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The newly nominated
commissioners at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), will
today, face the Senate Committee on Communications for a formal
screening exercise, in Abuja.

The presidency had
last week submitted the names of the new board members to the senate
for approval. These include Eugene Ikemefuna Juwah, the Executive Vice
Chairman/Chief Executive Officer; Peter Egbe Igho, the Chairman, and
three others. The commission has been without an operational board
following the end of the tenure of the former boss, Ernest Ndukwe, and
board Chairman, Ahmed Joda, in April, 2010. Over the last four months,
the presidency had appointed two NCC commissioners to act as the
executive vice-chairmen of the commission.

Appointment compensates delay

President of the
Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, Titi Omo-Ettu,
said the choice of Mr. Juwah has compensated the delay in the
replacement of the commission’s helmsman because the nominee is an
industry expert. “Mr. Juwah, I know is a fitting and very ready
material for the job,” he said. “Intellectually and in industry
equipment, he is rounded. If the time it has taken to find the
candidate was meant to get one of the fine guys around, I think we can
forgive the uneasy delay that has come to a good end. This is the kind
of candidate Nigerians say is ‘a round peg in a round hole.'”

Kenneth Ugbechie,
Secretary of Africa Telecoms Development Initiative, a non-governmental
organisation, said, “This is what we have been asking the president to
do. Appoint a substantive executive vice-chariman of the commission.
Mr. Juwah is experienced; not a new person in the industry and he is a
very knowledgeable person in the telecom industry.”

The nominees

Mr. Juwah, the
chief executive officer of Cititel Networks Communications Limited, has
over 30 years experience in Information Technology and
Telecommunication. He is said to have played his part in the major part
of modern telecom development in Nigeria when he served as chief of
operations of Nigeria’s first mobile phone network, MTS First Wireless
in early 1990s, and later as vice president of the company when it
re-launched a CDMA network in 2003. Mr. Juwah is also credited with the
expertise in GSM technology when he deployed the CIL GSM network which
later metamorphosed to today’s Globacom. He is from Delta State.

Peter Egbe Igho is a retired Permanent Secretary from North Central.

Mohammed Bintube, from North East, was nominated as a commissioner.

Okechukwu Itanyi, former Deputy Governor of Enugu State, was also nominated as commissioner from the South East.

The nominees, when confirmed, will complete the legal requirements
for the nine-member Board of Commissioners of the NCC, with all the
geopolitical zones represented.