The executive vice chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta has been recognised and decorated with an award of Exemplary Leadership in Public Service.
The award was conferred on Danbatta at the 12th Anniversary Lecture and Award of Nigerian NewsDirect, one of the long-standing media players in the nation’s communications industry in Lagos at the weekend.
Danbatta, who was represented at the event by the commission’s director of public affairs, Reuben Muoka said it was gratifying to have been considered worthy of the award in recognition of the initiatives deployed by the commission in carrying out its statutory mandate.
The EVC said the theme of the awards, “Good Governance: Private and Public Sectors’ Roles in Raising Revenue, Growth and Positive Turnaround of Nigerian Economy”, provides the veritable opportunity for all stakeholders to seek better ways of advancing the course of good governance both in public office and in the private sector.
In giving concrete expression to the strategic vision of the commission concerning the theme of the programme, Danbatta said the commission determined to ensure collaboration with all stakeholders in the Nigerian communications industry and even beyond as it remains one of the surest ways of enabling a positive turnaround of the Nigerian economy.
Danbatta thanked the organisers of the programme for the award and acknowledged that it was a call for more work to be done to push the frontiers of good governance that ensures national development and economic growth.
While presenting the award, the publisher and editor-in-chief of Nigerian NewDirect, Dr. Samuel Ibiyemi said Danbatta was eminently qualified and deserving of the prestigious recognition on the strength of the huge role he has played in the attainment and surpassing of Nigeria’s national broadband target of 30 per cent in 2018 and currently a leader in the charge for the realisation of the new national broadband penetration target of 70 per cent by 2025.
Ibiyemi added that, with the incontrovertible facts available, it was easy for the board and management of his organisation to agree that through an effective regulatory regime and various cutting-edge initiatives, Danbatta has established the telecom industry and strengthened the telecommunications sector as a major contributor to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth and boosted telecoms investment inflows from $36 billion to over $70 billion between 2015 till date.
A statement by Muoka said other eminent Nigerians who were conferred with various categories of awards at the event included the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami; Governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun; Managing director, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Bello Hassan; the executive chairman of the Benue State Internal Revenue Service (BSIRS), Mimi Adzape, among others.
