In his review of the activities of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for the year 2024, Dr. Aminu Maida, its Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (EVC/CEO), made a statement that must have gladdened the hearts of telecommunications industry stakeholders in Nigeria. He declared 2025 as the year of optimism. “With the foundations we laid in 2024, we are set to transform the telecom landscape,” Maida said.
The EVC/CEO specifically revealed the Commission’s plan to release coverage maps based on crowd-sourced, real-world performance data. This innovation, according to him, aims to acquaint mobile phone users with the efficiency standing of Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in their specific locations. “No more guessing which network works best,” Maida declared. “Users will have access to actual performance data directly on our website.”
You better believe him. The NCC boss anchors his plans for the telecommunications industry on efficient service delivery, transparency and accountability. His focus on transparency and user empowerment not only aligns with the commission’s regulatory mandate but also underscores its commitment to driving innovation in Nigeria’s digital economy.
NCC is the strategic National Regulatory Authority for the telecommunications industry in Nigeria. It is responsible for creating an enabling environment for competition among operators in the industry as well as ensuring the provision of qualitative and efficient telecommunications services throughout the country. Over the years, NCC has earned a reputation as a foremost Telecom regulatory agency in Africa. Upon assuming the leadership of the regulatory agency in late 2023, Dr Maida aimed to scale up that reputation and wasted no time in doing so.
Helped by his professional and career background Dr. Maida began his reign by opening up a new vista in the country’s communications sector by designing and implementing plans and policies to re-position the NCC for optimal productivity. The focus of the new NCC revolves around transparency and accountability in creating a level playing ground for stakeholders in the communications industry. For example, he initiated the drive towards ensuring fair tax policies and eliminating every incident of multiple taxation and regulations impacting the Nigerian telecommunications industry. This was prompted by the identification of multiple taxation as a significant impediment to the sustainable development of the telecom industry in the country. This is because consumers always bear the brunt of multiple taxes as operators factor them into the services they render. His overriding conviction as a regulator is that when the telecommunication sector is well-regulated, consumers will be the ultimate beneficiaries and contribute to sustainable growth and development.
Dr. Maida has displayed a grasp of the issues in the sector. According to available data, Nigeria’s telecommunications and information services sector, in the first quarter of 2023, contributed N2.508 trillion to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), representing 14.13 per cent. The strategic importance of this input cannot be overemphasized. This indicates that leadership is central to the NCC’s ability to deliver on its mandate. It was based on this realization that NCC under Maida’s leadership deployed brilliant policies and plans towards unlocking the endless possibilities in the industry to benefit Nigeria and Nigerians.
Aided by his background in electrical and electronic engineering, Dr. Maida has developed the knack for giving attention to both the little details and the big picture. In an interaction with the top echelon of the Nigerian media Lagos, shortly after assumption of office, Maida impressed the audience with his confidence and mastery of the issues that he wanted to address in his position, vis-à-vis the challenges in the communications sector of the nation’s economy – the big and the small. He addressed “simple things like the SIM registration process, how we link our NIN to SIMs, especially with the younger generation who do not have the level of patience that we have,” because he concedes that “this kind of thing is very important for them; they just want to get things done.” He also looked at the big picture. “I think there is a lot that we can do better. So, using the right regulatory framework, we can change things.”
NCC under Dr. Wanda’s leadership played a mediating role in the resolution of the disconnection between MTN and GLO dating back to 2009, which Maida described as a “commercial dispute.” He insisted that each party was obliged to respect the terms of agreement that was reached and made it clear that NCC would trigger the need to enforce discipline against any party that reneged on this agreement.
Under Maida’s watch, Nigeria has witnessed a steady increase in active voice and internet subscriptions, including a drop in teledensity as contained in the latest telecommunications statistical indicators released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), which have been adjusted to reflect the latest population growth figures and align with international best practices.
Other key milestone accomplishments of NCC under Maida’s leadership include the successful implementation, in 2024, of the Federal Government’s NIN-SIM linkage policy and the Presidential designation of NCC’s infrastructure as Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII).
Industry stakeholders believe that Dr. Maida’s achievements have constituted an effective groundwork for both a secure digital economy and enhanced national security.
Dr. Aminu Maida, a native of Katsina State, holds an MEng in Information Systems Engineering from Imperial College, London and bagged a PhD in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from the University of Bath, United Kingdom. He later obtained a Post Graduate Diploma in Entrepreneurship (FinTech Pathway) programme at the Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Until his appointment as EVC/CEO of NCC, Dr. Maida was the Executive Director, Technology and operations at Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS), the country’s central switch company owned by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and all licensed Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in Nigeria.
Before NIBSS, Maida was the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) at the Nigerian-based FinTech Arca Payments Network and Senior Manager at Cisco Systems, United Kingdom.
Maida, between 2010 and 2014, had worked as a Network Design Consultant at EE, part of BT Group, and one of the largest mobile communications companies in the UK. He was also at some point (2006-2010) a System Engineer at Ubiquisys, a leading company in intelligent 3G and LTE small cells, which is now part of Cisco.
The selection of Engr. Aminu Maida by the Top10 magazine as one of the regulatory agency leaders in Nigeria is in recognition of his outstanding achievements as the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NCC in the efficient delivery on its statutory mandate of regulatory initiatives and oversight, revenue generation and general contribution to the national economy.
