The Nigerian Upper legislative chamber, the Senate today confirmed the appointment of Dr. Aminu Maida as the new Executive Vice chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The confirmation means he will serve a five-year term in office and is subject to renewal by the President.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Communications, and former Minister of Communications, Senator Ikra Aliyu Bilbis, submitted the report to the Senate to consider the request of President Bola Tinubu for the confirmation of Maida for appointment as the country’s Chief Telecom Regulator, noted that Maida had passed all scrutiny by the relevant security agencies.
“ Maida possesses the requisite qualifications, professional experience, competence, and regulatory capacity to ensure accelerated development of the nation’s telecommunications sector,” he said.
Earlier at his screening by the Senate Committee, Maida responded to questions related to his insights into the industry, qualifications, experience, suitability, and competence to manage the nation’s telecom regulatory sector, and was variously described by members as the round peg in a round hole.
Maida told the committee that his top priorities are to improve coverage and connectivity by bridging access gaps between rural and urban communities through increased broadband infrastructure as well as increasing the quality service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE) for the consumers to enable them to get value for money.
He also stated that, under his stewardship, he would ensure that the Commission’s licensees numbering over 8,000 across different segments of the sector, are made to adhere strictly to their Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with their consumers in terms of service delivery.
Maida also said that he would create a more conducive environment for investment in the sector. Maida also promised to work with the dynamic team at the NCC to “re-think” how the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) would be better leveraged to bridge the extant digital divide in the country.
The new Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria’s telecom regulatory authority also promised to prioritise inter-agency collaboration towards achieving the current blueprint for the digital economy sector, just as he said that the ongoing review of the NCA 2003 would lead to greater innovation for improving the performance of the sector and solicited the support of the National Assembly to succeed.
Maida further emphasized his commitment towards aligning regulatory activities with the Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Communications, Innovations and Digital Economy, developed to accelerate the actualisation of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Federal Government.