Nigeria heads ITU radio council

Nigeria has become the first African country to head the World Radio Communications (WRC) Council, an arm of the 150 year old International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

Engr. Festus Daudu, Director Spectrum Administration at the Federal Ministry of Communications Technology, is the Nigerian who chairs the ITU’s World Radio Communications Council.

Daudu in his inaugural speech at the opening ceremony of the WRC 2015, at the ITU Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, thanked the Almighty God as well as the Government and people of Nigeria for making it possible for him to be the first African to chair the WRC Council.

He assured the gathering that he will do his utmost best to fulfil the mandate given to him as he promised to be fair and impartial in his dealings. He stressed that the conference was one of the most important conferences of the Union which will be examining a large number of important and sensitive issues ranging from mobile broadband communications, broadband satellite systems to emergency communications, disaster relief including issues relating to maritime and aeronautical communications, monitoring the environment and climate change, universal time and space among others.

The conference will also deal with issues covering a wide frequency range and concerning a wide variety of radio communication services that the public relies on for such essential services as health information, education, security and safety.

Daudu stressed that decisions which would be taken at the conference on Radio Regulations will be critical to the telecoms industry as well as promote connectivity which will directly affect the lives of citizens with important economic impacts on countries such as Nigeria.

He urged all services to consider each other as complementary and not as rivals and create conducive atmosphere for consultations and negotiations that will lead to consensus and compromises without leaving anyone party feeling cheated.

The World Radiocommunication Conferences (WRC) are held every three to four years. It is the job of WRC to review, and, if necessary, revise the Radio Regulations, the international treaty governing the use of the radio-frequency spectrum and the geostationary-satellite and non-geostationary-satellite orbits.

WRC revisions are made on the basis of an agenda determined by the ITU Council, which takes into account recommendations made by previous World Radiocommunication Conferences.

The general scope of the agenda of WRC is established four to six years in advance, with the final agenda set by the ITU Council two years before the conference, with the concurrence of a majority of Member States.