—Award, a challenge to do more, says Danbatta
The National Association of State Assembly Legislators ,NASAL , has honoured the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC Proffessor Umar Garba Danbatta with a National Service Excellence Award for his transformational leadership in deepening access to telecommunications services across state constituencies of Nigeria in the last five years.
The Award is coming few months after the President renewed Danbatta’s mandate as the country’s chief telecoms regulator for another term of five years.
Director General of NASAL, Mr Uchechukwu Chukwuma, who led a five-member delegation to the Commission to present the award in Abuja said the award from NASAL not only underscores the remarkable leadership role by Danbatta in deepening the development and growth of the telecoms sector at the grassroots but also demonstrates the pivotal role of the EVC as a change agent, a catalyst for national development and a great Nigerian patriot.
He said in the last five years, NASAL, as the body of state lawmakers in the country, has consistently monitored the activities of the Danbatta-led NCC and observed notable improvements in telecoms services across state constituencies in Nigeria.
He noted that Professor Danbatta’s efforts have manifested in enhanced access to the Internet by people, which has given them the opportunity to be active in presenting their opinions.
According to Mr Chukwuma citizens participation in political activities is one of the attributes of an ideal democracy and Proffessor Danbatta has helped to promote the ideal.
The NASAL award to Danbatta is justified by the statistics from the Commission which showed that when Danbatta came on board five years ago, 217 access gap clusters were identified in the country, with 40 million Nigerians excluded from access to telecoms services. Five years after, however, the access gaps have reduced to 114 clusters with additional 15 million Nigerians now connected.
Receiving the award on behalf of the EVC, Director, Public Affairs, NCC, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, who appreciated NASAL for the recognition, said the award was both an encouragement and a challenge to the EVC and his team to do more.
He noted that it was heartwarming that NASAL has found the EVC Professor Danbatta worthy of the award pointing out that it is an acknowledgement that his accomplishments have not gone unnoticed.
He added that the last five years of Professor Danbatta has witnessed a number of policy initiatives that have spurred industry growth and improved service delivery..
