Following the death of Engr. Victor Adetunji Haffner, the first Nigerian CEO of
a Telecom company and a 1974 President of International Telecommunications
Union’s Administrative Council, industry players have expressed their
condolences and reflected on his contributions to the sector. He was buried in
Lagos Saturday.
Engr. Haffner (FNSE., FAEng) who died at 96 years of age, was one of the founding fathers of the Communication Technology industry, an industry he traversed for over two decades from November 1954 when he was employed as pupil engineer in the Nigerian Posts and Telecommunications, P & T., and 1975 when he retired as Managing Director of the Nigerian External Telecommunications, (NET) Ltd. He however continued making invaluable contributions to the development of the industry up till he breathed his last on November 5, 2015.
In a Tribute signed by some Telecom industry players, Engr. Haffner is described as the first among equals in the engineering profession. He was registered as Engineer No 00001 with the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, (COREN).
According to the Tribute, “As
telecommunications engineer, Engr. Haffner coordinated the provision of point
to point telephone and telegraphic services in virtually all major cities of
Nigeria for the public service, as well as for police, maritime and
aeronautical services.
During his tenure at the Nigerian External Telecommunications
Ltd, he led the local counterpart technical team to provide communication for
the SYNCOM Project, the pioneer experience of the United States of America’s
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) which launched its
experimental satellite into orbit from Lagos in 1963.
He also conceived the
NECOM House, a 32-story skyscraper purpose-built as a telecoms gateway and
currently stands as the tallest building in Lagos.” Pa Haffner also
served at various times at British Telecoms, Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company
and Marubeni Corporation, and was a member of the first Commission of the
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The tribute, which states “We celebrate his accomplishments and we are proud of the rich legacies he bequeaths to our generation.” was signed by 10 Telecom industry leaders including Biodun Disu (PPL Ltd); Biodun Omoniyi (VDT Communications); Emmanuel Ekuwem (Teledom Group), Ernest Ndukwe (Open Media Group); Funke Opeke (MainOne); Johnson Adegbulugbe (JayGroup); Lanre Ajayi (PINET); Nadu Denloye (CDNet); Stanley Jegede (Phase 3 Telecoms) and Titi Omo-Ettu (Telecom Answers Associates).
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