Barring any last-minute change, the Senate will confirm Umar Danbatta as the Executive Vice Chairman, EVC, and Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC.
Danbatta if confirmed would be reappointed by President Muhammadu Buhari for another five-year term in office.
This was in view of senate’s acknowledgment of Danbatta’s outstanding performance in the last five years when he appeared before the Senate Screening Committee recently in Abuja.
A statement by NCC’s Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, Director of Public Affairs said Danbatta during his screening showed his knowledge of the telecommunications’ industry, extensively discussing his achievements since he assumed office as the EVC on August 4, 2015.
Danbatta also assured of his determination to accelerate the growth of the telecoms industry as the key driver of the country’s digital economy vision over the next five years.
Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe, a prominent member of the committee, who represented the Chairman of the Senate Screening Committee, Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu, during the screening commended Danbatta’s impressive performance in piloting the affairs of the country’s digital ecosystem.
The statement reads: “Danbatta, who gave convincing accounts of his stewardship in the last five years, said the diligent implementation of NCC’s auspicious strategic 8-Point Agenda, which he put in place when he assumed office in 2015, provided the basis for most of the Commission’s achievements in the last five years, especially in the areas of service availability, accessibility and affordability.
“The EVC reeled outstanding achievements under him in the past five years and provided relevant industry and macro-economic statistics to illuminate his efforts and strides in the areas of the sector’s contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Quality of Service (QoS) delivery, broadband infrastructure deployment, broadband penetration, effective spectrum utilization, consumer empowerment, technology innovation as well as the Commission’s efforts with respect to curbing fraudulent Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) registration and 112 Emergency Number towards ridding the country of insecurity, among others.”
The statement disclosed that the committee would report the outcome of the screening exercise to the Senate Committee of the Whole House for confirmation of Danbatta’s reappointment during the next legislative sitting.
