Nigeria surpassed her national broadband target last year because of President Muhammadu Buhari’s “unwavering support” for the telecoms regulatory agency.
Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), dropped the hint when he congratulated the President on his victory in the 2019 Presidential Election.
“The broadband penetration figure was 8.5% when President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR took over the mantle of leadership of the country and appointed Prof Danbatta as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NCC in August, 2015”, according to a statement signed by Mr Nnamdi Nwokike, Director, Public Affairs, NCC made available to Technology Times.
“History was made last year when Nigeria surpassed its National Broadband penetration target of 30%, as 31.48% penetration was attained at the end of December, 2018”, NCC says.
“History was made last year when Nigeria surpassed its National Broadband penetration target of 30%, as 31.48% penetration was attained at the end of December, 2018”, NCC says.
Danbatta says the Nigerian telecoms industry has “in the last 4 years, remained resilient even in the face of most daunting economic challenges the country has ever experienced, with quarterly contribution of between N1.4 trillion to N1.5 trillion to the nation’s GDP—according to the statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The contribution to the GDP has hit N.19 trillion in the 4th quarter of 2018 according to the Bureau.”
The telecoms regulatory chief confirms that Nigeria’s telecoms active subscriber base became 174 million by January, this year and Internet users were 113.8 million in the same month.
Danbatta says he is optimistic that with the continued support the telecoms regulator is “enjoying from the Presidency, NCC is now ready to take the broadband penetration to the next level.”
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