The head of spectrum database management, Nigerian Communications Commission, Engr. Abraham Oshadami, has clinched the CIO Of The Year Award for ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), a nomenclature for one of the awards to the public sector group.
A statement by the commission’s director of public affairs, Dr Ikechukwu Adinde, said the award conferred on Oshadami in Lagos, “celebrates and honours successful and outstanding individuals and organisations using digital innovation and information technology systems to bring about real growth and transformation to businesses”.
Oshadami was head, information technology department, NCC, from 2016 to 2021 when he was reassigned to Spectrum administration department, in keeping with the commission’s strategic realignment.
Organised annually by Edniesal Consulting Limited – enterprise governance and corporate services firm – the Chief Information Officer (CIO) Award is given in both public and private sector categories to Nigerian or African citizens or persons eligible to work in Nigeria. Such persons/executives must be serving in the capacity of senior information technology executive, chief technology officers, chief digital officers or chief information officers and their entities must have been registered and doing business for at least two years by July 31 when entries are submitted for assessment annually.
The CIO Award by Edniesal Consulting Limited is the “largest CIO Awards in Africa” and has different categories, namely: MDAs, banking, telecoms, insurance, technology, energy and so on.
Participants, who are usually persons primarily responsible for IT operations in the organisations they work, officially submit applications that are reviewed by a project team. The reviews are forwarded to an interim jury which undertakes the first major assessment.
The interim jury then presents three top nominees in each category to a grand jury for assessment. The grand jury conducts an assessment and presents a list of final winners to an independent assurance team for a final review and submission of a report.
The NCC website, one of the items in the purview of the IT Department of the NCC which Oshadami supervised for five years, has been serially referred to as a “forest of resources”, due to the volume and quality of resources therein and its reliability as a source of credible information to journalists, other communication professionals and several close and far-flung stakeholders seeking information about Nigeria’s telecoms’ sector.
In 2018, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)’s website was adjudged the Best Website of the Year in the MDAs’ Category by the Nigerian Online Merit Awards (NIOMA). The award particularly noted the NCC website as the most “interactive, current, relevant and error-free” among all MDA websites assessed.
The same year, the NCC also received awards for best use of social media to disseminate information and to promote visibility on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube to promote visibility and interaction. The social media handles are solely in the purview of the public affairs department of the commission, while the information technology and the public affairs departments collaborate in administering some aspects of the commission’s website.
Oshadami, a first-class graduate of electrical and electronics engineering from the University of Ibadan, has worked in different capacities and mostly in management positions since September 2004 when he joined the Nigerian Communications Commission.
