Apex telecommunications regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) have assured support for the 2021 edition of the ITREALMS E-Waste Dialogue scheduled at Adam’s Hall, Welcome Centre Hotels, International Airport Road, Ikeja, Lagos by 9am next Thursday.

Similarly, experts from the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), Environmental Health Officers Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON) and E-Waste Producer Responsibility Organisation of Nigeria (EPRON) to name a few, have lined up to dissect the theme of the dialogue “e-Waste in Nigeria: Consumer as key to Circular Economy & 20 years of GSM.”

Confirming these at the weekend, the editor-in-chief, ITREALMS Media group, Mr. Remmy Nweke, said that the ITREALMS E-Waste Dialogue, slated for Thursday, December 9, 2021, at Adams Hall, Welcome Centre Hotels, Lagos would have the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta deliver a keynote address to the occasion.

Danbatta’s keynote, Nweke revealed would focus on “20 years of GSM and e-Waste in Nigeria” while ALTON chairman, Engr Gbenga Adebayo would share insight on “ALTON: 20 years of GSM and e-Waste in Nigeria.”

Nweke noted that the importance of tackling electronic waste in the country cannot be over-emphasised, as the nation celebrates 20 years of Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) which made it easier for inflow of electronic devices and usage in the most populated African nation.

Pointing out that the Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) emanates from the likes of mobile phones, computers, TV-sets, and fridges among other electronic devices have become a set of fastest growing waste streams across the globe.

Nweke also noted that Professor Danbatta as the Chief Executive Officer of NCC is serving a second term of five years in office, following the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2020.

Danbatta earned his BEng, MSc degrees from the Technical University of Wroclaw in Poland and received his PhD from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST).

As a multiple award-winning professor, Danbatta successfully spearheaded the attainment and surpassing of Nigeria’s national broadband target in 2018, and he is currently among those leading the charge for the realization of the new national broadband target of 70 per cent by 2025, after the country achieved and surpassed its earlier national target of 30 per cent penetration in 2018.

In no small measure, Danbatta has strengthened the role of the telecommunications sector as a major contributor to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, and boosted telecoms investment inflows from $36 billion to over $70 billion since 2015, among others.

Prior to his appointment as EVC/CEO of NCC in 2015, Danbatta, was a professor of telecommunications engineering, who worked in academia as lecturer where he supervised over 60 PhD, MEng and BEng projects in diverse areas of telecommunications, rising to the position of Acting Vice-Chancellor in a Nigerian university.

He was the Vice-President of the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), an international centre for advanced communications studies established in 2004 by the Commission (NCC) for capacity in diverse areas of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

Further, Nweke said that ALTON is a body corporate, duly registered in Nigeria and recognized by the government of and NCC as the official industry body for all providers of telecommunications and subsidiary services in Nigeria.

ALTON is ably led by Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, the Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer of Communication Network Support Services Limited Group of Companies, whose operations cuts across Telecommunication Network maintenance, Call and Contact Centre Service, Media, Broadcasting, Agriculture, Hotels and Hospitality Services, Medical and Hospital Services.

ITREALMS Media, he said, in commemoration of the International E-waste Day (IeWD) 2021, has advanced plans to host a day discourse on e-Waste in Nigeria: Consumer as key to Circular Economy & 20 years of GSM under its flagship ITREALMS e-Waste Dialogue scheduled for Thursday, December 9, at the Welcome Centre Hotels, International Airport Road, Ikeja, Lagos.

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