The Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria
(ATCON) has honoured the first chief executive officer of the Nigerian
Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), Victor Adetunji Haffner, with a breakfast
discourse on his 92th birthday.
Speaking at the weekend in Lagos at the session, ATCON
president, Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu congratulated Haffner for turning 92 while
appreciating God.
“We celebrate and thank Almighty God for his life and
achievements which forever remains a cornerstone of our industry and its
development,” he declared.
Omo-Ettu accepted responsibility on behalf of all my peers
if the guest of honour, Pa Haffner, feels a tinge of disappointment about his
generation, given the haphazard nature of handling the affairs of this country;
its economy and well-being.
According to him, Haffner as a reputed engineer participated
in the launch of the first experimental rocket into space fired from The Marina
in Lagos in 1963 and who in 2011 was being told that launching of NigeriaSat2 and
NigeriaSatX is novel and from Russia.
He pointed out that though there is no harm in launching a
space rocket from anywhere, after all, the United States chose the Lagos Marina
in 1963 purely for technical, geographical and commercial reasons of proximity
to the equator.
The launching point, he said, is important considering the
availability of communication facility at the nearby headquarters of the
Nigerian External Telecommunications Limited, which had just then been renamed
from Cable & Wireless.
“… And which it pleased God Almighty to make Engr. Victor
Haffner its first Chief Executive,” Omo-Ettu noted.
Pointing out that the significant difference is that while
there was no large Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) whose President was to
witness the 1963 launch, there was one to witness the 2011 launch in Russia.
However, he said that the establishment of that famous
institution is one of the lasting legacies of Engr. Victor Haffner and his
compatriots.
“Pa Haffner and his compatriots also went ahead to canvass
for the establishment of Council of Registered Engineers (COREN), which he
meritoriously served as first President in 1972,” he said.
This moment, Omo-Ettu pointed out, coincided with a new
dawn, as the Federal Government recently approved the long-time clamour
that hitherto incongruent industries of telecommunications, broadcasting and
computing be restructured into a desirable unified entity for ease of
management of information technology resources, through the creation of
Ministry of Communications Technology (MCT) otherwise refers to ICT Ministry.
“This unification has been a long journey, unfinished and
unclear even at take off, but we have taken the first steps and promise to keep
going,” he said.
ATCON and likes of COREN, he also promised would continue to
be at the forefront of the struggle to make the case that the Federal
Government takes the nation out of darkness by pushing for true liberalization
in the energy sector - an experiment which under Pa Haffner leadership was
pushed for back in 1990s for telecommunications and which has proved to be an
inspired move and remains inspirational.
The discourse, he said, availed selected participants the
opportunity to dine with Pa Haffner and also to listen to the guest speaker; a
distinguished and senior colleague of counterparts in the accounting
profession.
Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
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