New NCC Boss, Aminu Maida Assumes Office, Promises Affordable Internet

The new Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Aminu Maida, assumed office on Tuesday with a promise to focus on ensuring that all Nigerians have access to affordable and reliable broadband internet services.

According to a statement released on Wednesday by the Commission’s Director of Public Affairs, Reuben Muoka, the new NCC boss told the Senior Management team of the NCC that he would align the Commission’s regulatory focus to achieve the promises of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda to advance the nation’s digital transformation agenda.

He noted that the NCC under his leadership would ensure “effective broadband infrastructure diffusion across the length and breadth of Nigeria.”

Related: Tinubu Sack Danbatta, Appoints Maida As NCC Boss

“Considering the fact that many people are going more digital and virtual in everything they do, the telecom infrastructure is now under much stress. President Tinubu’s vision emphasizes the need to build more robust broadband connectivity that will not only facilitate seamless digital transactions but also serve as the bedrock for e-governance and other socio-economic initiatives,” he said.

“As such, we would align with this aspiration to increase broadband penetration to 70% and to cover 90% of the population by 2025. Therefore, we need to build a reliable telecom industry with impressive quality of service (QoS) indicators with quality of experience (QoE) as our watchword and ultimate goal. This also requires us to address a number of issues such as the Right of Way (RoW) challenge, and ensuring the security of our telecom infrastructure, among others. Efforts must be made to significantly improve service delivery by ensuring the NCC is performance-driven.”