Let’s Establish a Telecoms Laboratory, NSE President tells NCC Executive Vice Chairman

During a working visit to the office of the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Telecommunications Commission (NCC), Engr. Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, FNSE, FAEng, on Wednesday, August 29, 2018, the President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Engr. Adekunla Mokuolu, FNSE, promoted the idea of a collaborative effort between the two organisations towards establishing a telecommunications laboratory in Nigeria.

He said that the idea of the laboratory, which will undertake innovative research into developing smart solutions for improvement of existing facilities in the telecoms sector in Nigeria, is part of NSE’s desire to assist NCC in delivering its mandate optimally to Nigerians. Engr. Mokuolu also noted that the move will ensure effective domestication of global codes and standards in Engineering.

While commending the Engr. Danbatta for the visionary leadership he has provided for NCC since assumption of office as EVC, The NSE President said, “We have also followed the impressive outings of NCC at successive International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Telecoms World. Of particular interest is your organisation’s preparations for this year’s event, especially the plans to encourage the participation of Small & Medium-scale Enterprises (SME’s) and the Innovation sectors which are the vital drivers of the economy.

NSE commends this move and views it as a major endorsement for and promotion of Nigerian Content, which is in line with the directives of the Presidential Order No. 5. “To us, this reveals the spirit of excellence which the Nigerian Society of Engineers represents. We are deeply elated that you have consistently acted as our worthy ambassador in your demonstration of impeccable commitment to duty.

“on our part, we have crafted strategies for ensuring dissemination of policies of NCC to the public through our members and the arrow head for this assignment is the ICT Division of the NSE which is domiciled here in NCC”.

Other issues that came up for discussion at the meeting include resuscitation of the tripartite agreement between NSE, COREN and NCC on Tower Safety and Integrity, full participation of NCC Engineers and NCC as a corporate organization in the forthcoming 2018 Engineering Conference and Annual General Meeting (AGM) coming up between November 26th and 30th, 2018.

Engr. Danbatta, in his response, appreciated the NSE President for his kind words of encouragement. He acknowledged that NCC was actually moving forward in line with trends in the global telecoms community. He said, “it is true what you acknowledged about what we are doing to sponsor of SMEs and Young Innovators to the ITU flagship event, the Telecoms World. It is something that we attach a lot of importance to. This year we are going with about six young participants, the process of selection has even been completed.

The interesting thing is that this year’s event will revolve around the emerging technology of 5G, Artificial Intelligence and Internet Optics; all technological innovations that will drive a smarter world. Many of us may not be fully conversant with the usefulness of 5G but the whole world has gone ahead to plan for the deployment of this next generation technology that will drive the telecoms network in the year 2020.

“There are a lot of experiments and trials going on around the world, including Nigeria. A case in point is the Eko Atlantic City Project in Lagos which is supposed to be a smart city. So we will be going to Durban, South Africa where this year’s event will take place to learn about technological solutions and innovations that drive the various smart initiatives in the world. We will equally share ideas on what we are doing in our country. That is the whole essence of the ITU Telecoms World”.

The NCC Boss took cognisance of the current developments in NSE with regards to the physical and operational restructuring of the National Secretariat and congratulated the NSE President on the 60th anniversary of the Society. He affirmed that was a proud member of the NSE, proud member of Kabuga Branch and proud member of the ICT Division. He, therefore, promised to consider the requests made by the NSE President.

On the President’s delegation were Engr. Adeniran Ibitoye Kilomodemo, FNSE, National EXCO Member; Engr. Nnenna Igwegbe, MNSE, National EXCO Member; Engr. Olalekan Taiwo, FNSE, Ag. Executive Secretary; Mr. Abdulkadir Aliyu, Ag. Director, Engineering Bureau Services/Head, Media and Engr. Monday Ofikwu, MNSE, Personal Assistant to the President.