Professor Umar Danbatta represented by Okoh Aihe, Deputy Director, Research and Development of NCC gave a speech at the Economic Forum Series on how industry leaders, policy makers and regulatory executives and decision makers take critical decisions in areas of their Industries, businesses, economy and government and, how these decisions impact on governments overall socio-economic well-being.
In his speech, Danbatta said NCC as the regulatory body of the telecommunications industry in Nigeria has provided a superstructure for all the flourishing electronic services and, that is why we have: e-finance, e-commerce, tele-medicine, e-education, e-voting and all the other (es) that have intertwined our government, economy and life into a system of technological networks that has evolved into an ecosystem.
The NCC boss stated that the Commission is more committed than ever before to making life even more easier by attracting more businesses as telecommunication is ever evolving with more innovative applications. The Internet of Things is one area with full potentials to be explored. The 5th generation network that has emerged in some advanced countries is yet another explosive technology to come.
He said, “ensuring the provision of accessible digital and critical infrastructures and services including efficient, reliable and widely accessible broadband communication networks and services are the foundations on which the digital economy is based and NCC is charged with the role of enhancing the financial technology ecosystem”.
Danbatta stated that NCC is actively involved in the actualisation of the Federal government's financial inclusion target of 20% exclusion by the year 2020 and NCC would always collaborate and provide active participation in the digital financial services ecosystem.”
He also stressed the importance of the registration of the subscriber Identification Module (SIM) card which offers opportunity to individuals who lack formal identification documents to access digital financial services that is, Know Your Customer (KYC) Challenge.
The programme was well attended by representatives of CBN, NDIC, NITDA, FinTechNGR and other relevant stakeholders.