NCC plans overhaul of telecoms sector

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In a bid to drive its regulatory mandate in the fast-evolving telecoms industry, the Nigerian Communications Commission has unveiled a new five-year strategic management plan spanning 2013 to 2017.

The formal unveiling of the plan by the Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah, was the culmination of over 12 months of industry consultations in a process managed by PriceWaterHouseCoopers with a cross section of the industry stakeholders and employees of the commission making inputs at various stages of its articulation, the NCC said in a statement on Sunday.

Juwah, who presided over the presentation of the plan by PWC to the senior management employees of the commission, before handing over to the Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, Mr. Okechukwu Itanyi, said the new SMP would serve as a roadmap for the future, taking into consideration the current and emerging trends in the industry, and the numerous expectations of diverse stakeholders.

He said the SMP was a living document, which must be consulted regularly to ensure that the commission was on track towards achieving the objectives that had been collectively articulated.

“A robust SMP like ours has many purposes such as ensuring the alignment of day-to-day work to the commission’s strategy; prioritizing programmes and projects to achieve NCC’s goals and objectives; ensuring optimal use of NCC’s recourses; providing objective basis for performance monitoring and management, and meeting the commission’s vision and mission,” he said.

After the ceremonial commitments to the new SMP by all the directors and heads of departments on behalf of the entire staff, Itanyi told the workers that the declaration was an affirmation and a commitment to executive all tasks assigned to them in their departments’ scorecards within the lifespan of the strategic plan and would serve as a measure of their performance.

The commission also announced an adjustment of its mission, which now reads: “To support a market-driven communications industry and promote universal access,” while the new adjusted vision reads: “To be a responsive world class communications regulatory organisation.”

The Director, Public Affairs, NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo, who expatiated on the new vision and mission, said both we predicated on the dynamic nature of the industry today.

He said the idea of the new mission designed to support market-driven communications industry and promote universal access was because of the new direction the industry was taking, especially in the area of convergence and frontiers of broadband Internet services which were all aimed at providing quality access to all.

On the new vision, which is to be a responsive communications industry regulator, he said it would put the commission in a position to quickly respond to the dynamics of the industry for optimum delivery to all stakeholders, especially the consumers.

He said the overarching principle behind the new mission and vision was “to promote an information-rich environment that can compete globally through the provision of quality communications service”.

The Director of Corporate Planning and Strategy, Ms. Funlola Akiode, said the journey to produce the SMP was arduous but worth the while.  She commended the staff and stakeholders for contributing to the success of the document.

PUNCH