The Senate, on Tuesday officially confirmed Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta for reappointment as the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
He was confirmed during plenary on Tuesday, following the consideration of the report of Senator Oluremi Tinubu-led Senate Committee on Communications.
Recall that Danbatta had appeared before the Senate Screening Committee a week ago and gave impressive accounts of his stewardship as the country’s chief telecoms regulator in the last five years.
This was after he was nominated for reappointment for another five years by President Muhammad Buhari early last month.
Danbatta’s first appointment to head the agency was on August 4, 2015 and he was subsequently confirmed by the Senate on November 25, 2015.
With the Senate confirmation, Danbatta will now continue in his position over the telecommunications industry for another five years as he works towards fast-tracking the current administration’s agenda on digital economy development.
The Communications’ sector Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contribution has increased from 8.50 percent in 2015 to over 11 per cent currently, with a lot of digital activities taking place in all the sectors of the economy due to the increase in broadband penetration, Internet usage, number of access to telephone and several other initiatives by the NCC under Professor Danbatta.
The EVC will be looking to consolidate the achievements of his last past five years in charge of the Communications agency by focusing on broadband penetration, consumer protection and empowerment, efficient resource utilisation, and facilitation of fibre infrastructure deployment.
Recall that the NCC recently unveiled its major achievement between January 2019 to April 2020.
The Commission disclosed that ninety eight percent of the total service-related complaints received from telecoms consumers within a 16-month period under review was successfully resolved.
It said it was committed to ensuring the improvement in the Quality of Service, QoS, and Quality of Experience, QoE, for the nation’s over 190 million telecom subscribers amid the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Commission said the complaints were received through all its official channels of communication.
