Danbatta receives recognition for outstanding public service leadership

Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, received an Award of Exemplary Leadership in Public Service over the weekend in Lagos.

Danbatta received the honor on Friday at the Federal Palace Hotel in Victoria Island, Lagos, during the 12th Anniversary Lecture and Award of Nigerian NewsDirect, one of the country’s oldest media organizations.

Danbatta said it was wonderful to have been recognized for the award in acknowledgment of the initiatives used by the Commission in carrying out its legislative duty. He was represented at the ceremony by Director, Public Affairs, Reuben Muoka.

According to the EVC, the theme “Good Governance: Private and Public Sectors’ Roles in Raising Revenue, Growth, and Positive Turnaround of Nigerian Economy” offers a genuine opportunity for all stakeholders to seek out more effective ways of advancing good governance both in public office and in the private sector of the Nigerian economy.

Danbatta said the Commission is constantly determined to ensure collaboration with all stakeholders in the Nigerian communications industry and even beyond as it remains one of the surest ways to enable a positive turnaround of the Nigerian economy. Danbatta was giving concrete expression to the strategic vision of the Commission with respect to the theme of the program.

Danbatta thanked the program’s organizers for the prize and acknowledged that it was a reminder that more has to be done to advance the principles of good governance that promote economic and national development.

Dr. Samuel Ibiyemi, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Nigerian NewDirect, presented the award, saying Danbatta was eminently qualified and deserving of the prestigious recognition because of the significant contribution he made to achieving and exceeding Nigeria’s national broadband target of 30 percent in 2018 and because he is currently one of those driving efforts to achieve the new national broadband penetration target of 70 percent by 2025.

With the undeniable facts in place, Ibiyemi continued, it was simple for the board and management of his organization to concur that Danbatta has stabilized the telecom industry, strengthened the telecommunications sector as a key contributor to the country’s GDP growth, and increased telecoms investment inflows from $36 billion to over $70 billion between 2015 and 2017.

The Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, Dapo Abiodun, Governor of Ogun State, Bello Hassan, Managing Director, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, Mimi Adzape, Executive Chairman, Benue State Internal Revenue Service, among others, are other notable Nigerians who received awards at the event in various categories.