General Yakubu Gowon (Rtd), former Nigerian head of state, will chair the
Nigerian Information Technology and Telecom Awards (Nitta) disclosing that he accepted to play this role considering that Nitta is geared towards rewarding hard work and engendering excellence in the country's ICT industry.
Ambassador Matthew Mbu, Nigeria’s former foreign affairs minister, has commended Nitta for raising the consciousness of the public on the activities of operators, service providers and government institutions in the Nigerian Information and Communications Technology industry. "The annual awards programme which gives due recognition to deserving products, services, operators and institutions has contributed immensely in shaping the Nigerian ICT industry, and ultimately the Nigerian economy," stated Ambassador Mbu. Mbu, who was Nigeria’s first high commissioner to the United Kingdom, made the observations when he accepted to play the role of Father of the Day at this year’s Nitta event, scheduled to hold on November 14 at Muson Centre, Lagos. According to him, "credible recognitions such as those bestowed on awardees at Nitta must be commended and the integrity of this particular programme needs to be commended so that the Nigerian ICT industry will continue to benefit from the quality work and contributions of those who win at each Nitta event." Besides, he added, "as we worry about quality of service issues, about infrastructure issues; about skilled manpower, among other challenges - those who have excelled despite these hurdles deserve to be recognized and commended, and this is where Nitta comes in and is doing a good job and I commend the organizers." Meanwhile, the organisers said enquiries from industry operators, service providers and the general public for this year’s event have almost doubled last year’s - a pointer to the fact that the interest generated by the event is extremely high. "They’ve been various phone calls, emails and indeed visits by various companies, service providers and operators, all wanting to be kept abreast of activities leading up to the D-Day," stated Mkpe Abang, editor-in-chief , IT & Telecom Digest, organisers of the event. He promised that the 2008 event will be one to remember even as he pointed out that it will coincide with the 7th anniversary of telecom revolution in Nigeria.
Abang said Nitta 2008 will feature awards in such areas as Mobile, VSAT, ISP, Telephone, Computer, Software, Banking Solution, among others; while there will also be individual awards in such areas as Personality, Smart phone, GSM Handset Brand and Telecom CEO of the year.
