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THE Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has charged Microsoft Nigeria to contribute to the digital infrastructure drive in the country. NCC said aside building manpower and driving innovation, Microsoft should deepen its presence by improving physical infrastructure presence that can boost economic development of Nigeria.
Umar Danbatta, executive vice chairman, NCC, being the regulator, the commission’s need to be at the cutting edge of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, AI, 5G, Block chain, Internet of Things, IoT, and Cloud computing cannot be overemphasized. Danbatta made the call during a courtesy visit to the commission in Abuja by the senior management team of Microsoft Nigeria.
Ubale Maska, executive commissioner, technical services, NCC, who received Microsoft team on behalf of Danbatta, said collaboration with key industry players would drive the frontiers of digital ecosystem in Nigeria. “We expect to see more digital presence of Microsoft in Nigeria in the area of building Data Centre to service Nigerian market, create jobs and add value to the economy more rather than just being more of a sales company in Nigeria,” he said.
Maska said providing such data centres by Microsoft would also be desirable as “it will also help to guarantee our data protection in the country, given that Nigeria is now generating a lot of data through Information and Communication Technology, ICT, and it is better to keep the data locally to avoid cyber-security breaches. He further stated that the commission would be willing to work with Microsoft both for the regulator’s internal processes and more importantly, in industry-oriented issues around emerging technologies and data security.
On his part, Gafar Lawal, managing director, Microsoft Africa Development Centre and leader of the Microsoft delegation, said the purpose of the visit was to explore areas of collaboration with the NCC in the area of intelligence telecommunications. “We are in the era of intelligence telecommunications and to enhance this, a telecom regulator has to drive the new era of telecommunications.
In order to foster that growth, we at Microsoft believe it is very important to partner with NCC in this era of AI, IoT and other emerging technologies,” he said.
Lawal explained that Microsoft has set up customer support centre in Nigeria, which currently employs over 1,000 Nigerians, who are serving the West African market and beyond as well as the establishment of the African Development Centre to train manpower in Nigeria, saying, however, that while the idea of having a data center in Nigeria is novel, “future of Nigeria is in its people and not necessarily in infrastructure”.
– Oct. 25, 2019 @ 16:59 GMT |
Tags: NCC charges Microsoft to deepen presence in Nigeria
