The recent announcement of elder parliamentarian, Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye, as Chair of the NCC causes no furore, but for his age, chiefly because of the man’s integrity profile, writes Correspondent, SAM NWOKORO
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is a globally-respected regulatory body because of the manner it has guided the communications industry since the breezy deregulation of the sector at the turn of the century. It remains, so far, one of the oldest regulatory institutions Nigeria can boast about in the contemporary world of commerce and free enterprise. The government also obviously recognises this and is ever careful about the calibre of personalities it selects to superintend its affairs. That is why any chairman or executive vice chairman or commissioner that has ever been appointed for NCC has posted added value in the very dynamic regulatory oversight of the telecom sector with its litany of issues that regularly occur, as the industry undergoes trend catch-ups.
The chairman of NCC board, no doubt, is a sensitive position that deserves not just any above-average integrity quotient. It must be a suave, spotless, focused, respectable, integrity-conscious personality that appreciates the enormity and value of the job. The chairman of NCC heads the sort of advisory body that rubs minds with the government on industry policy issues. So the appointment is a call not just to national assignment, but also a global one. The chairman and other commissioners are expected to always be in the know about the latest issues in the industry, be familiar with the sundry state and inter-state protocols and conventions governing the sector to which Nigeria is signatory, as well as the domestic regulations of the sector. These qualities are essential so that the board can render quality advice to authorities.
The appointment of Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye as Board Chairman of NCC has not received any disapproval from Nigerians, chiefly because the parliamentarian, though now advanced in age, has led a pro-people public life. He remains one of the federal lawmakers that have not been found enmeshed in scandal, in and outside the parliament, though he has been senator since nearly a decade, besides being a politician of note since the return to civilian politics in 1999.
According the news report announcing his appointment: “President Muhammadu Buhari has requested the Senate to confirm nominees into positions of Chairman, Executive Commissioner and Non-Executive Commissioners of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The president’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said Buhari made the request through a letter dated August 2, sent to President of the Senate, Abubakar Bukola Saraki.
The statement said Sen. Durojaiye (South West) was nominated as Chairman, while Sunday Dare (South West) got the nod as Executive Commissioner, Stakeholders Management. Those nominated as Non-Executive Commissioners, according to the statement, are Aliyu Sa’idu Abubakar (North East), Clement Omeiza Baiye (North Central), Okoi Obono Obla (South South), Ezekiel Yissa (North Central) and Sen. Ifeanyi Araraume (South East).
“The nominations are in accordance with Section 8(1) of the Nigerian Communications Commission Act 2003,” the statement added.
Issues before NCC
The NCC, of course, needs people of integrity today to advise government on its activities, considering the issues involving numerous stakeholders whose interests cut across partisan lines. For one, if government plans sail through, NCC would be having two additional communication satellites before 2020, according to latest news report. That would mean more dynamism in the industry as the competition for broadband marketing to satisfy Nigerians’ thirst for improved broadband accessibility heats up. Already, the cries by subscribers for telecommunications companies (telcos) to insert “No Disturb” cues in their networks to save consumers the cost and embarrassment of unwanted calls and messages is not seriously being complied with. Perhaps only one network has complied.
Another very contentious issue that would require the sagacity of an effective NCC Advisory Board is the menace of states and local government authorities who disturb telcos from spreading network cables and other reception-enhancing facilities to the hinterlands. They charge sundry fees. Sometimes local urchins pull down their facilities if the telcos refuse to pay what they perceive as illegal exploitative charges, notwithstanding the mandate of the National Economic Council (NEC) urging all the tiers of government not to cause disruption of network over taxation. There would also certainly be a whole lot of legislative amendments as it applies to the communication sector in the days ahead as competition and breaches of rules reign. Who collects breach fines; NCC or Ministry of Communication? Durojaiye’s impute as one of the vocal legislators in the upper chamber would most be needed.
Antecedents
Senator Durojaiye was one of the foundation members of the defunct Alliance for Democracy (AD) that competed for political authority with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the return to democratic governance in 1999. He was an elected member of the 1988/89 Constituent Assembly. In 1992, he was a presidential aspirant on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), but lost to the late Moshood Abiola, who reportedly won the “freest and fairest” election in the annals of Nigeria. The election was annulled by the General Ibrahim Babangida regime in 1993, leading to the continuation of military rule. In December 1996, Durojaiye was arrested by the military regime of General Sani Abacha, and was imprisoned for 560 days. He was mistreated while in jail. A June 1997 report stated that the 63-year-old lawyer then was in poor health and suffering from high blood pressure. Amnesty International (AI) designated him a prisoner of conscience and campaigned for his release.
Durojaiye was a senator for Ogun East between 1999 and 2003. He was succeeded by Tokunbo Ogunbanjo. He was Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Establishment, and member of Special Projects committee. In December 2002, he recommended a life jail-term for anyone who perpetrated election fraud. He won the AD primaries to represent the party in the Ogun East constituency in the 2003 elections, although he was threatened with legal action by Adamo Yesufu, a rival for the nomination. In the event, the PDP candidate, Tokunbo Ogunbanjo, won the election.
Landmarks
A vocal parliamentarian throughout the period he was in the Red Chamber, Durojaiye goes down in history as the first person to sponsor a bill when democracy returned in Nigeria in 1999. The now famous phrase used randomly by NASS to attend to extraordinary national matters called ‘Urgent Matter of National Importance’ was first used by him when, on resumption of the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, he urged fellow parliamentarians to arrest the worrisome situation of petrol scarcity the country. He recently told journalists why the first and second NASS members fared better than those now in the chambers.
When asked why he was known as activist senator while in NASS, he replied: “It was my background and desire to serve and improve the lot of my people, to put things right. I also wrote the report on Odi, the sledge hammer on Odi. It was the Oyi of Oyi, Chuba Okadigbo, that was Senate President at that time. He led the team and he brought me to be part of it. And he appealed to me to write the report of what I saw. I wrote the report chastising the government of Obasanjo that, ‘that was an overkill. You were killing a mosquito with a sledge hammer’. It was too much. It was I who also raised a motion on the floor of the Senate that unless government paid the arrears of pensioners, we senators would refuse to accept our salaries at the end of that month. That also endeared our Senate at that time to the people of Nigeria that we were ready to make sacrifice and that jolted the government into action.”
His rating of the current NASS members reflects popular disgust about the chicanery now going on: “So, you could imagine now the racketeering going on, on pension funds which has seen pensioners’ dues being looted by few greedy and wicked public servants.”
What would he have done if he were in the Senate today, he said: “I would call for heavy punishment for such people. It doesn’t need much talk. It is simple. Stealing in greedy and wicked manner public and pensioners’ funds, as it has been witnessed now, should attract heavy punishment.”
Rare courage
Durojaiye uses the title Otunba as a pre-nominal style, thereby highlighting his position as a chieftain of the Yoruba people.
With a BSc. (Economics) London, and an LLB, London, he was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1979. He is a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. He also graduated from the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru in Jos, Nigeria’s premiere school for policy makers.
He worked for 35 years in the Nigerian public sector, including 28 years as a Director of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the National Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC). He worked with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Federal Reserve System in the U.S.A and the City University, London, between 1964 and 1982.
Nigerians expect that as NCC Board chair, he would bring this same nationalist passion to bear on the task given him.
