Tell Communications nominates Danbatta, NCC boss, CEO of the Year

The President of TELL Communications Limited, publishers of Tell newsmagazine and Broad Street Journal, Mr Nosa Igiebor, recently led a team of top management staff of the organisation on a visit to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to convey the nomination of the Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NCC, Professor Umar Garba Danbatta as the CEO of the Year 2016.

Igiebor, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Tell Communications told Danbatta that he was greatly pleased to be at the NCC “a public sector organisation with an uncommon excellent culture of public service.

“There was a massive response when we called for nominations, the choice narrowed down to the CEOs of NCC, BOI and NNPC but ultimately, NCC emerged topmost, though the votes were quite close,” Igiebor said.

He added that TELL had devoted its entire history to publishing, championing issues of freedom and advocating good governance as a springboard to national development, but that the Tell Awards for Excellence is instituted to celebrate organisations and persons inhabiting “the island of excellence where NCC stood out preeminently in the public service.”

In the course of this exercise, Igiebor said his organisation interacted with the public extensively and found that some members of the public sphere did not even realise that NCC is a public sector organisation, because of its performance.

He said although, public complaints about services rendered by telecoms companies persists, NCC has performed creditably well in reining in the malfeasance through its distinctive regulatory role and continuity of focus and actions by successive leadership of the commission.

“We have the honour on behalf of the Board of TELL Awards for Excellence to convey the decision of the nomination of Professor Danbatta as the CEO of the Year 2016 because he has raised the bar in excellent public service and we pray he sustains the trend and that his successors continue on that path,” Igiebor declared.

Responding, Danbatta thanked the TELL team for the visit to NCC and acknowledged the recognition on behalf of Management and staff, describing the honour as historically significant because he had always seen TELL as a highly respected, greatly analytical and not sensational media, adding that TELL is indeed fitting in the category of The Economist, Newsweek and other magazines of that genre.

Danbatta told his visitors that this is the first time the Commission will have no hesitation receiving an award from a media organisation because TELL is a reputable medium.

“Coming from the academia where we are used to incisive, sometimes radical analysis of issues, I particularly appreciate TELL’s courageous analysis,” Professor Danbatta said, adding that it is that pedigree that has helped him to fit in to a world class organisation like NCC, where very noble Nigerians had done spectacular foundational work which his predecessors built upon to put NCC on the world map, promising to make NCC better.

The Award will be formally presented to Danbatta at an event in Lagos on June 10.