EVC/CEO At NCC Receives Multiple Awards At International Women’s Day Event

• Commissions E-Library At Mumbayya House

 By Angeline Mgbele, Senior Correspondent Abuja

For the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer(EVC/CEO) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba  Danbatta, the 2022 International Women’s Day became a day for acknowledging his role in women empowerment in the country, as numerous beneficiaries of his efforts decorated him with awards of recognition.

According to a press statement  seen by Cyber Era NG and signed by the Director of Public Affairs(DPA) at NCC, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, the event was a public lecture organized by an umbrella body of over 200 women’s rights groups, the Kano Civil Society Forum (KCSF )in conjunction with the Aminu Kano Centre for Democratic Studies(CDS) of Bayero University, to mark the 2022 International Women Day (IWD), which Danbatta chaired Friday in Kano State, north west of Nigeria.

However, while Prof. Danbatta, according the programme event, was to present awards to various women who have distinguished themselves in different endeavours, little did he know that the beneficiaries of various youth entrepreneur skills and other empowerment programmes of both the Commission and his personal charity foundation, Danbatta Charity Foundation (NCF), planned a pleasant  ambush to present their own prizes to him.

In the same vein, the CDS, Mumbayya House and KCSF also presented their award of recognition to the NCC boss, leaving him visibly surprised.

Earlier, Danbatta told the gathering that he was a strong believer of the potentiality of womenfolk and he had never hesitated to entrust responsibilities to his female colleagues because he had always found them to be very reliable when assigned with official tasks.

“I am a very, very strong believer of the tremendous potentiality of members of the womenfolk. And they do it with such finesse, not with any aggression like men do. Women, by their very nature, are tender. They attend to whatever they are doing with finesse in a very careful manner. And they deliver on targets given to them before deadlines,” he emphasised.

Speaking further, Danbatta said he had never given an assignment to any of the women in the Commission, which was not delivered before the deadline, “to the extent that, ladies and gentlemen, I am always comfortable to have a woman chair committee, whenever there is a need”.

The NCC boss, who said that respect for women was natural to him, as it was one of the values his late mum inculcated in him, expressed his delight about the fact that women were now working their way to the top echelon of responsibilities in the country.

“We now have women in every sector of the economy, in every area of human endeavour. We have them as engineers, medical doctors, seasoned administrators, name it. In the commission I am heading we have 4 female directors. The Director of Zonal Operations is a woman. The Director of Policy competition, and Economic Analysis is a woman, and also a lawyer.  Equally, the Director of Legal and Regulatory Services is a woman, and lastly the Director of Projects.  And I am not saying this out of any disrespect for the womenfolk. Far from that. Importantly, more than 50 per cent of the workforce in NCC is made up of women,” Danbatta informed his audience.

The NCC boss further stated that the Commission was particularly committed to bridging the gender-oriented digital divide. Hence, according to him, the NCC had put, in the front burner, the need to expose girls and young women to more opportunities in the digital ecosystem, in line with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) resolution 70, which advocates gender mainstreaming and promotion of gender equality, as well as the empowerment of women through information and communications technology (ICT).

The nation’s chief telecoms regulator  later commissioned the e-library of the Aminu Kano Centre for Democratic Studies, an arm of Bayero University, which was donated by the Commission in line with the Federal Government’s commitment to the promotion of digital economy programmes.