Nigerian President to attend ITU Telecom World 2012

GOVERNMENT

By Kokumo Goodie, Lagos, Nigeria

Nigeria will present a high profile delegation at the ITU Telecom World 2012 in Dubai, UAE, with President Goodluck Jonathan attending as leader of the Nigerian delegation and special guest at the Nigerian Pavilion. He will also meet with global ICT leaders and investors at the forum between October 14 – 18, 2012 in Dubai.

ITU Telecom World 2012 is being organised by Geneva-based International Telecommunications Union, ITU, and prides itself as the biggest ICT forum that brings together governments and the private sector, regulators, investors, operators, vendors, and academia, youths and professionals of different hues, and equipment vendors, operators, and innovators.

Nigeria is billed to showcase investment and market opportunities for broadband whose campaign began at the last year’s forum where the Minister for Communication Technology, Omobola Johnson, and Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr Eugene Juwah, led the delegation that received commendations by the Secretary General of the ITU, Dr. Hamadoun Toure.

The Executive Vice chairman of the NCC has indicated that the theme of the country’s participation at the ITU World is: Nigeria Broadband – A Connected Nation.  This point will be canvassed by the President who will also use the occasion to assure the international community of Nigeria’s readiness to protect investments and promote competition in the spirit of deregulation and private sector participation. 

Nigeria is set to host the global ICT leaders to a closed door meeting and lunch while a special day has been set aside for hosting key participants at the forum including presentations at the Nigerian Pavilion where public and private institutions and companies are provided spaces to showcase their potentials to the world.

Speaking to the media about the country’s participation at ITU Telecom World, Dr Juwah said: “We want to tell potential investors that Nigeria remains the preferred investment destination in Africa. We will also explain to the investors the areas that still need their attention since we have sizeable progress in voice telephony.”

With over 100 million lines in just a decade of frenzied telecom revolution, Juwah believes very strongly that broadband technology, which can unlock data usage in Nigeria, remains the next major frontier in the country’s march to consolidate her position as the biggest telecoms market in the continent.