Mr Gilbert C Patterson of Trinidad and Tobago has been elected chairperson of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) Council succeeding Nigeria’s telecoms regulatory chief, Professor Umar Garba Danbatta.
Patterson, who also doubles as Chairman of Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT) takes over mantle of leadership from Danbatta, the Executive Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
Nigeria was elected as the Chair of CTO’s Council and Executive Committee, taking over from Kenya, during the Organization’s Annual Council Meeting held in Dhaka, Bangladesh on September 11 – 12, 2014.
As a policy of the CTO, the immediate past Chairperson of Council is always part of the Executive Committee, as such Nigeria is still part of the Committee. Before being elected as Chair of the Council and Executive Committee, Nigeria was previously the 1st Vice-Chair of the CTO.
Noting the achievements the organization has made during the past operational year, the Council expressed support for the CTO Secretariat under the leadership of the Secretary-General, and pledged its commitment to support the CTO to reach even greater heights.
“We have an ambitious agenda ahead of us supporting our members in the development of their ICT sectors. Our mission is to provide result-focused ICT leadership in the Commonwealth and beyond, and with the support of the Council and under the guidance of the new Executive Committee, I am confident we can achieve this” Shola Taylor, CTO Secretary-General said.
Members of the new Executive Committee are as follows:
- Chair – Trinidad & Tobago
- First Vice-Chair: Fiji
- Second Vice-Chair: Tanzania
- Immediate Past Chair: Nigerian
- Industry Partners Representative: Telkom South Africa
- Development Partners Representative: Cameroon
- Chairperson of the CTO’s Programme for Development and Training: Vodafone Ghana
- The Secretary-General of the CTO is an ex officio member of the ExCo.
The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation is the oldest and largest Commonwealth intergovernmental organization in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT). With a diverse membership spanning developed and least developed countries, small island developing states, and more recently also the private sector and civil society, the CTO aims to become a trusted partner for sustainable development for all through ICTs.
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