By Chesa Chesa, Myke Uzendu
As part of efforts to enlighten the public on the growth trajectory and challenges facing the telecoms sector, Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) on Wednesday organized a two-day workshop in Abuja for senior journalists on trends, regulatory strides, challenges and prospects for consolidating the gains in the industry.
In his opening remarks at the workshop, the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Commission, Dr. Aminu Maida said that the training is aimed to keep media practitioners abreast with the developments in the sector.
Maida, who was represented by the Executive Commissioner, Technical Services (CTS), Engr. Abraham Oshadami, underscored the essence of the event, saying that “we are having this engagement is so that you have full understanding of our industry.
“It will be easy for you to report and make it practical to those who will read to be able to understand better how the industry works. This also requires that your knowledge of laws, policies, regulations, guidelines and all that, need to be updated so that you don’t miss the current reality of our time.
“You are important stakeholders because you occupy that position of helping people to understand so you need to understand how it works before you can use it effectively. The importance of this gathering can never be over emphasized because the success of our industry depends largely on you, the media stakeholders.
“The way you write your report will determine how people understand it. It is your understanding of how it works that will also help you to understand what are the challenges and it is easier for you to help people to also understand. So you need to have knowledge of the activities of the regulators and also catch up with emerging technologies”.
Meanwhile, Oshadami made his own presentation in which he stressed that waves emanating from communication spectrum have no harmful effect on the body, as wrongly speculated in some quarters.
Speaking on the topic “Optimizing Spectrum Administration in Telecommunication”, he said that there is no known findings since the advent of mobile phones that waves from telecommunication spectrum is injurious to the body.
According to him: “There is no research in any part of the world that shows that spectrum from communications equipment has negative impact on the body”.
Reacting to a question that the Commission may be economical with the truth to avoid causing panic in the society, he stressed that “I have used mobile phone for a very long time now. Why should I continue to use such an equipment when I know that it is harmful to my body?”
The CTS who is also an executive member of the International Communication Union (ITU), said that Nigerians have nothing to fear when it relates to spectrum or waves from telecommunications gadgets, radio or television waves used in the homes. He also added that the 5G technology also no effect on the body as wrongly believed in some quarters.
