Nigeria’s efforts to remain in the ITU Council were rewarded last week in Bussan, South Korea, after a nail-biting election.
The Nigerian campaign was spear-headed by Mrs. Omobola Johnson, minister of Communication Technology, and supported by Dr. Eugene Juwah, executive vice chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)
A visibly relieved Johnson congratulated the Nigerian delegates for the victory and urged them to work harder in the campaigns next time in order to make the outcome less anxious and stressful.
The Minister was referring to the thick anxiety that enveloped the Nigerian delegation when the name wasn’t called at the expected time.
The ITU Council is the highest decision making body and acts as the union’s governing body in the interval between Plenipotentiary Conferences while one of the Board’s main functions is to approve rules of procedures to facilitate application of the Radio Regulations, the international treaty governing the use of the radio-frequency spectrum and the geo-stationary-satellite and non-geostationary satellites orbits.
The 48 membership Council seats are distributed thus: The Americas (9 seats); Western Europe (8 seats); Eastern Europe and Northern Asia (5 seats); Africa (13 seats); and East Asia and Australia (13).
Although the seats are fairly distributed across the regions, a whole lot of international politicking and diplomatic maneuvering usually come into play and this saw countries like South Africa and Iran voted out of the Council.
According to a statement by Mr.Okoh Aihe, special assistant on media to the EVC NCC, said that the Commission formed the arrow-head of the country’s return to the ITU Council.
At a Dinner hosted by Nigeria for the delegates to the Plenipot, Dr Eugene Juwah, Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission told the gathering that there had been so much development in the country’s Communications sector, which she was ready to export and share with the international community.
Juwah, “The Nigerian Telecommunications industry has grown in leaps and bounds over the last decade. The growth rate continues to be impressive. Our industry statistics shows the Country’s Active voice Subscriber Base of about 132 million as at today; Tele-density of 92.41%; Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of over $32 Billion and Telecoms contributes 9% to Nigeria’s GDP.
“Nigeria still has tremendous opportunities for growth, especially in the area of broadband deployment.
“As a Country, we have valuable experiences to share. We have also been recognized in various fora globally for the achievements we have made in regulating and developing our telecommunications sector. We continue to enunciate programs and regulatory frameworks, as well as adapt global best practices in the regulation of our telecommunications industry. We carry out our regulatory role based on the principles of fairness, forthrightness and firmness. This has been demonstrated over the years in all the initiatives and programs we have implemented,” Juwah canvassed.
From the outcome of the elections the appeal hit a positive note as Nigeria was retained in the Council while some other high profile countries lost out.
Only last month Juwah was elected Chairman of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation; with both successes helping to increase Nigeria’s visibility at international fora as befitting fulfilment of one of his cardinal programmes on assumption of office four years ago.