Chinenye Anuforo
The Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, has said the commission is fully committed to the total digital transformation of the economy.
Danbatta, who said this in Lagos at the Nigerian Academy of Engineering (NAE) 2018 Technology Dinner Lecture explained that the NCC will continue to come out with flexible and progressive regulations that will lead to total digital transformation of the economy.
He said that as one of its eight-point agenda, which is “Strategic Collaboration and Partnerships”, NCC will collaborate with NAE for disruptive innovation that will bring about new ways of doing things in the country.
“We are talking about collaboration that will see a disruptive innovation in the industry. The kind of innovation that will usher in new ways of doing things. The kind of innovation that will enhance efficiency and productivity,” he said.
The NCC boss disclosed that recently the organisation donated N50 million to the academic staff of some universities to facilitate the conduct of research that would translate to innovations and containment of challenges in the industry. “Very soon, we will have another opportunity like this to announce the results of these collaborations with the academia,” Danbatta disclosed.
In his lecture with the theme, “Cracking the Code of Industry-Academia Partnership in Nigeria: Challenge to Knowledge Academies”, Mike Favorite, Professor of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering/former Vice Chancellor, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, said his research showed evidence of a wide gulf between universities and the industry, requiring the government and the universities to device urgent measures to close the gap. “Consequently, we must encourage and support the emerging Nigerian innovation ecosystem to thrive through deliberate effort by all stakeholders.”