The Judges Workshop is an annual week long event organised by the Nigerian Communications Commission in conjunction with the National Judicial Institute (NJI) to sensitize Nigerian Judges with familiarise with emergent technologies such as use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and SIM Masking/ Refiling in order to brainstorm the legal frameworks surrounding these services.
Clement Omeiza Baiye, Board Commissioner represented Chairman of the Board of NCC, Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye and delivered the welcome address on his behalf.
In his welcome address, Senator Durojaiye
thanked the judges for making the time to attend the workshop to facilitate themselves with current trends, accomplishment and challenges within the telecoms sector. He noted that Telecommunications has contributed about N15 trillion to the Nigerian economy since the liberalisation of digital mobile communications nearly 17 years ago.
The NCC’s Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, Mr. Sunday Dare, who represented the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, spoke on the importance of the Nigerian Judicial sector to familiarise themselves with the implementation of Artificial Intelligence, a disruptive innovation that is being adopted by the Judicial sectors in developed countries.
The NCC's Director of Legal & Regulatory Services, Ms. Yetunde Akinloye, who gave a presentation on the Nigerian Communications Act 2003, spoke on some of the telecom challenges such as Multiple Regulation, Call Masking and Multiple Taxation, which hinder the deployment of telecoms infrastructure thereby delaying expansion of services to places where they are needed. She also noted that these challenges also negatively impact inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the country”s telecoms sector. She further stated that there is a need to review some of the Nigerian Telecom laws as the Telecommunication sector is a fast evolving sector with great potentials to enhance human existence.