Posted by The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has often stressed the need of training a new generation of IT professionals who can handle the challenges of the modern digital world.
During his speech at the 2nd West Africa Communications Infrastructure Conference and Exhibition in Lagos, Aminu Maida, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, stressed the need of developing indigenous talent in order to meet the future needs of technology.
On behalf of Maida, NCC’s Head of Next Generation Technology and Standards Victor Adoga emphasized the value of local knowledge in adjusting to new technology norms.
The unveiling of 5G networks was hailed by the EVC as a watershed moment in the history of communications infrastructure. The conference emphasized that 5G has the ability to greatly improve speeds, decrease latency, and increase capacity, opening the door to a host of groundbreaking applications such as the IoT, autonomous vehicles, smart cities, and augmented reality.
5G is only the beginning. He went on to say that 6G will provide more network capabilities and the use of AI to control communications services and operations.
A large financial outlay is necessary for its distribution and hardware.
He elaborated by saying, “With the Internet of Things (IoT),” commonplace items may link to the web, gather data, and share it with others.
The 6G revolution, according to Maida, will improve health and increase efficiency across a variety of industries, including agriculture and healthcare.
According to him, this necessitated new approaches to communication information management and a substantial upgrade of pertinent hardware.
A robust digital economy, according to Maida, rests on the fiber optic network.
In order to improve internet availability and quality in Nigeria, he stressed, the expansion of fiber optic infrastructure is vital.
Concerning the disclosure and security of information, he stated that the necessity to safeguard and control the massive volumes of data supplied is growing in tandem with the use of digital services.
According to Maida, one of the most significant ways to safeguard user confidence and adhere to international data protection standards is to build local institutions and beef up information security procedures.
He went on to say that we need think about concrete ways to implement these processes, such forming partnerships between businesses, governments, and educational institutions to foster innovation and development.
Furthermore, he brought up the fact that in order to investigate these tendencies, we need to think about long-term measures like forming partnerships between the public sector, private sector, and academic institutions to spur innovation and growth.
Sharing infrastructure models that save costs and enhance service delivery might be the result of such agreements, according to the EVC.
Capital was also needed for telecommunications infrastructure development, he added, suggesting that infrastructure funds, public-private partnerships, and new forms of finance such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) may be the way to go.
Another important task is to construct our infrastructure, with a focus on sustainability. This encompasses not just ecological but also social and economic sustainability when designing and constructing systems.
Optimizing network management, predicting maintenance needs, and improving customer service through automation and sophisticated analytics all require integration with AI and ML.
He mentioned that one approach is to build smart infrastructure. This is because, as cities get smarter, the telecom infrastructure would need to change to accommodate various smart city applications, such as public safety solutions and traffic control systems.
“Today, we boast of over 219 million mobile subscribers and a burgeoning tech-savvy population eager to harness digital technologies,” Maida remarked, addressing the industry’s issues.
Our progress has been astounding, but we haven’t been able to avoid obstacles.
Problems including regulatory ambiguity, infrastructure gaps, and unequal service distribution have periodically slowed us down.
Despite the difficulties, he emphasized that they were all opportunities for improvement and new ideas.
How Nigeria figured into the international digital scene, according to Maida, would depend on how this road was traversed.