Nigeria’s telecoms regulatory chief says that the available telecoms infrastructure will enhance the credibility of general elections due to hold early next year.
Professor Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) also says the upcoming 5G spectrum auctions will improve the availability, accessibility, and affordability of telecoms services in the country.
He said this in a message to the 18th All Nigeria Editors Conference organised by the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and held last week at the Concord Hotels in Owerri, Imo State that was also attended by Senator Hope Uzodinma, Governor of Imo State.
The Nigerian Media and Elections 2023
The NCC chief who reiterated the importance of the roles of the journalist, before, during and after the 2023 elections said that the media holds the ace in making a difference in promoting credible elections in Nigeria.
In Danbatta’s goodwill message to the conference, delivered by Mr. Reuben Muoka, NCC Public Affairs Director, he expressed the confidence that the vibrant Nigerian media, credited with its sterling performance from the history of struggle for the country’s political independence, where Nigerian nationalists who were good journalists made “brilliant and courageous outing” will work in the interest of the nation.
Speaking to the theme of the conference, “2023: Political Landscape, Credible Elections and the Role of the Editors”, Danbatta said that good journalism is critical to sustainable democratic culture as political stability is enhanced by the conduct of successful elections.
He said that he “believes the editors will leave the conference with resolutions setting clear, unambiguous and very robust parameters to guide the role of the media in the forthcoming elections in a fair, objective and balanced manner.
“Beyond and above the traditional routine role of the media in information-sharing, education, and entertainment, the media is a social agency constitutionally charged to watch those of us in public office from derailing from the pursuit of the social contract and the social good. No other agency of the civil society is so positioned to influence social progress,” he declared.
NCC, Danbatta told attendees at the event, is dedicated to the implementation of the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (2020-2025), and the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (2020-2030) among other regulatory instruments, with a view to enhancing connectivity and social cohesion in the land.
Danbatta specifically expressed gratitude to the Nigerian media for trusting the NCC and supporting its efforts to fulfill its mandate right from the beginning of the transition from “state-dominated telecommunication operations to a deregulated, more liberalised market.”
The NCC EVC recalled that NCC’s friendship and partnership with the media have been very mutually fruitful as the telecoms regulator has leveraged the media for increased awareness by the public of NCC’s activities, programmes, and achievements.
He also commended the journalists covering the telecoms sector as well as other communication professionals for supporting NCC all the way by giving adequate and prominent coverage to its successes in consumer protection, improvement in infrastructure, adoption of new technologies, and most recently the launch of the 5G networks and reportage of challenges facing the telecoms industry.
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