Prof Umar Garba Danbatta addressing the summit held in Kano recently
The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) has cautioned internet users in Nigeria to desist from using the Internet to commit cyber-crimes, spread hate speech and fake news.
Speaking at a social media summit organised by the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) and its partners in Kano recently, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta noted that the Internet is a great tool for citizen engagement for any nation towards achieving greater socio-political and economic posterity in a country.
Danbatta further stated that as the agency which is responsible for driving digital transformation and revolution in Nigeria, the Commission has finally increased access to digital tools and services that are accessible by a large amount of Citizens.
“With increased access to the Internet and more importantly, broadband, many telecommunication consumers can engage and be engaged, especially through social media platforms accessible on their various Internet-enabled mobile devices,”he said.
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While commenting on the purpose of the summit, the NCC boss noted that the discussion was organised in a bid to enable all stakeholders reflect on the usefulness and influence of social media in the current Internet-dependent society.
The Executive Vice Chairman further stated that the Commission has successfully delivered on its most important task of guaranteeing general access to digital services, making use of Internet platform in the course of ensuring availability, accessibility and affordability of telecommunication services in rustic, under-served and unserved regions of the country.
He said the Commission is committed to achieving what he described as ‘Internet of Relevance’ which, he said, highlights the importance of Internet towards ensuring improved efficiency and effectiveness in diverse sectors of the economy such as healthcare, commerce education, agriculture, politics etc.
Danbatta pointed out that the Commission in 2015, conceived the idea for the 8-Point Agenda as he assumed office as the Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission in order to enhance Broadband penetration and more.
He stated that the Commission had successfully achieved and surpassed the 30 percent Broadband penetration target of the National Broadband plan goal of 30 percent set for the country in 2018 and continued to make more progress, hitting 33.31 percent as at June, this year.
“In this regard, we have issued six Infrastructure Companies (InfraCo) licences across geo-political zones with the seventh one being processed for Lagos alone being the hub of ICT in order to provide Access Points in the 774 local government areas of the country,” Danbatta, said “We enjoin Nigerians to use this pervasive Internet access the regulator is promoting for utilitarian purposes.”
Samson Oyedeyi
