Danbatta emphasises R&D, says NCC spends N200m on it to drive innovation
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the country’s foremost telecommunications industry regulator, has spent N200 million promoting research and development with the aim of driving innovation in the country’s telecommunications sector.
Umar Danbatta, a professor and the executive vice chairman and chief executive officer of the commission, said at the recent presentation of prizes to winners of its 2021 NCC National Essay Competition in Abuja, that the NCC has invested modestly in research grants, instituted professorial chairs in universities across the country, supported tech startups, and sponsored national essay competitions and many more social investments in order to ensure synergy and linkages among industry, the academia and the youth.
Speaking on the topic for this year’s essay competition, “5G Technology: Opportunities & challenges”, Danbatta said it was carefully chosen to ensure that the youths have a good understanding of the new technology, adding that Nigeria’s vibrant youth populace stands to benefit massively from the deployment of 5G technology, which the NCC is set to launch in 2022.
According to him, the commission initiated and has maintained the annual essay competition to stimulate the interest of Nigerians, especially the young people, to contribute to efforts at driving innovation in the technological ecosystem of Nigeria.
“It is on this premise that NCC took the step to encourage Nigerian students to remain proactive and partake in the national competition that challenges students to be competitive and engage their best efforts,” said Danbatta.
The country’s chief telecommunications industry regulator emphasised the critical importance of communications as the foundation for the technological development of society and its role in the provision of vital infrastructure for national security, and highlighted the need to invest in research programmes as observed in advanced nations, where a lot of resources are channeled into R&D.
Using the platform offered by the essay prize presentation, Danbatta reiterated the assurances of the NCC to Nigerians that 5G technology will expand the mobile ecosystem into a new realm and the impact will be felt in various sectors of the economy.
Edoyemi Ogoh, deputy director in the technical standards and network integrity department and chairman of this year’s NCC National Essay Competition Committee, the third so far, commended the EVC’s effort in recognising the academia as a key stakeholder in the development of the communications sector, and in encouraging that critical sector to have a natural connection with the industry.
Ogoh further said that the commission “knows the importance of innovative thinking in the growing ICT industry in Nigeria and as such, this has made the commission to engage youths in various tertiary institutions across the nation to compete in essay writing on 5G technology.”
Over 2,000 entries were received from 97 public and private tertiary institutions for the competition in which Esther Oluwabukola Gbeja, a 600-Level student of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Ilorin, was declared overall winner.
Gbeja received a cash prize of N500,000.00, a laptop, and a printer; while the first runner-up, Moses Nosa Edosa, a final year student of Accounting at the University of Port Harcourt, received a cash prize of N300,000.00 only.
Two second runners-up emerged from the competition to pick the third prize. MarcPatrick Efevuriri Efeni, a 200-Level student of Cybersecurity at the Airforce Institute of Technology, Kaduna; and Nasiru Abdul Karim, a 400-Level student of Computer Engineering at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, both came third having scored same number of points. They both received cash prizes of N200,000 each.
EVC Danbatta said NCC gladly accommodated the additional prize due to the tie in the third place, as a mark of encouragement.
Also speaking at the event, Ikechukwu Adinde, director, public affairs at the NCC, said the essay competition is one of the most important initiatives of the commission, and expressed his delight at the ability of the winners who demonstrated vast knowledge on the subject matter during their presentation. Adinde also emphasised the influence of the competition in the stimulation of the minds of the target audience and the creation of positive awareness to debunk misconceptions about the 5G technologies.
He said the outcome of the competition is an encouragement to the NCC management to continue to support the national essay competition while ensuring that the commission sustains such a programme, adding that the results are evident today as the NCC has, through the essay contest, produced four ambassadors of 5G.
“These youths can go out and engage their peers about 5G, its benefits, opportunities and address the negative preconceptions about the 5G network,” Adinde said.
The essay competition was initiated by the NCC to deepen awareness and knowledge of telecommunications stakeholders in the country, especially the young people.