- Nigeria, Others Jostle for ATU Secretary
Nigeria will field candidate to compete for the exalted position of the Secretary-General, Africa Telecom Union (ATU).
ATU, with its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, will hold its Plenipotentiary Conference between August 16 and 17, 2018, in the city to elect a new scribe for the period 2019 to 2022.
Nigeria fielding Dr Abubakar Sadiq Hussani, a former Assistant Professor of Telecom Engineering, Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola, and the Current Head of Department of Telecommunications and Wireless Technologies, American University of Nigeria and head, programmes for the 54-member British Commonwealth ITU Group (CIG) for the August contest.
This was contained in a diplomatic note verbale No. A.90/2018 dated July 13, 2018 sent by the Federal Government and published by ATU on its webpage, amongst other documents acknowledged via a note by the Secretary-General Ref 079/07/ATU/SG-2018 dated August 17, 2018.
The diplomatic document stated that Dr Hussaini possesses a great wealth of experience in telecoms which are necessary attributes to hold the prestigious office on the continental level.
At the close of nominations on July 17, only four countries signified interest to field candidates for the contest in line with the ATU circular Ref. 06/01/ATU-CIR/2018 of 16th January 2018.
The remaining three are Burundi, Congo Brazaville and Kenya who fielded Mr Constaque Hakizimana, Dr Eric Ndoumba, and Mr John Omo respectively. Three of the four candidates are accomplished telecoms Engineers while the Kenyan Candidate Mr Omo is a lawyer. Glancing through the CVs of candidates, if the election is to be determined in terms of technical and cognate experience of managing international organisations, Dr Hussaini of Nigeria stands a very good chance.
