The Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, made the call during a courtesy visit to the Commission in Abuja on Wednesday (23/10/2019) by the senior management team of Microsoft Nigeria.
The Microsoft team was received on behalf of the EVC by the Executive Commissioner, Technical Services (ECTS), Engineer Ubale Maska alongside other senior management staff of the Commission.
According to Maska, being the regulator, the Commission’s need to be at the cutting edge of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), 5G, Blockchian, Internet of Things (IoT) and Cloud computing cannot be overemphasised and that collaboration with key industry players to drive the frontiers of digital ecosystem in Nigeria is one of the ways to go.
Therefore, Maska said, "we expect to see more digital presence of Microsoft in Nigeria in the area of building Data Centre to service Nigeria market, create jobs and add value to the economy more rather than just being more of a sales company in Nigeria."
Maska said providing such data centres by Microsoft would also be desirable as “it will also help to guarantee our data protection in the country, given that Nigeria is now generating a lot of data through Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and it is better to keep the data locally to avoid cyber-security breaches."
The ECTS further stated that the Commission would be willing to work with Micorosft both for the regulator's internal processes and more importantly, in industry-oriented issues around emerging technologies and data security.
Speaking earlier, Gafar Lawal, the Managing Director, Microsoft Africa Development Centre and leader of the Microsoft delegation, said the purpose of the visit was to explore areas of collaboration with the NCC in the area of intelligence telecommunications.
"We are in the era of intelligence telecommunications and to enhance this, a telecom regulator has to drive the new era of telecommunications. In order to foster that growth, we at Microsoft believe it is very important to partner with NCC in this era of AI, IoT and other emerging technologies," he stated.
He said Microsoft has set up customer support centre in Nigeria, which currently employs over 1,000 Nigerians who are serving West African market and beyond as well as the establishment of the African Development Centre to train manpower in Nigeria, saying, however, that while the idea of having a data center in Nigeria is novel, "future of Nigeria is in its people and not necessarily in infrastructure."