A goat and a SHEgoat.
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I commenced working in the Nigerian telecommunications industry on August 16, 1974 and retired from it in July 2014 at a time we had started to describe the industry as Communication Technology. In between, I worked for Government and for myself essentially doing consulting and training for my living and some substantial advocacy works for the good of the industry. In 2018, I retired finally and went back to live permanently in my native place of birth.
Early in 2018, Distinguished Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye, who was Chairman of NCC, reached to me to ask that I supported his work at NCC where he was Chairman of the Commission and I obliged on mutual agreement that any work I would do would be part-time and I would not have to live outside of my village. He eventually appointed me Chairman of Digital Bridge Institute on October 5, 2018.
Sixteen months into the busy tenure, I resigned my appointment on January 20, 2020, for reasons that I made known to the NCC, which supervised my work, and to the public via my blog page. Simply, I quit because I no longer found it reconcilable to continue in the system. One, the quality of supervision we got from the Commission was not acceptable to me. It was like we were being run as a project that must fail. Besides, I read the industry and found it was no longer the type I should associate with any further. In particular, I reviewed the entire industry vis-a-vis the focus, equipment, and temperament of the Honorable Minister in charge of the industry and I thought I had stayed enough.
About the time of my resignation, I submitted to an interview pressure from the Guardian newspaper, the first to any newspaper since I retired in 2014, and discussed an assessment of the industry. Specifically, I said I saw a turbulent industry in the short future and a concern for investments already made that could be fatally wounded. The young man who anchored the interview asked what I thought should be done to avert that, and I suggested it should be left for those who play in the industry, especially the investors, to say. I said, as an example, that they might need to take a copy of the operating Communications Act and send it to the Minister for his study after which they should invite him to resolve some issues if they found any. If they didn’t find any, they should simply ignore my doomsday alert. He pressed for exactly how that would play out and I said that was what industry associations were meant to do.
The interview is published at https://m.guardian.ng/technology/comtech-industry-growth-is-declining-future-looks-turbulent/amp/
Good morning.
***Trending issues:
1. The Minister fields questions on 5G, COVID-19, and Security in the following clip:
https://youtu.be/cLQbXPSunQ0
2. The EVC, NCC fields questions on 5G, COVID-19 and Security in the following clip:
3. President ATCON fields questions on 5G, COVID-19 and Security in the following clip:
Watched the video interviews. Nigerians deserve better.