LAGOS (Sundiatost) – Former Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Engr. Ernest Ndukwe, who emerged winner of last Sunday’s senatorial primaries under the platform of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Anambra South, has expressed appreciation to the people of his zone and promised to render selfless service if elected in the February, 2015 senatorial election.
In a press statement issued by his media managers and made available to SundiataPost, Ndukwe promised to complement the effort of his state governor, Chief Willie Obiano in the infrastructural development of the state particularly Anambra South which currently lacks federal presence.
Besides his desire to attract democracy dividends to his Anambra South senatorial zone, Ndukwe has given indication of his readiness to join forces with other progressives in the Senate if elected, to reposition Nigeria’s technological pursuit not only in the telecoms sector where he is an expert but other spheres.
According to him, Nigeria as a developing nation must wake up to strategically reposition herself scientifically and technologically so as to take a pride of place in the global race for supremacy. He firmly believes that the country is highly blessed with millions of intellectuals whose only obstacle to achieving greatness for their fatherland is poor governance occasioned by a combination of factors among which is corruption in leadership positions.
The former NCC boss may not have taken active participation in politics before now, but many observers believe that with his pedigree as a technocrat of repute who championed the repositioning of Nigeria’s telecoms industry, he has what it takes to give quality service as a potential lawmaker.
It would be recalled that he served as the Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Communications Commission for two terms of five years each. His tenure brought about the GSM revolution which gave millions of Nigerians access to mobile communication, thereby making life easy and providing employment for a large number of people.
His profile reveals that prior to his emergence as NCC boss, he had diligently worked and maintained good records in several places like the Radio Communications Nigeria Limited and GEC (Telecommunications) Nigeria Limited; a multinational communications company which he joined in 1981 as Engineering manager. He rose to become the Managing Director/Chief Executive of the company.
He was appointed the Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NCC on February 18, 2000. Within his first five-year term in office, he set the pace that transformed Nigeria’s telecoms sector into the liberal industry it is today where the average citizen irrespective of social status can conveniently make and receive calls via the mobile system.
His commitment to duty and penchant for excellence had helped to assure of his re-appointment for a second term after the first five years in office. Within his first term in office, the nation’s telecoms sector moved from the bottom of the ladder to the top ten fastest growing mobile phone subscriber base countries in the world such that by October, 2009 Nigeria’s subscriber base had grown to about 70 million connected lines as against 400,000 in December, 2000.