The fourth in the series, the event, which is scheduled to hold at the Citiheight Hotel, Ikeja Lagos on Thursday August 8, 2024 has its theme as “Impact of AI On National Development: Prospects, Policies, and Challenges in Nigeria”.

Dr. Maida will lead industry regulators and decision makers in the various ICT subsectors, both in the private and public sectors, to discuss issues that will engender growth in the industry, and further position it as the nation’s economy driver.

Speaking on the event, Mr. Chike Onwuegbuchi, the chairman, NITRA, noted: “The theme of this year conference is aimed at complementing the various efforts by governments and private sector operators towards a digitalised Nigeria, especially in the area of Artificial Intelligence”.

The event targets to bring stakeholders in the ICT industry to discuss and find ways of accelerating artificial intelligence (AI) growth in the industry as a means of achieving laudable federal government set targets and policies, including those recorded in policy documents by the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, the NCC and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

These documents include NITDA’s Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP 2024-2027)2.0; the National Policy for the Promotion of Indigenous Content (NPPIC); The National Telecommunications Policy; the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2020-2025; and National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS).

Under its “NITRA ICT Growth Conference”, which seeks to bring a multi-sectorial development agenda, NITRA is organising a multi-panel interactive conference that will look at the themes that include:

• “Driving Sub-Sectoral Digital Growth With Artificial Intelligence”.
• “Navigating the Dangers of AI In A Developing Economy: Role of Public, Private Stakeholders”.

Mr. Onwuegbuchi, while commending stakeholders for their support of the event and passion for the growth of technology in Nigeria, noted that the growth in the ICT industry will impact all other sectors of the economy positively.

“Specifically, the Forum will offer stakeholders the opportunities of reassessing and reinvigorating some policies to make maximum impact in the growth of AI in Nigeria. This is a growth conference, and stakeholders will be allowed to speak out on what the growth indices should be.” he said.

Expected to be at the event include the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani; Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Aminu Maida; the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mr. Inuwa Kashifu Abdullahi; CEOs of government and private ICT companies; the Media including the full membership of NITRA and other stakeholders in the industry, including COOs, CIOs, CFOs, CROs and CCOs.

According to the General Secretary of NITRA, Mr. Chidiebere Nwankwo, industry associations will also make their inputs. They include ALTON, ATCON, NiRA, among others.

The forum was a workshop, organised to keep Nigerian journalists who specialise in reporting the telecom and ICT sector, abreast of emerging developments in the telecom industry, in order to ensure the general public receives contextual, interpretive and illuminating reporting of telecom matters.

The journalists, who attended the workshop under the aegis of the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters’ Association (NITRA), Abuja Chapter, reveled in the opportunity provided by NCC to glean emerging trends and topical regulatory issues in the telecom industry.

The workshop was part of NCC’s commitment to encouraging continuous professional development of journalists because the Commission sees good journalism as central, both to the achievement of its mandate and to the flourishing our nation’s democratic project.

The training programme featured intense sessions focused on understanding the renewal the Commission has brought to bear on many major industry issues, including International Termination Rate (ITR) for voice services, benefits of the National Identity Number/Subscriber Identity Module linkage (NIN-SIM integration), the menace of illegal use of GSM boosters, updates on Fifth Generation (5G) deployment plan, spectrum administration, as well as compliance monitoring and enforcement, and other emergent regulatory matters.

Speaking at the workshop, which also featured special focus group discussions facilitated by subject-matter experts and senior officials of the Commission from selected departments of the Commission, the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, said approval for the training was granted by Management as it is in tandem with the Commission’s media relations and stakeholder engagement strategy.

“Given the dynamic nature of the digital space and its impact on the economy, we believe this demands that our media partners are brought up to speed with the current requirements for maximum productivity and effective reporting of the telecom industry,” Danbatta, who was represented by Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, the Director, Public Affairs, asserted to justify the relevance of the workshop.

The EVC said, through capacity-building initiatives such as the workshop organised for professionals in the media industry, “we would build multually-beneficial relationships for sustained media support as we continue to discharge our mandate of regulating this dynamic sector for the benefit of Nigerians and the economy as a whole.”

Accordingly, Danbatta said NITRA is a long-standing strategic partner of the Commission and the knowledge empowerment programme through this workshop seeks to provide a platform for equipping stakeholders in the media with the knowledge and skill sets they require for effective, efficient and professional reporting.

The EVC, who commended the media stakeholders for their support over the years, said, without the support from journalists and other communication professionals, NCC would not have been able to deliver on its mandate as effectively as it is has done over the years.

Accordingly, Danbatta enjoined all members of NITRA to continue to support NCC’s programmes, activities, and initiatives with the same enthusiasm with which they have been prioritising timely, adequate and accurate reportage of the nation’s telecom sector to enhance Nigeria’s growth and development.

Danbatta also stated that the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030, the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2020-2025, the NCC Strategic Management Plan (SMP) 2020-2024, the creation of a Digital Economy Department in the Commission, among others, underscored the policy directions of the Federal Government which the NCC is diligently driving by working with relevant industry stakeholders, including the media, to deepen commitment to a digital Nigeria.

“So, it is expected that by empowering the media as our key stakeholders, they would be willing to ensure that members of public are accurately and adequately informed and are aware of the Commission’s regulatory strides toward building a robust digital economy for our country,” the EVC said.

Speaking on behalf of members of NITRA after the training, the Chairman NITRA, Abuja Chapter, Blessing Olaifa, commended the Commission for providing a platform for sensitisation of media stakeholders on contemporary matters within the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) ecosystem, particularly the telecom industry and especially the initiatives of the Commission in protecting telecom’s consumers.

Olaifa, who was represented by NITRA’s Secretary-General, Emmanuel Elebeke, applauded the Commission for consistently supporting and partnering with the media organization. Olaifa stated that this demonstrates how transparent and accessible NCC has been to its stakeholders.

“We must commend NCC for its regulatory strides over the years. The success of the 5G auction in December last year easily comes to mind as one of the recent achievements of the Commission, among several others. So, this capacity-building programmes will help to provide a collaborative partnership for an advanced digital economy and towards boosting the fortunes of ICT for development in Nigeria. Today, we have been thoroughly enlightened as better specialists in ICT journalism,” Olaifa said.