The Nigerian Communications Commission has instituted and endowed professorial chairs to the tune of N40m in two more Nigerian universities.
The University of Ibadan and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, were endowed with N20m each over the next two years to embark on research to promote innovation to drive socio-economic development in the country.
According to a statement by the Director of Public Affairs, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, said the move was a continuation of the commission’s initiative aimed at strengthening the telecommunications industry to continuously contribute to national development.
“The commission’s engagement with the academia, therefore, is to ensure that there is application of knowledge generated in the tertiary institutions in the telecommunications industry. The endowment of professorial chairs in universities is one of the initiatives to support the academia in focus research areas in information and communication technology and contribute to the advancements in emerging technologies,” Danbatta said.
Commenting on the development, Director of Research and Development at the NCC, Dr. Henry Nkemadu, said the endowment further demonstrated NCC’s conviction that the academia is a key driver to innovation in all spheres of human endeavour, with specific reference to ideas, inventions and prototype development for improving the level of productivity and efficiency in the industry.
