The Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta has yesterday declared opened a workshop to facilitate greater linkages between the academia in Nigeria and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
The 2-Day workshop taking place at the Digital Bridge Institute, Abuja targets scholars from Nigerian universities – two universities selected from each of Nigeria’s geopolitical zones are represented by one participant each nominated by their respective institutions.
Professor Danbatta told the participants that the workshop is organized to apprise them with the workings of the ITU which are basically in three areas – Radiocommunication, Standards, and Development. He noted that all these functions essentially find expression through study groups.
The ITU, Danbatta recalled, allocates global radio spectrum and satellite orbits; develops the technical standards that ensure networks and technologies seamlessly interconnect; and strives to improve access to ICTs by underserved communities worldwide as a key development agenda.
“As the United Nations (UN) agency superintending the ICT sector, the ITU brings the benefits of modern communication technologies to people everywhere in an efficient, safe, easy and affordable manner.
“It provides the necessary global platform for discourse and exchange of ideas, and research among its public and private sector membership which include 193 member states, ICT regulators, many leading academic institutions and over 700 technology companies, Danbatta said.
Danbatta told the workshop that Nigeria is a leading member of the ITU having been in the ITU Council for more than 14 years and has made remarkable and measurable contributions to global records in this regard. The EVC informed the participants that NCC represents Nigeria in the ITU Study Groups and assured them that the workshop facilitators will “present to you the work being carried out in these Study Groups and areas that will require your support”.
The overarching purpose and objective of the workshop, the EVC said to the participants, is to make sure Nigeria continue its good work within the ITU and ensure her interests in relation to the National ICT Policy are protected and indeed enhanced. This explains why “we have identified the need to collaborate with the academia in the area of research within the ITU”.
Participants who appeared quite enthusiastic about the workshop were nudged to recall that collaboration between the University and Industry is an important component for national development. Such collaboration promotes innovation and technology transfer, skills development, research and development, as well as entrepreneurship.
This workshop, which opens a new vista of partnership that will shape national development goals, is indeed both a constitutive and instrumental component of the 8-Point Agenda unveiled by Danbatta on assumption of office.