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As the new board
members of the Nigerian Communications Commission resumed for duty on
Monday, some professionals in the telecom industry said the appointees
are competent in exercising their duties. In an email response on what
he thinks of the new members, Olusola Teniola, an engineer and the
chief operating officer of Phase3 Telecoms Ltd said, “According to
public information given about each nominee, it would appear that they
are highly competent to carry out their duties in ensuring the
stability of the political environment within the industry and more
important exercise their oversight mandate.”

The new board
members are Eugene Ikemefuna Juwah as the executive vice
-chairman/chief executive officer, Peter Egbe Igho as chairman,
Okechukwu Itanyi an executive commissioner, Mohammed Bintude as a
non-executive commissioner.

Since April, the
commission has been without a substantive executive vice-chairman after
the tenure of the former executive vice-chairman; Ernest Ndukwe came to
an end and the retirement of the board chairman, Ahmed Joda.

Last week, after
the presidency released the name of the appointees to the Senate for
approval, the National Assembly disbanded the committee on
communication over an alleged fraud activity in the committee’s
screening of the new board members of the commission. The chairman of
the committee on communications, Sylvester Anyanwu was alleged to have
been screening the appointees of the NCC alone without other members of
the committee and at night. Mr. Teniola said that the dismissal of the
committee on communications, last week showed good faith in democracy.

Ensure sustainability

“The intent and
objective of the president to nominate a new executive vice-chairman
and other board members (including the chairman) is to ensure
sustainability of 10 years of good regulatory momentum and to ensure
that the absence of a leader or referee in the industry is not
elongated to send the wrong signals to the industry and the global
community of investors,” added Mr. Teniola.

Nine years after
the introduction of GSM telephones, the telecom industry has shown so
much growth. Industry watchers say there is more work to be done in
order to move the industry forward. Jimson Olufuye, the president of
the Information Technology Association of Nigeria said, “The commission
should work closely with operators in the private sector, the gap
between the commission and operators should be removed. He should
ensure more transparency in the USPF deployment.”

Mr. Teniola added that the new board members should focus on
projects that are yet to be introduced by the commission. “There is
need for the commission to introduce Mobile Number Portability (MNP) to
address quality of service issues and allow consumers to easily migrate
from operator to another without losing their mobile number. This helps
ensure a level playing field and allows consumers greater choice.”