The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has inaugurated 18 member inter-agency committee to deepen the impact of research and development on the telecommunications sector.
According to the commission, the mandate of this committee is primarily to evaluate research submissions to aid the growth of the sector beyond where it is now. The committee, whose membership is drawn from different professions, including the academia, is chaired by Prof. Muazu Mohammed Bashir of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
NCC’s executive vice chairman (EVC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, who inaugurated the committee at the headquarters of the NCC in Abuja, told the committee that the aim was to find local solutions to the challenges of the industry, in tandem with the policy of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration for Nigerians to find lasting solutions to the challenges facing the country.
Danbatta stated that, in order to achieve this goal, the NCC decided to utilise the capacity in the academia and redirect it towards getting involved in research activities that can impact on businesses and society, which would consequently bring about the development of new products and services for the industry.
The EVC listed some recent developments in the commission to include the creation of the Research and Development Department, to consolidate all research activities, thereby giving research activities a priority attention. Not too long ago, this year, the commission hosted the Stakeholders’ Consultative Forum with the academia, involving vice chancellors from 61 universities across the country in consultation with the National Universities Commission, where the discussions and contributions of the participants emphasised the importance of cooperation between the academia and the industry and how best to benefit from that relationship. The response to the advertorial requesting for research proposals from the academia was encouraging this year. Records from the Research and Development Department showed that 96 submissions were recorded this year as against 56 the previous year.
The research topics ranged from issues of pipeline protection to herdsmen tracking and so on, manifestly justifying the efforts of the NCC in making investment in research activities by the academia. The EVC told the committee to give every entry a fair opportunity by critically evaluating every document to achieve a fair assessment of every submission. The proposal must meet the following criteria: Clear statement and evaluation of the problem; Proposed solution to the problem; Clear relevance to the telecommunication industry; Cost reasonableness (cost of actualising the idea, excluding furniture and allowances; Schedule of project organisation; Coherent presentation/packaging of concept; and Integration of research with education (capacity building of students via implementation of the project in the institution).