Nigerian Communications Commission -NCC, has donated about N500 million to Nigerian universities and other tertiary institutions in the country to facilitate research and innovations to promote developments in the Nigerian telecommunications industry.
Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Prof Umar Danbatta, who disclosed this at a two-day Regional Roundtable with Academia, Industry, and Other Stakeholders in Kano at the weekend, declared that the funds had been committed to research grants to universities and tertiary institutions, including professorial chairs in the universities, in salient areas to promote technology development.
Danbatta added that the commission was currently focused on supporting the academia in the commercialization of the prototypes from these innovative researches, remarking that this move was in line with the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy’s policy towards achieving indigenous technology for sustainable development of the country.
He went on to say that the roundtable, organized by the commission, was to provide the necessary platform to support the commercialization of locally-developed telecommunications innovations which NCC had been sponsoring.
NCC’s Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, Engr Ubale Maska, also disclosed that the commission had so far awarded at least 49 telecom-based research grants to the academia, out of which 10 prototypes were successfully developed and shown to industry stakeholders.
He stated that the R&D efforts of the Communications commission were aimed at actualizing some of the 8-point Pillar Eight of National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy -NDEPS, 2020-2030, focusing on Indigenous Content Development and Adoption.
