Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida.

In line with its commitment to building capacity for industry stakeholders, the Nigerian Communications Commission NCC has organised a two-day training programme for select media practitioners on emerging trends and new regulatory framework in the telecoms and Information Communication Technology ICT sector.

Speaking at the two-day event, Director, Public Affairs department of the NCC, Reuben Mouka, disclosed that the training was in line with the vision of the Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, Dr. Aminu Maida in building capacity across every segment of the industry.

According to him, the training, which kicked off Thursday in Lagos, was designed to keep telecoms and ICT reporters abreast of emerging trends, regulatory strides and prospects in the telecoms industry, especially in Nigeria.

He said that the CEO, Dr. Maida insisted that its stakeholders and media partners should learn, relearn and be well equipped with relevant knowledge and skills to do their jobs effectively and efficiently.

Meanwhile, in a lecture, titled: “Overview of the Nigerian Telecoms Industry and the Roles of the NCC,” Also, a top management staff of the Commission, Nwanko Okorie, who delivered the lead paper entitled: “Overview of the Nigerian Telecoms Industry and the Roles of the NCC”, said the responsibility of the Commission as a regulatory agency is to protect younger operators and ensure that giant operators do not stifle them out of the market.

She assured that the Commission would continue to allow healthy competition and also discourage monopoly in the telecommunications industry.

“As at September 2024, there were 153 million GSM subscribers in the country. A lot of people will question why we have 153 million subscribers from the previous 198 million. This is because of the SIM-NIN linkage. “When we did that SIM-NIN linkage, we found out that so many numbers were not in use.

“So when we now deactivated those numbers, the number of subscribers came down to 153 million and the broadband penetration of the 3G and 4G is about 41.66 per cent.

“The telecoms industry has contributed about 16 per cent of the GDP. “Some people will tell you that telecommunication is the next oil”, Okorie said.

Other speakers addressed various topical issues, including data journalism and visualisation tools, consumers and data usage, connectivity and resilience and digital economy, among others.

The training also featured different sessions by senior officials from selected departments of the Commission and experts drawn from relevant segments of the industry.