The Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), has adduced reasons why it has collaborated with InstinctWave in the last three years to organize the Nigeria Tech Innovation and Telecom Awards.
The umbrella body of all telecom companies in Nigeria, said the essence of the annual award is to motivate telecom players, who are members of ATCON to do more in terms of changing the narrative of the Nigerian telecoms sector.
The President of ATCON, Engr. Olusola Teniola, disclosed this in his welcome speech on Saturday in Lagos at the Oriental Hotel, where about 50 telecom players were honoured with various awards.
He said three cardinal points have been advanced to justify ATCON’s collaboration with InstinctWave to organize the award every year.
The points, according to Teniola are to foster healthy competition in the Nigerian telecom industry, to drive further investment into the sector and to give the most authoritative and recognized awards to innovative and deserving individuals.
Analysing these points, Teniola noted that ATCON took the initiative to collaborate with the organizer to give awards to some government institutions, telecom and IT companies that have championed innovation and creativity in the last few years in order to reposition the efficiency of the industry.
He argued that this innovation has impacted positively on the products and services being rendered by all these organizations and ATCON thought the only way to encourage further innovation in the industry is to reward those who are not resting on their oasis, but striving to make a difference in the sector.
“Nigeria as a nation can only take advantage of the digital revolution that is going on in the world if more attention is given towards youth creativity,” he said.
Speaking further, he said it is believed that the adoption of creativity and innovation would automatically lead to further investment in the sector, both locally and internationally, stressing that the new innovations require further investment for its continuity and ATCON plans to use this reward system in the form of giving awards to establishments who see innovation as a key driver of the industry and are acknowledged and motivated to do more.
“As some companies and individuals will receive awards today it is our utmost belief that it would encourage innovation and creativity that would not only disrupt the Nigerian telecom sector but will impact globally. This we believe would influence further investment in the sector,” he added.
He also believes that if as an umbrella body of all telecom players in Nigeria, it decides to ignore the contribution that the sector has made to the development of Nigeria by not recognizing the actors that made it possible, what the association is saying invariably, is that it is ungrateful to their concerted efforts in changing the story of the industry.
“We hope with this initiative of rewarding excellence Nigerian government would pay more attention to our sector by removing all barriers that are militating against the growth of our industry like multiple taxation, right of way issues and lack of disbursement of forex at the official rate to our sector,” he challenged the government.
