" ITREALMS: Strategic collabo: NCC has faith in partnership - ITREALMS

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Thursday, July 29, 2021

Strategic collabo: NCC has faith in partnership - ITREALMS

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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) have expressed faith in strategic collaboration and partnership, says the Executive Vice Chairman, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, reports 
ITREALMS.

Prof. Danbatta disclosed this in a keynote during a two-day 2021 virtual conference and exhibition on Information Communication Technology & Telecommunications (ICTEL) organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), on Tuesday, July 27, saying that strategic collaboration is central principle of NCC’s stakeholders’ relationship management and regulatory activities.

“Our daily regulatory processes are marked by consultations with a wide spectra of stakeholders as well as strategic partnering and collaboration with both private sector players and other sister public sector organisations,” he declared.

In the spirit of this, he said, led to the liberalisation of the telecoms sector in 2001, as the Commission continued to facilitate investment inflow into the country’s digital space through licensing of many private sector players, who are deploying services in different segment of the nation’s telecom market.

“This has resulted in rollout of massive infrastructure ranging from the deployment of Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) and laying of thousands of kilometres of fibre optic cables to every nooks and crannies of the country,” he said, stressing the sector has grown significantly in investment with significant access to an array of voice, data and other kind of enterprises.

Meanwhile, Danbatta whose session examined how Public Private Collaboration (PPC), which is often referred to as Public Private Partnership (PPP), could be leveraged to develop resilient infrastructure that will advance digital ecosystem, thereby creating an enduring collaboration between the private and public sector for the development.

Danbatta pointed out that the concept of PPP, has become one of the commonly used model of collaboration among stakeholders to fast track socio-economic development whether at the global, regional and national levels.

According to EVC Danbatta, the role of public-private partnership in infrastructure development in Nigeria cannot be over emphasised because an adequate, robust and functioning infrastructure is the bedrock of communal and societal development.

“Therefore, to meet future challenges, our industries and infrastructure must be upgraded by evolving an enduring PPP model that services all the sectors of the economy,” he said.

Danbatta said that 
objectively, the high level of infrastructure deficit and its attendant effect on socio-economic development in Nigeria explains government’s concern and search for an alternative means of providing infrastructure for the teeming population.

In 2005, he noted that the Federal Government established the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) with a clear objective to accelerate investment in national infrastructure through private sector funding; and to assist the Federal Government of Nigeria and its Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to establish and implement effective Public Private Partnerships (PPP) processes.

“It is gratifying that state governments have also adopted variants of PPP models in order to tackle the challenge of infrastructure in their respective jurisdictions,” he said.

As said by him, “if the telecom and ICT sector is the real ‘Infrastructure of infrastructure’ as it is often referred to because of its impact, efficiency and effectiveness on the growth of other sectors, it stands to reason, that the telecom sector is the most important sphere PPP should be adopted.

“Interestingly, a 2012 World Bank report already documented how public-private partnership (PPP) projects have been used to provide broadband access nationally, regionally, or in rural areas to improve broadband access to unserved and underserved locations,” he said.

ITREALMS gathered that the overarching conference theme is on ‘Disruptions, Resilience and Governance in Digital Economy.
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