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Consistent with its strategic objective of stakeholder collaboration and partnering, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) recently orgnaised a workshop for stakeholders in the mass media industry.
The workshop, organised to keep Nigerian journalists who specialise in reporting the telecoms and ICT sector abreast of emerging developments in the industry, in order to ensure the general public receives contextual, interpretive and illuminating reporting on telecoms matters.
The journalists, who attended the workshop under the aegis of the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters’ Association (NITRA), Abuja Chapter, reveled in the opportunity provided by NCC to glean emerging trends and topical regulatory issues in the telecoms industry.
The workshop, according to a statement by NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Dr Ikechukwu Adinde, was part of the commission’s commitment to encouraging continuous professional development of journalists, noting that the commission sees good journalism as central, both to the achievement of its mandate and to the flourishing the nation’s democratic project.
The training programme featured intense sessions focused on understanding the renewal the commission has brought to bear on many major industry issues, including International Termination Rate (ITR) for voice services, benefits of the National Identity Number/Subscriber Identity Module linkage (NIN-SIM integration), the menace of illegal use of GSM boosters, updates on Fifth Generation (5G) deployment plan, spectrum administration, as well as compliance monitoring and enforcement, and other emergent regulatory matters.
The workshop also featured special group discussions facilitated by subject-matter experts and senior officials selected from departments of the commission.
Speaking, the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, said approval for the training was granted by management as it is in tandem with the commission’s media relations and stakeholder engagement strategy.
“Given the dynamic nature of the digital space and its impact on the economy, we believe this demands that our media partners are brought up to speed with the current requirements for maximum productivity and effective reporting of the telecoms industry,” Danbatta, who was represented by Adinde asserted, to justify the relevance of the workshop.
The EVC said, through capacity-building initiatives such as the workshop organised for professionals in the media industry, “we would build multually-beneficial relationships for sustained media support as we continue to discharge our mandate of regulating this dynamic sector for the benefit of Nigerians and the economy as a whole.”
“So, it is expected that by empowering the media as our key stakeholders, they would be willing to ensure that members of public are accurately and adequately informed and are aware of the commission’s regulatory strides toward building a robust digital economy for our country,” the EVC said.
Responding on behalf of members after the training, NITRA Chairman, Abuja Chapter, Blessing Olaifa, commended the commission for providing a platform for sensitisation of media stakeholders on contemporary matters within the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) ecosystem, particularly the telecoms industry and the initiatives of the commission in protecting telecoms consumers.
Olaifa, who was represented by NITRA’s Secretary-General, Emmanuel Elebeke, applauded the commission for consistently supporting and partnering with the media, adding that it demonstrates how transparent and accessible NCC has been to its stakeholders.
“We must commend NCC for its regulatory strides over the years. The success of the 5G auction in December last year easily comes to mind as one of the recent achievements of the commission, among several others. So, this capacity-building programmes will help to provide a collaborative partnership for an advanced digital economy and towards boosting the fortunes of ICT for development in Nigeria. Today, we have been thoroughly enlightened as better specialists in ICT journalism,” Olaifa added.
