Nigerian regulator effects internal changes

THE Nigerian government on Wednesday announced changes to the structure of the Nigerian Communications

Commission (NCC), the apex government regulatory agency in the telecommunication industry.
The highpoint of the changes is the redeployment of directors and creation of a new department in a move to strengthen the nation’s telecoms regulator.

In the new changes announced at the commission in Abuja by the Executive Vice Chairman, Dr. Eugene Juwah, a deputy director, Engr. Maska Ubale, was drafted to head the Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Department, an area which Dr. Juwah recently said would receive a lot of attention in his regime as most of the issues confronting the industry can be traced to poor level of compliance by the operators.

Dr. Juwah also announced the creation of a new department, Projects office, which will oversee the implementation of the various projects of the commission, including SIM Card registration, Emergency Communication Centres, Number Portability among others, with a deputy director, Mr. Abdullahi Maikano, appointed to head the department and report directly to the EVC.

In the changes, several other directors swapped positions. Former Director of Policy, Competition and Economic Analysis (PCEA) Mrs. Mary Uduma, was moved to head the Consumer Affairs department, a position she swapped with former Director of Consumer Affairs, Mrs. Lolia Emakpore who now heads the PCEA.
Ms. Funlola Akiode, formerly the Director of Compliance and Enforcement Monitoring, is moved to head the department of Corporate Planning and Strategy, while Mr. Efosa Idehen, an Assistant Director in Corporate Planning Department, moves over to the Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Department to head its enforcement unit.

Also, an assistant director, formally of the PCEA, Mr. Abubakar Yakubu, moves over to the Corporate Planning Department to head the consultancy unit of the department while another assistant director and Mr. Augustine Odoh, formerly of the Compliance Monitoring Department now heads the NCC’s Zonal office in Port Harcourt.

Mr. Inatimi Spiff, an assistant director and formerly the head of the Port Harcourt Zonal Office is redeployed to the PCEA department.

Mr. Okoh Aihe, formerly the head of the Corporate Services Unit of the Universal Services Provision Fund, USPF, moves over to the office of the Executive Vice Chairman as the Special Assistant to the EVC on Media.
In a memo directed at the affected staff, Dr. Juwah was reported to have stated that the “exercise is meant to re-energise the departments and functional lines of the commission to re-inject dynamism and functional mobility in the deployment of staff, geared towards making the workforce more rounded”.

SIMEON OGOEGBULEM in Abuja, Nigeria