy of tech stars from around the world, Nigeria dazzled with her talented youths. The national flag was flown at high mast by the NCC and the youthful team of SME innovators who represented the nation. The result was self-evident as the nation harvested a handful of awards beating off challengers from America, Europe and Asia.

For instance, Nigeria won the ITU Telecom World Government Award. It is an honour that recognises the place of Nigeria in world telecom.  Certificates of appreciation were also awarded to ITU Telecom World 2017 National Pavilions and Thematic Pavilions, as well as loyal participants and supporters of the annual event over a number of years; the Nigerian Communications Commission was one of the awardees in this category.

Nigeria also impressed in the SME innovation category beating contestants from around the world. Recognition of Excellence Certificates were given to the best and most innovative individual exhibitor within each National Pavilion at the event as selected by each pavilion organizer. In this category, Mavis Computel of Nigeria shared the honour with companies from Japan, Brazil and other nationalities.

Nigeria’s Ubenwa was a finalist in the Most Innovative Use of ICTs category which was won by Shanghai Terjin Radio Technology Company, China. Ubenwa shared the finalist slot with KonoLabs of the United States of America. Ubenwa is an app that helps to instantly diagnose if a new born baby has the risk of asphyxia (suffocation) by analyzing the cry of the baby. Ubenwa has already caught the attention of relevant global bodies including IBM as an app which deploys Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the betterment of humanity.

MEDSAF, another Nigerian startup was a perfect topping on the cherry. It emerged winner in the greatest social impact category beating SMEs from Indonesia and Azerbaijan. MEDSAF is a tech-driven pharmaceutical company which helps to connect drug manufacturers to hospitals in real time thereby reducing cost, ensuring quality of drugs dispensed by these hospitals and cutting off the possibility of introduction of substandard drugs in the pharmacy value chain.

MEDSAF was honoured as overall winner in the Thematic Awards presented for the most promising innovative solutions with social impact in the areas of eHealth, eEducation and smart emerging technologies. It is a huge prize and a great honour for Nigeria.

ITU World 2017 had a strong focus on SME innovators and Nigeria shone brilliantly. The harvest of awards in different categories indexes the high quality of innovation, regulation and operational processes within the nation’s telecom space. The NCC deserves accolades for having the presence of mind to drive the process that has now brought these Nigerian talents to global spotlight.

The road to the prize was indeed rigorous and has all the imprimatur of diligent scrutiny which the ITU is noted for. All SMEs were subjected to a nerve-racking application and selection process, with an external jury of social entrepreneurship and tech experts assessing each entrant on the basis of business model, scalability, innovation and social impact. Subsequently, those shortlisted for the Global SME Award were invited to take part in a quick-fire pitching session on the event show-floor during the event. The jury had former Minister of Communication, Dr. Omobola Johnson, as member; another attestation to the value the nation has brought to global telecom.

Winners and finalists in several categories were presented with trophies and certificates by ITU Secretary-General, Houlin Zhao, in a high-profile ceremony in the presence of ministers, industry leaders, representatives of media, academia and international organizations from across the globe.

ITU Secretary-General summarises the significance of the awards: “Winning an ITU Telecom World Award and having innovative solutions recognized by a global panel of experts at our event will help these talented enterprise owners to grow and scale up their business, taking it to the next stage. Previous award winners have enjoyed great success, coming back to later events as exhibitors and sponsors – I look forward to following the developments of this year’s awards alumni,” he told the audience.

Nigeria at ITU World 2017 has all the trappings of a knight in shining armour. The participation of NCC and the SMEs brought the nation both fame and honour. The harvest of awards was a perfect 57^th birthday gift for Nigeria.

Culled from Sunday Sun