He came, saw and has delivered. He is a man of uncommon achievements who has etched his name in history books for the tremendous growth and transformation of the telecom industry in Nigeria.
This is Ernest Ndukwe, executive vice chairman, Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), who will end his now legendary 10-year tenure of five years each at the NCC this week.
Though some may love to hate him, Ndukwe’s reputation precedes him.
An accomplished engineer and administrator, Ndukwe transformed the NCC into a transparent, open agency and model for the developing world.
He was first appointed EVC in February 2000 and reappointed in April 2005 for a second term.
From day one, Ndukwe recognized that ICT is an engine for sustainable development and therefore created the enabling environment which stimulated significant direct and local investment now standing at $18 billion.
In the course of his 10 year tenure, Ndukwe built a strong stakeholders’ tripod: government, operators and the consumers.
This tripod ensures that the various stakeholders are carried along in the day to day activities in the information technology (IT) and telecom space while bolstering confidence.
He also steered the telecom revolution which has resulted in nearly 80 million telephone lines from just 450,000 lines in 1999. Today, the cellphone rings at random; it is no respecter of age, gender, occupation and status.
To his credit also is the excitement of economy as the telecom revolution created thousands of jobs directly and even more indirectly.
The revolution has stimulated the banking industry by way of increased transactions, the media by way of adverts and the construction industry which manufacture masts and towers, giant metal contraptions that dot the country’s skyline.
Recognizing that sustainable growth depends on its people, the NCC under Ndukwe established the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), the first of its kind in Africa for human capital development.
The NCC has also set up the Telecom Consumer Parliament, the alternative dispute resolution mechanism (ADR) which has proven to be superior to lawsuits and litigation and generally faster and less expensive.
By all standards, Ndukwe has done very well but had some shortcomings too.
For instance, in the euphoria of the mobile revolution, the landline was annihilated.
And the revolution is not even widespread as majority of the over 70 million mobile phones are in the hands of the same people who have three and sometimes four phones in attempt to overcome the problems of quality of service.
It is also shocking that despite the burgeoning activities in the telecom space, there are still some Nigerians who have never heard the phone ring.
The majority of the populace is still at the outskirt of the telecom circle.
Whoever that succeeds Ndukwe has more work to do.
Elsewhere, like landline growth, broadband has also not kept pace with the phenomenal growth in mobile connection.
And with all the well intended efforts of the NCC under Ndukwe in interconnect rate determination; Nigeria’s tariff regime is still high compared to world’s standard.
The confusion over modalities for the Sim card registration has succeeded in creating dimple on the well intended effort to promote national security.
These are obviously some of the challenges his successor will have to tackle to continue overwhelming feats recorded by Ndukwe.
In all, Ndukwe is a man of character and has done very well.
