How NCC Spent N345.4m on Innovation
Are you looking for funding? … to drive local innovation, and meet Federal research and development … across Information Communications Technology areas and Telecommunications ? then, this piece from the Nigerian Communications Commission(NCC) might be an insight.
NewswatchNigeria can report that the telecommunication regulatory commission recently awarded the sum of N345.4 million as research grants to the academia and as endowment of professorial chairs for innovation that promotes local content in the telecoms sector.
The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Prof. Umar Danbatta, confirmed the grants in his keynote address at this year’s Nigeria Innovation Summit, the virtual edition.
Danbatta has also confirmed that the recent Coronavirus Pandemic experiences have underscored the need for the commission to continue to invest in research and innovation in order to find lasting solutions to current and emerging problems.
Prof Danbatta presenting the Award letter to Prof. Ejikechukwu Anene of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University
Represented by the Director, Public Affairs at the NCC, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, Danbatta said that for innovation to thrive as the anchor for accelerating economic growth post COVID-19, a robust broadband infrastructure upon which ICT innovations will ride, is a necessity and an urgent one at that.
His words; “We placed emphasis on broadband to drive innovation, and hope to take broadband penetration to 70% by 2025 in line with the new target in the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NBBP), 2020-2025. Through effective regulatory efforts, the NCC has been able to deepen connectivity in the country.
“Under my stewardship at the Commission, we realized that infrastructure gaps existed around the country impairing networks performance, and leading to poor quality of service.
“With the steady increase in telecom subscribers, the Commission decided that a robust telecom/ICT infrastructure was needed to meet up with growing demands for improved Quality of Service.
“It became imperative for us at the Commission to introduce drastic measures at ensuring Nigerians receive value for money.
“We intensified our focus on the established key performance indicators (KPIs) for quality of service by instituting a regime of rigorous and continuous monitoring of the networks to ensure that they operate in tandem with set parameters.
“In the long term, the Commission’s initiative to license Infrastructure Companies (INFRACOs) to bridge existing gaps will further improve not only broadband penetration but the quality of broadband experience. Today we have six (6) licensed INFRACOs, one in each geo-political zone of the country, with Lagos State receiving special status because of its commercial centrality to the country. The seventh license for the North-Central region is being processed.
“On the InfraCos, the Commission is in the process of finalizing the six Infracos Counterpart Funding Agreement to galvanise the full rollout of broadband infrastructure on an Open Access Model (OAM) aimed at enhancing digital transformation and this will ensure there is Point of Access in each of the 774 local governments in the country.
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“The result of this initiative is that apart from meeting and surpassing the 30 percentbroadband penetration in December, 2018, in line with the NBP 2013-2018 target, NCC increased broadband penetration from less than 6 percentin 2015 to 43.30 percent by August 2020.
“This translates to 82, 653,247 broadband subscriptions in the countryas of August, 2020. These measures have been very instrumental to the emergence and survival of SMEs that have had to ride on the backbone of telecoms infrastructure during this pandemic.
“We all are witnesses to the disruptions caused by the Covid19 pandemic to the global economy, and it is noteworthy to emphasize the important role ICT has played since this outbreak.
READ ALSO: NCC Charges OAU, UNILAG, Others on Research, Innovation for Telecoms Growth in Nigeria
“Many of us have been forced to work from home; government services have moved to online portals; our kids now attend virtual classes; lectures and conferences are now virtual; e-commerce has seen a significant uptick and boom globally; online payment for goods and services have now increased threefold; logistics and delivery businesses have seen huge surge in demand for their services.
“The above services require fast broadband and reliable means of connectivity and the NCC has continued to work assiduously with our Stakeholders in ensuring that the nation’s ICT infrastructure is able to meet the increased demand for connectivity.
“Till date, the Commission has awarded the sum of N345.4 million as research grants to the academia and as endowment of professorial chairs in two Nigerians to drive innovation through promoting local content development in the telecoms sector.
“We have also empowered the Nigerian youths by promoting their ingenuity and innovation on developing locally-relevant technology solutions. The latest of such was the NCC Virtual Hackathon, where the Commission gave out N9 million in grant to three top tech startups with the most promising innovative solutions for COVID-19.
READ ALSO; Nigeria’s Prosperity Hinge on Pervasive Broadband, ICT Industrial Revolution, Says NCC
“As important as all these are, there are questions about the safety of our cyberspace. With the preponderance of activities now happening online, the vulnerabilities of cyberspace have increased significantly. It is instructive to note that NCC adheres strictly with ITU guidelines for the global telecoms industry. We have officials at the Commission tasked with monitoring global trends to ensure that NCC is abreast of the changes and the emergence of new technologies”.
The NCC boss also explained that the Commission placed emphasis on growing the digital economy in collaboration with sister agencies under the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.
“Recognizing the need to entrench digital economy thinking in its operational activity, the Commission created the Digital Economy Department principally for implementing programmes and policies aimed at fully supporting and promoting the national digital economy agenda of the Federal Government”, he added.
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