Dr Bashir Gwandu, executive commissioner in charge of technical services at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has been elected the new chairman of the Commonwealth International Telecommunication Union Group (CIG). Gwandu was unanimously elected as chairman by the meeting of CIG, at Marlborough House -the Headquarters of the Commonwealth in London following his nomination to the Membership by the outgoing Chairman of the group, Dr Bruce Gracie. Dr Gracie is the Canadian Special Advisor, International Organizations, Industry Canada and Regulator, who has been chairman of group for the last five years. He took over the Chairmanship of CIG from Mr Malcolm Johnson, formerly of Ofcom – the UK Regulator, and currently the Director of the Standardization Bureau of the ITU (the ITU-T). Gwandu now doubles as Chairman of the Commonwealth ITU Group leading the representatives of the 54-Member Commonwealth Countries at the ITU, and also, the Chairman of Radio-communications Advisory group of the ITU (the RAG). The NCC executive commissioner was formally announced as the Chairman of the group at a get-together, organized by the Commonwealth Telecom Organization in Geneva which was attended by ITU member countries. The take-over was to come into effect immediately after the World Radio-communications Conference (WRC-12) which was concluded on the 17th February 2012. Gwandu, one Nigeria’s most celebrated engineer received his BSc in Physics from Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto and an MSc in Applied Physics from the University of Jos, in addition to a brief Engineering service at the Tactical Air-command, Makurdi and lecturing at Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto, he proceeded to the United Kingdom where he attended MSc Courses in Power Electronics and Drives and MSc courses in Communications Engineering. Hhe further obtained an MPhil degree in Electrical/Electronic Engineering, all from the University of Birmingham. Gwandu, returned briefly to Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto to lecture before going back to the UK to study for a PhD in Electronic/Electrical Engineering at Aston University and subsequently undertook an MBA in Finance at the Birmingham Business School. He has designed many devices that are used in the telecom industry some of which have been patented in Europe and United States. He is a Chartered Electrical Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) UK. He is also a full member of the International Electrical Engineering Institutes, i.e. the IEEE USA, and IEICE Japan. Gwandu has published over 40 Electronic and Electrical Engineering Research papers in world-class Electrical Engineering journals and conference proceedings. He is an acknowledged expert in his field, which made him selected as one of the reviewers who vet research papers for publication in two of the most prestigious IEEE (USA) Journals dealing with Optical Communications. In addition to lecturing in Engineering, Gwandu also worked as Finance Analyst/Forensic Accountant at ABR Associates and Hays Finance, and has also worked in advisory capacity for a number of engineering companies in the UK. He was a General Manager for a telecom company in the West-Midlands, UK until July 2005. Since 2002, Gwandu has been involved in research work on Regulation of Utilities. He was also one of the engineers invited as part of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) team to outline policy issues for the UK Energy White-paper. He was also a regular contributor to IEE/Ofcom consultation on spectrum management issues. In particular, Dr Bashir Gwandu’s MBA research work was on Utility market design for Nigeria, with focus on Restructuring, Regulatory and Tariff Setting Challenges. Gwandu has also attended many courses on Telecoms/Utility Regulation in many countries around the World. His major Engineering research focus and publications are in the areas of UHF/VHF transceivers, Optical communications, DWDM filters, add-and-drop filters, Radio-on-fibre filters, Fibre lasers, Microwave and RF systems, Dispersion management in long-haul optical fibre links, Erbium-doped Fibre Amplifiers (EDFAs), Optical fibre sensors, Underwater transducers, Digital modem design, Methods for requirements capture and analysis, etc. Gwandu served as the Acting CEO of the Nigerian Communications Commission from June to July 2010 and is currently the Executive Commissioner for Engineering and Technical Standards at the Commission; supervising Spectrum Planning and Management, Quality of Service Monitoring and Network Optimization, Equipment Type-approval, Numbering Plan, Allocation and Management. He was the Executive Commissioner in Charge of Licensing and Consumer Affairs of the NCC until June 2007. At Licensing, Gwandu supervised the Interconnect rate determination of Sept 2006 that led to improved competition thereby leading to significant reduction in telecom Tariff in Nigeria, the re-classification of Sales and Installation Licenses to Class-Category which has encouraged SMEs Entry into the Market, the Issuance of all the 17 Unified- and hundreds of other Licenses in Nigeria that led to increased competition, the Liberalization of International Gateway for GSM operators that allows for carrying of 3rd Party Traffic thereby reducing tariff for International Calls, the elongation of Access Validity period beyond 90days for all networks on execution of every Revenue Generating Event which has cut down consumer loses and inconveniences, the introduction of Anti- Mobile Phone Theft Scheme in Nigeria to curtail phone theft, the introduction of Tariff Comparison Platform for Consumers so as to aid choice, the abolishing charges to Customer Care Lines, the Limiting of waiting times for answer on Customer Care Lines, the Management of the Nigerian Internet Exchange project for the ICT Industry, the Improvement of Credit Control system of the NCC to ensure prompt payment of statutory fees by operators, the first ever in-depth NCC investigation into the State of the Quality of Service (QoS) of the Nigerian Telecom Networks. He also led the development of the first ever detailed QoS Regulations, and many other regulatory frameworks of the NCC. Gwandu was part of the Launch Committee of the recently Launched Nigerian Communications Satellite (NigComsat-1), he represents Nigeria, and sometimes ATU, at the ITU Conferences (such as WRC, WTSA, WSIS and WTDC and their preparatory meetings), he is a regular speaker at many International Telecom and Telecon Investment Conferences, and has represented Nigeria in many Forums on Telecoms Regulations, and was until recently on the Board of the NigComSat Ltd, and the Board of Digital Bridge Institute. Gwandu having skills in diverse areas of Engineering, Accounting, Finance, the Art of Regulation and Administration; the key competences required of a utility regulator, is currently on the Board of NCC.