For Ndukwe, telecom reminiscences worthy of the pantheon

I have had the good fortune of working with Engr Ernest Ndukwe at a very significant moment in my life when history was also being made for our dear nation, Nigeria. The country had been so starved of telecom development that it was assumed a miracle for any such thing to happen in our clime.

So, I know the story Ndukwe told on a TV programme last week, although part two has not been aired. We have talked about it in private together. We have rehashed it several times. And the story has been told in several fora around the world, that industry miracles do happen when a government and knowledgeable strong men come together with a determination to make a difference.

Each time the story comes with candid freshness as it did last week, and I always chuckle that it needs constant rehashing for a number of reasons. One. That in a country where History as a subject was once outlawed from the school syllabus, it is important that we consciously document some developments for posterity. Two. There is the need to know what has been, what is, what should be and the need to collectively work towards a future that is best for the nation. And three, to challenge the present generation with a history they hardly know;  which they are not very anxious to know.

It is for the above reasons and more, that I find the TV interview as an inflection point,  which information, although well reposited at the regulatory agency, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), was wilfully jettisoned by a particular government and has nearly brought the entire sector close to distress. That interview, for me, wasn’t a moment of self adulation or an epiphany into vainglory but a timely challenge to the present crop of regulators and a reminder of the significance of their job.

Having provided such introductory tapestry for this material, let me look at some of the points he made, very closely, and then try to juxtapose them with our immediate demands. They include: preparation to take on big jobs, regulatory independence, the presence of a strong board, proper staffing and requisite training for the staff, and the joy of public service.

It may not have been listed in that order but the distillation has become necessary for us to understand Ndukwe’s tenure at NCC and the very lasting impression he left at the Commission and the entire telecommunications industry. Before being named the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC in 2000, he was already the chief executive of a big telecommunications company in the country, whose only other ambition was to be given the opportunity to manage the government owned behemoth, NITEL. The appointment by President Olusegun Obasanjo as the chief regulator was beyond a dream come through; it was an opportunity to manage the entire sector instead of an industry frontline operator. Ndukwe was made for the job. His professional trajectory gives ample evidence.

Ndukwe has never appropriated credit for the transformation that happened in the sector. He would always reference the patriarchal presence of Alhaji Ahmed Joda, the regulatory independence provided by the President, the latitude to recruit the right staff, properly trained and well motivated. It is the dream of regulators globally to be given the opportunity to run an industry without external encumbrances. Ndukwe had that rare opportunity and he stressed during the interview that the telecoms industry needs a liberal environment to thrive. It was mostly responsible for the exponential growth during his tenure.

The board chairman, Joda, had the right connections to open any office including the presidency. He was a shrewd technocrat, skilled and fearless who also bought into the knowledge base of Engr Ndukwe. He led a board of professionals that could not be knocked around frivolously. The board was focused on one thing: to build a skilled and well motivated regulatory agency.

Wearing his usual adroitness and a regalty that distinguishes him from the crowd, Ndukwe spoke about issues that look trite concerning building an organisation with the right fitting staff for effective performance. Dear friends, it is not as simple as it looks. It is a serious matter. From the year 2000, Engr Ndukwe, supported by the board, humbled the Nigerian malaise of man-know-man to build a human capital base that was nonpareil, a workforce populated by very brilliant people recruited from different parts of this country. Only a few of those people are left at the NCC now with the system suffering a couple of staff delayering under the previous administration, to give opportunity to arbitrary recruitment where most of the candidates did not even seat for any interview.

Ndukwe also spoke about the joy and satisfaction that come from performance, from knowing that you are doing something that puts a smile on the faces of the people. People hardly wait for that joy now, they are more motivated by material returns.

“I never dreamt of being a regulator but I always say that the ten years I spent at the NCC were the best ten years of my professional life for so many reasons. When I finished my first five years, it was obvious to me that being a public servant was something to be proud of. If you are in the private sector and you are the MD of a company like what I was before I joined the NCC, you are responsible to your board of directors and to your shareholders, and that is it.

“In the public service, decisions you make affect the whole country, change so many things for everybody. So, it was such a pleasure calling myself a public servant after those my first five years in office because we saw the impact of what we were doing,” Ndukwe told his interviewer, Dr Tokunbo Shitta-Bey of One2One on Channels Television.

Even now the reminiscences bring some degree of resplendence to his face, demonstrating a full measure of the joy he still savours years later. But is there such satisfaction in the sector now or even a similitude of joy for subscribers or even the regulator? My experience demonstrates a clear no.

What has happened, you may want to ask. It means so many things have shifted at the NCC. Ndukwe only spoke about those things that aided his success without recriminations or even a word about the regulators after him. It is what he did not say which speaks louder than words, that also attracts my attention in this material.

Since Ndukwe left NCC, the boards have hardly had any spine. The regulator has suffered regulatory capture in addition to forfeiting its independence to perform without inhibition. The workforce Ndukwe spoke about has been decapitated as the glory days seem to have departed the Commission. This is no criticism by a wayfarer. People like Ndukwe may not want to speak about the state of the regulator and the industry but, as a writer, I am guided to observe here that the sector has suffered jeopardy in the preceding years largely due to the happenings at the NCC.

What Ndukwe said should serve as a mirror for stakeholders to look at themselves and be frank enough to judge whether the industry is heading in the right direction. Staffing which Ndukwe spoke about was a major challenge under the Buhari administration. The staff structure was malevolently delayered to give opportunity to erect a false base for a new staffing opportunity which weakened the ability of the system to perform. Some of the staff recruited under the  Muhammadu Buhari administration and arrowheaded by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, and the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC didn’t go through any job interview. The basic qualification tools were political capital and provenance.

The consequential results were damning. The NCC lost its capacity to perform. It lost revenue and quite unfortunately a number of the new employees were not primed to work in a structured environment as the Commission and their presence coalesced into distraction if not outright sabotage.

Dr Aminu Maida, who was appointed EVC by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu inherited that weak structure, short of cash and a disenchanted and disoriented workforce with bucket loads of complaints. It has been his lot to manage their expectations and I can confess here, I don’t really pray to be in his shoes. Thankfully now, there is a board to stand solidly behind him after over a year of sustained headache in office.

The other day, a source at the regulatory agency almost sang me a lullaby of things turning around in the industry, that investors’ confidence is back and infrastructure is being built out again. That is a good story to hear. But my advice for this  administration is for officials to watch the Ndukwe interview over and over, dispassionately and with sincerity, to learn a thing or two that may help add speed to the complete turnaround of the telecommunications industry.