By Seun Adams
The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) and CEO of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Garba Danbatta, has emerged the MONEYReport Magazine’s ‘Man of the Year, 2020.
The award to the NCC boss will be unveiled tomorrow (Tuesday) 26, in Abuja in a strictly organized condition in adherence to the ruling protocols in the country, management of MoneyReport, said.
Making the announcement in Lagos over the weekend, the Publisher and Executive Editor of MONEYReport Magazine and Publications, Mr. Nik Ogbulie, said Danbatta emerged winner after considerations by the Board of Editorial Advisors of the publication at the end of the 2020 economic development calendar in the country, where the leadership efforts and impacts of major operators in the Nigerian economy were analysed and x-rayed.
Ogbulie, said: “The erudite scholar has demonstrated an outstanding and selfless sense of responsibility as a leader and a super transformer of the Nigerian communications industry, with commanding innovations that have optimized Nigeria’s very long walk to telecommunications efficiency.
Despite the negative impact of COVID-19 Pandemic, he said Danbatta’s effort has also improved the effectiveness of telecommunications and turned financial activities some 360 degrees, enabling financial and economic hot-spots within every 200 meters in major cities across the country.
The management of the magazine has indicated that the MONEYReport Man of the Year is a different brand of recognition for service, taking into consideration the strength of the activities of Nigerians that have the opportunity of enabling economic growth and the impact of such activities to a larger segment of the population.
The award, according to him, seeks to empower development operators in the system to do more by creating new innovations wherever they find themselves, Danbatta is currently doing.
The Publisher said: “As an international economic magazine focusing Nigeria’s relevance to global development, it is our duty to mainstream Nigeria’s best to the Global space with the intention of creating new roles for our best who possess the potentials of upholding international standards in what they do. This is also why our reports also focus activities where Nigerian operators, industries, banks, oil and gas, telecoms, education, health and capital market, as well as leaders, find good roles.”
The award-winning financial journalist noted that the deepening of the communications infrastructure is the first element that throws up the dialogue on financial inclusion which is considered the winning signals for the existence of a cashless society.
He added that Danbatta has changed the structure of the monolith, a static brick and mortar telecoms architecture, to an aerodynamic new technology. This is the greatest feat of the moment…It is believed that NCC’s roles in the last five years made the telecoms companies to stand on the brink of opportunities to respond to the raging pandemic. There is no doubt that the NCC may have become the 21st-century success story for the Nigerian economy.