Telecom
Danbatta Calls for More stakeholders Participation in Digital Revolution
Prof Umar Danbatta, Executive Chairman/CEO, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has encourage all stakeholders in the ICT sector to participate in the digital revolution we are witnessing in the industry, as it is a golden opportunity to advance the use of internet in Nigeria.
Danbatta, who was ably represented by Ms. Funlola Akiode, Director, Licensing and Authorization (NCC) made this call on Wednesday at the 2018 Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum tagged “Internet Governance: Sustaining Development” held at Oshodi-Isolo LGA Secretariat, Oshodi-Lagos.
He noted that, Internet has continued to grow at an exponential rate, bringing with it new ways of transacting, communicating, learning, socializing, and transforming just about every aspect of our life.
He said that “the benefits of the Internet are not yet evenly distributed.
“In Africa especially in Nigeria despite a slow start, Internet use is now rapidly accelerating (101.2m subscribers as at April 2018) and its transformative effects are increasingly accessible.
“Internet remains open for development and innovation.
“Creative inventors of tomorrow’s Google, Skype, Facebook and Twitter are out there somewhere browsing the Internet.
“Their creativity and innovativeness should not be stifled rather should be encouraged to develop new creative ways to use the Internet.
“One of the main objectives of internet governance is to create a pro-development policy environment which enables further use of the internet as an engine for development.
“A lot has been achieved in African Internet development to date.
“To take the next steps in building a robust Internet economy, many issues remain, some of which Africa shares with other developing regions (such as interconnection and cross-border connectivity, economic opportunity, local content and multilingualism, and human capacity building), some have a specifically regional dimension (such as digital migration) and others are global concerns (such as data privacy, cyber security, IPv6 transition, and human rights and freedom of expression).”
He added that the Commission, as part of collaborating with relevant stakeholders, local, regional and internationally will work with the Nigerian Internet Governance Forum (NIGF) team, and also participate in the upcoming annual event of the Forum, slated to hold next month from 2nd-3rd of July in Abuja.
He listed the initiatives the Commission is working on in order to provide an enabling environment for Internet Governance in telecommunications to include the following:
- IPv6 Adoption and Transition plan.
- Internet Code of Practice – that seeks to promote the safe, secure and responsible use of Internet Services with due regard to provisions in existing legal instruments.
- Development of clearer licensing requirements of current and new licenses to include integrated local content initiatives.
- More interaction with industry players on local content policy formation, projects and programs. We will sustain the dialogue to ensure active participation with all stakeholders.
- Promotion of capacity building in academic institutions to prepare students for core functions in the industry.
- More access to data and statistics for the academia and SMEs for research, development and innovations in local content programs and projects.