President Bola Tinubu has dropped the Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta in a sweeping change at some agencies of the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, which affected the Postmaster General/CEO of the Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) and the Managing Director/CEO of Nigeria Communication Satellite Limited (NIGCOCOMSAT).
According to the new appointments announced by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity), Chief Ajuri Ngelale, Danbatta is replaced by Aminu Maida, while Nkechi Egerton-Idehen was named as the MD/CEO of NIGCOCOMSAT to take over from Tukur Mohammed Lawal Funtua.
At NIPOST, Tola Odeyemi was named as the Postmaster General/CEO to replace Sunday Adepoju.
While the latest leadership changes were implemented across multiple agencies under the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, the DG/CEO of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, and the National Commissioner / CEO, Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), Dr. Vincent Olatunji, retained their positions.
The statement further read: “Furthermore, in line with President Bola Tinubu’s determination to maximally leverage on Nigeria’s proven technological and digital economic prowess to reposition the nation’s economy toward greater financial inclusion, the President has approved the appointment of a new Special Adviser to the President.
“Special Adviser to the President on Technology and Digital Economy — Idris Alubankudi”.
According to the statement, the appointments were in line with the President’s determination to maximally leverage Nigeria’s proven technological and digital economic prowess to reposition the nation’s economy toward greater financial inclusion.
Danbatta’s removal may have come as a surprise to many stakeholders in the telecom industry, given that he was reappointed in 2020 for a second tenure of five years. He was appointed by then President Buhari in August 2015 to serve a five-year tenure.
He was reappointed by President Muhammadu Buhari and was confirmed by the Senate in July the same year for another five-year tenure.
However, Danbatta’s case was better compared with that of Adepoju, who was appointed as NIPOST’s Postmaster General in October 2022, while Engr. Tukur Mohammed Lawal Funtua of NIGCOMSAT was appointed last December.
