The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof Umar Garba Danbatta, has said that the role of digital transformation in our society should be appreciated beyond the realm of statistics churned out in the telecommunications sector.

A statement from NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Tony Ojobo, said Prof Danbatta stated this while delivering the 46th convocation lecture of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, last weekend.

The NCC boss, according to the statement, also called for more deployment of ICT to facilitate socio-economic development of the country.

“We talk about the benefits of ICT and we normally do this by dishing out e-readiness indicators. We say broadband penetration is 21%, internet penetration 97%. All these are ICT-readiness indicators that do not tell the entire picture,” he stated.

Speaking further, Danbatta said: “It is in Nigeria’s national interest to harness potentials that exist in the information driven age through the deployment and exploitation of ICT to facilitate socio-economic development and improvement of the human condition.”