May 9, 2018

Prof. Umar Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says the commission has renewed its commitment to deploy telecom infrastructure and access to all parts of the country.

Danbatta made this known when members of the Association of Charted Certified Accountants (ACCA) led by its Country Head, Mr Tom Isibor gave an award to NCC for its performance on Wednesday in Abuja.

He said that the commission was poised to ensure that every citizen of the country had universal access to telecom services irrespective of their locations and status.

“We are committed to the deployment of desired infrastructure to the seven zones of the country in order to facilitate the roll out of broadband services for which all Nigerians irrespective of location and circumstance can have access.

“We are poised to make telecom service available, accessible and affordable.’’

He said NCC was moving to the next stage of ensuring access to the telecommunications service by all Nigerians to ensure access gap in the served and underserved areas of the country

According to him, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) had stated categorically in its current vision plan for the global telecom communities that inclusiveness must be assured.

“This means telecom services must be available everywhere in Nigeria.’’

Danbatta said that the telecom sector was an important contributor to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country.

Earlier, Isibor said that ACCA had monitored NCC’s performance in the telecommunications industry in terms of regulations and the way the organisation had evolved over the years.

He said that ACCA was looking at how it could increase its  partnership with the commission because the organisation believed both of them had shared values.

“Especially in areas we can collaborate on to achieve our shared organisation’s objectives and goals.

“In line with that, we have a global recognition award which is called Approved Employers Skill and with this, we evaluate employers across the globe.

“We have seen the commission’s performance and how it is supporting the members of staff in terms of development and progression.

“So in line with that, ACCA thought NCC is qualified for the award.’’