Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Umar Danbatta, received the 2022 Regulator of the Year Award at Vanguard’s highly coveted Personality of the Year Awards.
Vanguard Newspaper Limited, the organizers of the event, have said that Danbatta received the award category at a ceremony to be held in Lagos on Friday, January 27, 2022 based on recognition of the teacher’s transformative and inspiring leadership, which brought effective regulation regime in the telecommunications sector, positively impacting the ecosystem of Nigeria’s digital economy.
Along with other prominent personalities, including state governors Babagana Zulum of Borno State, Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, Abdulraham Abdulrazaq of Kwara, Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom and Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, as well as the Chairman of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, and other Nigerians who have distinguished themselves through professional excellence and service to humanity, Danbatta stood his ground before Nigerians on Friday to receive his award category.
Widely described as the regulatory model for Africa, Professor Danbatta has become a model for other African regulators.
A respectable scholar and distinguished academic, Danbatta has shown a no-nonsense countenance in regulatory duties, yet he is generally seen in the industry as a calm and calculating leader who makes fair but firm decisions in his drive to stabilize the regulatory environment. Nigerian Telecommunications. This has undoubtedly inspired many African regulators to adopt the Nigerian model to renew their regulatory activities.
Danbatta, a professor of telecommunications engineering, prior to his appointment, had been Acting Vice Chancellor at Kano State University of Science and Technology (KUST), and as a professor has supervised more than 60 PhD, M.Eng, and B.Eng projects in various areas of telecommunications.
Danbatta, however, was not completely new to the industry before becoming the head of NCC, having spent time at the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), an international center for advanced communications studies established in 2004 by the NCC to capacity building in various areas. of Information and Communication Technologies as vice president of the institute.
His first five years in office witnessed an effective regulatory regime through cutting-edge initiatives, strengthening the role of the telecommunications sector as a major contributor to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Currently leading the charge to achieve Nigeria’s Comprehensive National Plan 2020-2025, Danbatta was hailed for spearheading the previous campaign, which saw Nigeria meet and exceed the national target of 30% in 2018, from a paltry 6% when he took office.
The multi-award winning professor also participated in a highly successful 5G spectrum auction last year, while his progress in reactivating Emergency Communications Centers (ECCs) and introducing the harmonized national emergency communication number ( 112) helped the NCC win the International Public Relations Award. Association Gold Award in 2021, due to the fundamental role they played in containing the COVID-19 pandemic.
His stellar leadership style was recently honored by the organizers of the prestigious Zik Award, by awarding him the Zik Award for Professional Leadership.
Danbatta earned an MS in Engineering from the Technical University of Wroclaw in Poland and received his PhD from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. Yet despite his impressive achievements, Professor Umar Garba Danbatta remains an epitome of modesty and humility.
