Telecoms is biggest democracy dividend — NCC

Nearly 17 years after the return of democratic governance to Nigeria, telecommunications remains the biggest dividend from this democracy, according to the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta. “Over 80 million people have access to the Internet, 152 million active telephone lines as at November, 2015, so […]

Nearly 17 years after the return of democratic governance to Nigeria, telecommunications remains the biggest dividend from this democracy, according to the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta.
“Over 80 million people have access to the Internet, 152 million active telephone lines as at November, 2015, so much that telecommunications has become an indispensable device in the hands of most Nigerians”, Danbatta said.
He spoke at the flag off of a road-show campaign against telecom infrastructure vandalism in Lagos.
Represented by NCC Director, Public Affairs, Mr. Tony Ojobo, the EVC said besides being the “biggest dividend in our growing democracy”, telecommunications is also one of the biggest contributors to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with over 10 percent pushing up the economic growth and complementing government’s diversification into non-oil revenue in the face of dwindling oil price.
“Millions of Nigerians are directly and indirectly employed by the same industry, earning reasonable incomes”.
A worried Danbatta however lamented that the benefits and all the useful services enjoyed today from telecom industry are being threatened “by the spate of vandalism of telecom infrastructure across the country”.
Besides slowing down the pace of growth and contributing to poor Quality of Service (QoS), there are vices arising from this including cutting of cables,  destruction of base stations, stealing of generators and general pilfering of telecoms equipment in some host communities.
“That is why we are here to campaign against vandalism and to tell our fellow citizens to be part of the war against vandalization of telecom infrastructure. 
He said NCC is “working round the clock to ensure that broadband services are also available for the Nigerian populace.  When broadband is fully available, it will advance the sophistication and speed with which we carry out our various activities within the telecom industry.”