In an effort to consolidate the gains made in the telecommunications sector in line with the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the reappointment of Prof. Umar Danbatta as the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC.
DAILY NIGERIAN gathered that Mr Danbatta’s reappointment was based on the recommendation of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali-Pantami.
Similarly, a statement by Mr Pantami’s spokesperson, Uwa Suleiman conveyed the minister’s well wishes to the EVC, urging him to significantly improve on the overall performance of the Commission.
The minister also urged Mr Danbatta to ensure that adequate mechanisms are put in place to facilitate the implementation of all policies of Federal Government through the NCC.
Furthermore, the minister enjoined Mr Danbatta to ensure that the interest of telecommunication consumers, Nigerians and investors are adequately protected. Born in Danbatta Local Government Council of Kano State, Prof. Danbatta obtained his BEng, MSc degrees from the Technical University of Wroclaw in Poland and his PhD from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) UK respectively.
He has served as a lecturer in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Technology of Bayero University Kano for 28 years, where he taught courses in telecommunications engineering and electronics and held academic positions of Dean of the Faculty and Head of Department at different times.
His main administrative responsibilities, in the university, included Deputy and Acting Dean of Students’ Affairs, Administrator of the Works Department and later, Director of the Centre for Information Technology (CIT).
He was also a member of over 60 University committees and task forces, including numerous stints as Chairman.
In administrative and other responsibilities outside the university, he has served on over 20 committees, prominent among which was his Chairmanship of the Implementation Committee of Kano State University of Science & Technology, after which he became its pioneer Deputy and Acting Vice-Chancellor when it took off in 2001.
Prof. Danbatta has supervised more than 60 PhD, MEng and BEng projects in diverse areas of telecommunications and has also served as external examiner to seven universities and polytechnics and is an assessor, technical reviewer and editorial member to eight research journals.
He has to his credit more than 50 articles in journals, conference proceedings and technical reports. He is also the author of a six-chapter, 167-page book titled Elements of Static Engineering Electromagnetics.
He is a recipient of 18 distinguished awards and certificates of honour. Prof. Danbatta has served two terms of five years as a Member of Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), and is also a COREN registered engineer and member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE).
He was the Vice President of the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), International Centre for Advanced Communications Studies, which was established in the year 2004 by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to build capacity for the Nigerian/African telecom industry in the diverse areas of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
