Juwah confirmed by Senate, as NCC gets new chairman, 2 commissioners

Nigerian Senate, Thursday in Abuja, confirmed Dr. Eugene Ikemefuna Juwah as the new Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

This is coming as the Senate Committee on Communications, where at the same session disbanded for purported irregulaties and poor screening of the latest list of candidates sent by the presidency for the post of EVC, some commissioners and chairman of the commission.

Juwah’s confirmation brings to an end the four–month search for replacement of Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, the erstwhile chief executive of the Commission whose two-term tenure ended in March, 2010.

ITRealms Online gathered that Juwah was confirmed alongside other nominees for the vacant positions of two commissioners at the telecom regulatory agency board including Mr. Peter Egbe Igho, a retired Permanent Secretary from Benue State who replaces Alhaji Ahmed Joda as Chairman, Dr. Okechukwu Itanyi, former Deputy Governor of Enugu State, who replaces Engr. Stephen Bello as Executive Commissioner, and Alhaji Mohammed Bintube from North East who replaces Engr. Patrick Kentebe as Commissioner.

Meanwhile, the Senate Committee on Communications, chaired by Senator Sylvester Anyanwu, was disbanded on Thursday by Senate President, Senator David Mark. He then ordered that the nominees be screened by the Senate during the plenary, and were subsequently confirmed.

Since the names of the nominees were read on the floor of the Senate last week, with telecom industry stakeholders applauding the appointment of Dr. Juwah, a strange delay was set in by the Committee in screening the nominees, which generated a palpable fear that the Committee leadership may have been working on a script to delay the nominees until October when the Senate resumes.

Dr. Juwah, with about 30 years hands-on experience as a telecoms engineer is seen by the Presidency as having the necessary credential to manage Nigeria’s telecom regulatory agency to maintain its international reputation.

The Delta State born telecom expert with a doctorate degree in Systems Engineering from the University Of Manchester, England, served as a Member, Subcommittee for Telecommunication Sector Liberalization and Restructuring in Nigeria in 2002, the committee that laid the solid foundation for the liberalization of the industry and enactment of the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003.

With his 30 years telecom experience in Nigeria spanning from the early 1990s when he managed the network operations of MTS Firsts wireless’ ETACS mobile telephony to the late 1990s when he superintended over the deployment of CIL, up until the early 2000 when he managed the deployment of CDMA network which saw MTS back into the fold, Dr. Juwah is seen to have traversed the entire Nigeria’s telecom industry.

He is said to be knowledgeable in digital exchanges, base station, data communication and subscriber access networks construction and operations having played coordinating roles in the set up of an ETACS, GSM and CDMA Mobile Networks in Nigeria at various times in Nigeria. Engr. Juwah’s forte is said to be his profound practical knowledge of pricing, billing, interconnection, licensing and regulatory affairs and network fraud control within the Nigerian environment.


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