WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2010-08-02 Time: 22:00:01 Posted By: News Poster
By Emma Okonji
The noticeable but silent war going on among executive commissioners of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) may degenerate into exchange of fisticuffs, just like members of the House of Representatives, if the lingering issue is not nipped in the bud.
Tension is high among NCC executive commissioners and the atmosphere is tensed over who sits at the helm of affairs of the telecom regulatory body.
Although the immediate past Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of NCC, Ernest Ndukwe, handed over power to Stephen Bello in acting capacity, while vacating office on April 2, after serving two tenures of five years each, the hand over did not mean anything to Bashir Gwandu, another executive commissioner, who is in charge of standards, as he was quoted to be eying the EVC position, just as others within and outside the NCC.
Immediately Ndukwe handed over to Bello, the most senior executive commissioner, just as the Telecom Act stipulates, many stakeholders faulted the move, and blamed the Federal Government for the delay in appointing a substantive EVC, prior to the exit of Ndukwe. As it is the practice in all government parastatals, government should have appointed a new EVC from within or outside the NCC, few months to the time of disengagement of the incumbent, to allow room for understudy and proper hand over, but such was not the case with the NCC, a situation that forced Ndukwe to handover to Bello and left when the ovation was still high.
Just as Bello was trying to settle down as acting EVC, he received a letter from the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Information and Communication, mandating him to handover power to the next senior executive commissioner on the ground of his being overage. The letter was dated June 21. Worried by the content of the letter, a group known as the Telecom Integrity Watch Group, put up a paid advertorial, faulting the letter from the permanent secretary and insisting that Bello ceased to become a civil servant the very day he was made executive commissioner and that his position as executive commissioner was by appointment, which has nothing to do with the civil service rule of compulsory retirement at 60 years for all civil servants.
The group alleged that the process negates how an executive commissioner would be removed from office and that Bello cannot be removed from office as the acting EVC of NCC by a letter from the permanent secretary of the ministry.
Following the controversy, NCC appears to be divided with two parallel Acting EVCs at the same time. Staff of NCC, it was gathered, are confused as to who to be answerable to, whether Bello or the next senior executive commissioner, who happens to be Gwandu, as directed by the letter from the office of the permanent secretary of the information and communications ministry.
Although Bello could not be reached on phone to shed light on the impasse, it was learnt that he has vowed not to handover to anybody, insisting that he remained the acting ECV of NCC.
Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, who frowned at the development at NCC, said he was consulting with telecom operators in the country and would issue a position statement on the matter this weekend.
Stakeholders of the telecom industry have called on government to take proactive decision on the matter and do well to appoint a substantive EVC of NCC without further delay. Some, who are still bitter about what they described as the natural death of NITEL, warned that NCC must not be allowed to go the way of the telecom company, a parastatal that was killed by several unexplainable reasons on the part of government.
Appraising NCC’s telecom regulation in the country, operating companies in the sector who spoke in one voice said the telecommunication, with particular reference to 2009 activities, was very impressive, giving credence to the regulatory body, the NCC.
Although they pointed out some constraints and challenges faced in the course of offering telecom services in 2009, they however agreed that the digital revolution experienced in the telecom sector since the inception of GSM service rollout in 2001, surpassed its shortfalls and has placed Nigeria high in the eyes of the world. They warned that the glory which telecommunication has brought to the country should not be allowed to be rubbished by selfish interest.
Under clear regulatory policies and implementation from the NCC, telecom industry was boosted in the last 10 years with over 80 million telephone lines connected by March 2010.
“When compared to a total subscriber level of about 400, 000 in July 2001, the growth has no doubt been impressive,” some operators said, adding that the rapid growth can be attributed largely to the enabling and conducive environment for investment with respect to government policy and regulatory regime.
In the words of Ndukwe: “Today, there are mobile signals in all the states of the federation; a number of major highways are covered by mobile services; several rural communities have access to one form of telecom service or the other; our law enforcement communities have the necessary tools to keep in touch with their bases; medical practitioners have had their work facilitated by telecommunication services; business of large and small levels have been empowered by the use of information and communication technology (ICT) tools; the Nigerian economy has been impacted positively through job creation; improved business performance and timely information exchange.”
Above all, the telecom sector, through proper regulation from the NCC, was able to turn in over N18 billion into government coffers in the last 10 years of operation.
Owing to all these achievements, which have been attributed to proper regulatory environment, Nigerians have stood their ground, and vowed that they would not seat with their hands folded and watch NCC go down the same shameful lane as NITEL, and have called on President Goodluck Jonathan to use his good office to save NCC from loosing its credibility in the eyes of the world. They advised that the Presidency should act swiftly in appointing a substantial EVC for NCC, pride of the African telecom industry.
Some Nigerians, who reacted, wondered what must be responsible for the delay in appointing a substantive EVC for NCC.
Ndukwe, prior to the time he finally bowed out of office, had submitted names of his possible successor to government, according to the rules guiding the appointment of a new EVC.
NCC it was gathered, forwarded three names for consideration by the Presidency through the then Minister of State for Information and Communications, Ikra Bilbis, who was overseeing the activities of the commission.
According to the Telecom Act, “The NCC Board shall make recommendations to the President on suitably qualified persons for appointment as the Commission’s Chief Executive and Executive Commissioners and the President shall take the Commission’s recommendations into consideration for the appointment.”
The three nominees were the former Senior Vice President of MTS First Wireless, a private telephone operator (PTO), Eugene Juwa; the Vice President (Academics & Student Affairs) in Kano Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), Umar Garba Danbatta and Bello, who is currently acting as EVC.
The NCC’s nomination however, resulted to a split among top ranking officers at the commission, as some commissioners who were already eying the EVC position and whose names did not make the NCC list, resulted to holding secret meetings, convincing anyone who cared to listen to them why they must be selected for the position of EVC.
The infighting at NCC has been blamed on government as people strongly believed that the present ugly situation at NCC would have been avoided if government had acted fast in appointing a new EVC.
They have however advised that government should consider several factors in appointing a substantive EVC of NCC, among which are a credible technocrat, who must be generally acceptable and who has a passion to drive the affairs of the industry from within and outside the country.
Other criteria listed included, sound academic background in telecom engineering; not less than five years experience in the management of a telecom company; must have been president or chairman of a telecom or internet related association; must be an advocate of pan-industry issues, must be independent of ideas, must have international exposure, good track record in the management of public fund; ability to create team player; ability to drive change and guide government in policy formulation and implementation, among others.
Nigerians who are happy with the past achievements of the NCC as a regulatory body, want government to act fast and save the face of commission, now that the matter has not resulted to fighting and public disgrace as is the case with members of the House of Representatives, who are accusing the House leadership of financial impropriety, a situation that led to exchange of blows under the watchful eyes of journalists. Save NCC from shame and disgrace, and encourage it to attain greater heights in telecom regulation, Nigerians have said in one voice, and there is a general belief that government will pay a listening ear to these cries concerning NCC and do what is necessary to protect the integrity, which NCC has built over the years.
Original date published: 25 June 2010
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201006281220.html?viewall=1