The Nigerian Communications Commission, (NCC) has said that utilizing the value from research output from the academia will aid improvement of businesses, development of new products and services as well as boost the telecommunications industry.
The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof Umar Danbatta made this known at the inauguration of the Inter-agency Committee for the Evaluation of 2018 Research Proposals from the Academia.
Danbatta said the objective is to deliberately utilize the capacity resident in the academia to redirect research activities that can impact on businesses and society, leading to the development of new products and services for the entire industry.
He affirmed that the industry has recorded appreciable growth over the years and a major contributor to the country’s GDP, adding that the sector has capacity to contribute to the expansion of knowledge in the academia and consequently benefit from such contributions.
The Vice Chairman said the commission has created a department of Research and Development to consolidate all research activities in the telecom sector, stressing that it has become a major catalyst and facilitator of growth and development of other industries
According to him, the aim is to be able to use the intervention to address industry problems as well as some other societal issues.
He tasked the Committee members to go through every document in order to achieve a very fair assessment of every submission stressing that it is committed to the implementation of the selected proposals and can vouch for their sustainability.
Speaking at the event, Head, Research and Development Mr Bashir Ioris said his team’s responsibilities include the coordination of research proposals from the Academia in line with the EVe’s 8-point Agenda, aimed at promoting ICT innovation and investment opportunities; and facilitation of Strategic partnerships with relevant ICT Stakeholders to seek solutions to challenges in the telecommunications industry in Nigeria.