NCC Urges African Regulators to Strengthen Ties for Smarter Digital Governance
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has urged telecommunications regulators across Africa to deepen collaboration and leverage data-driven strategies to improve digital governance and regulatory effectiveness.
Speaking at the Heads of Regulators Roundtable during the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) Conference of Plenipotentiaries (CPL-26) in Abuja, the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida, highlighted the growing importance of communications regulation in advancing economic growth, digital transformation, and national development across the continent.
Dr. Maida noted that while African regulators operate under different legal and market conditions, they continue to face similar challenges, including expanding infrastructure, strengthening cybersecurity, improving affordability, managing satellite services, ensuring network resilience, and adapting to emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence.
He emphasized the value of sharing experiences among regulatory bodies, stating that many challenges confronting one country have often been addressed elsewhere on the continent. According to him, establishing more structured and consistent knowledge-sharing mechanisms would help regulators tackle complex policy issues more efficiently.
Describing the theme of the roundtable, “Building Africa’s Network Intelligence Ecosystem for Evidence-Based Regulation,” as timely, Dr. Maida said the initiative presents an opportunity for African nations to harness data and market intelligence to make more informed regulatory decisions.
Also speaking at the event, NCC Executive Commissioner for Stakeholder Management, Rimini Makama, observed that developments in broadband, satellite technology, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and digital public infrastructure are rapidly reshaping the communications landscape.
She stressed that although regulators now have access to vast amounts of technical and consumer data, the priority should be converting that information into actionable insights that can drive better outcomes for both industry stakeholders and consumers.
The Heads of Regulators Roundtable is part of broader efforts by African communications authorities to strengthen regional cooperation, promote evidence-based policymaking, and build resilient, innovative, and consumer-focused digital ecosystems across the continent.
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