Mr. Olusola Teniola, president, Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), has said that they are poised to foster healthy competition in the Nigerian telecom industry.
He stated this over the weekend at the 3rd Nigeria Tech Innovation and Telecom Awards (NTITA 2019) held at Oriental Hotel, Lagos.
The event organized by Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and powered by Instinctwave Africa’s leading B2B event organizer, was themed: ‘Rewarding excellence in the ICT sector’.
Teniola, speaking at the event, stated that their aim of organizing the awards was to foster healthy competition in the Nigerian telecom industry.
According to him, “As you all know that ATCON as an institution rarely organises awards ceremonies, this series under NTITA, is an exception, because we have a consultant who has convinced us beyond any doubt that our teeming members deserve some accolades in the form of awards to motivate them to do more in terms of changing the narrative of the Nigerian telecoms sector.
“We took the initiative to collaborate with the organizer to give awards to some government institutions and telecom and IT companies that have championed innovation and creativity in the last few years in order to reposition the efficiency of the industry.
“This innovation has impacted positively on the products and services being rendered by all these organizations and ATCON thought the only way to encourage further innovation in the industry is to reward those who are not resting on their oasis but striving to make a difference in the sector.
“Nigeria as a nation can only take advantage of the digital revolution that is going on in the world if more attention is given towards youth creativity”.
He explained that the event will help to drive further investment into the sector both locally and internationally.
“It is believed that the adoption of creativity and innovation would automatically lead to further investment in the sector both locally and internationally.
“The new innovations require further investment for its continuity and ATCON plans to use this reward system in the form of giving awards to establishments who see innovation as a key driver of the industry and are acknowledged and motivated to do more.
“As some companies and individuals will receive awards today it is our utmost belief that it would encourage innovation and creativity that would not only disrupt the Nigerian telecom sector but will impact globally. This we believe would influence further investment in the sector.
“We also decided to collaborate with InstinctWave to give the most authoritative and recognized awards to innovative and deserving individuals because our industry has contributed a lot to the Nigeria GDP (figuratively; according to NBS latest statistics: 13%).
“Our thinking is that if we decide to ignore the contribution that our sector has made to the development of Nigeria by not recognizing the actors that made it possible.
“What we are saying invariably is that we are ungrateful to their concerted efforts in changing the story of our industry.
“We hope with this initiative of rewarding excellence Nigerian government would pay more attention to our sector by removing all barriers that are militating against the growth of our industry like multiple taxation, right of way issues and lack of disbursement of forex at the official rate to our sector,” Teniola added.
The event witnessed the induction of leading and extraordinary ICT personalities, like Mr. Wale Ajisebutu, executive chairman, 21st Century Technologies Limited, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, board chairman, MTN Nigeria, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, secretary to the Government of Akwa Ibom State and Mr. Biodun Disu, chairman, PPC Limited, into NTITA Hall of Fame