The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has inaugurated a 15-member evaluation committee for the assessment of the 2020 telecommunications based research from the academics in tertiary institutions in the country.
NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Prof. Umar Danbatta inaugurated the committee on Tuesday in Abuja.
Danbatta emphasised the importance of telecommunication and ICT industry towards transformation of the economy.
He said that the action was a pointer to the commission’s commitment towards encouraging the development of indigenous innovative solutions that will impact not only on the telecom industry and ICT sector positively but also the nation as a whole.
“We want to continuously support research projects that can lead to the development of new products and services in the industry as the key enabler of the nation’s digital economy.
“We are all aware of the appreciable contributions of the Nigerian telecommunication sector to the growth of our (Gross Domestic Product) GDP over the years, which peaked at 14.53 per cent in second quarter of 2020,” he said.
Danbatta, said that funding Research and Development was fundamental to ensuring that the needs of consumers were properly anticipated and met while enabling sustainable economic growth.
“The Digital Economy-based Research Innovations project underlines the importance of funding research and development.
“For the year 2020, the request for proposals was tailored to providing innovations and solving challenges in five emerging areas of technology.
“These include innovative clean energy technology; 5G deployment in Nigeria; Internet of Things (IoT), Low power Wide Area Network (WAN) technology; advanced methods of Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE) management and test mechanism as well as monitoring and localisation of drones,” he said.
Danbatta urged members of the committee to thoroughly evaluate all submissions in order to sieve, identify and select the best from the proposals submitted.
“Members of the committee have been carefully selected from the academia, related government institutions and the industry based on their pedigrees.
“I have no doubt in my mind that you will carry out the assignment to the highest acceptable standards.
“The committee is expected to carry out the assignment and submit its report within four weeks from the day of inauguration,”Danbatta said.
Prof. Mu’azu Bashir, chairman of the committee, expressed delight as NCC came up with these innovative developments and transformations that would help the economy.
Bashir, a Professor of Computer and Control Engineering and Head of Computer Engineering Department of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, who spoke on behalf of the committee members, promised to meet up to the expectations. (NAN)
