 Welcome to WTDC 17 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. We're very pleased to be joined in the studio today by Professor Umar Gabba Dambatta, who is Executive Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission. Professor Dambatta, thank you very much for joining us in the studio today. Thank you very much. It's my pleasure to be here. Great to see you again. Thank you very much, Max. I appreciate it. Now, I'd like to start off by talking about the way that perhaps you could tell us a little bit about how Nigeria has been integrating ICTs in its development agenda. Here, the very much the theme is ICTs for SDGs. Tell us a little bit about your perspective. Well my perspective is from the realization that where you have a critical mass of ICT adoption and use, then you will witness development in all spheres of, you know, governance, as well as the delivery of key services. So we need to look at what do we have in place that will lead to this digital transformation process. And I think to attain the various milestones in the process, I don't know, I need to highlight what are the elements of the digital transformation ecosystem. There are about five. And I'm not going to list all of them, but I will list one that is relevant to this interview. It says the ICT industry. It's one of the most important elements, you know. The other four elements that are interdependent. So what we're witnessing in the various plans in place in Nigeria, I'm talking about the national broadband plan, I'm talking about the recent plan, the economic recovery and gross plan of the federal government. All these plans, you know, have assigned specific roles to various agencies of government in the country. And one agency that has been assigned the important responsibility of driving, you know, ICT adoption and use is the Nigerian Communications Commission. So it is our responsibility to ensure, you know, we create this critical mass of ICT adoption and use, you know, in all its ramifications. And as I'm talking to you, we are in the process of doing that. You know, we are in the process of, you know, driving that important component of the two plans, you know, the ones I told you about. And the good thing about these two plans, or if you like the implementation process, is that we have targets, you know, that we need to attain. And we monitor this, as well as, you know, establish where exactly we are. What more do we need to do to ensure the floor operation and for the use of ICTs in all space, you know, of, you know, businesses as well as, you know, society and, you know, the way Nigerians do things, you know, in their various, you know, endeavors. And what challenges do you face in implementing the sustainable development of ICTs and how do you see ICTs making a difference here? Well, I would like to say one important measure that has been recognized and that will lead to the attainment of the objectives or the goals, rather, of the SDGs, I mean, SDGs, as you call them, is broadband. You know, among other things, they will tell you broadband, you know, is an important basic infrastructure, you know, like power, you know, or energy, if you like, services like water, you know, as well as broadband can be used to streamline transportation. And it can play a role in key services sectors, you know, any economy. So the fifth item listed, if my recollections about what broadband, you know, can do to transform society is that it can be used to attain the sustainable development goals. And if you look at the goals about 70 of them, okay, each one of them, you can be able to leverage broadband in order, you know, to use it, bring it to VR and attain the goals. So it's like broadband is an enabler. In virtually all sectors of the economy, as well as it is an important component of the process of attaining, you know, the SDGs. Look at, you know, the eradication of poverty. You know, you have broadband future in there. You know, I remember very well that the e-readiness indicators that you hear, you know, regulators, you know, they really allowed, not an end, you know, you know, unto themselves. More than giving information about the readiness, our electronic readiness of, you know, economies. There is one important factor that we don't normally talk about, that broadband can indeed be leveraged upon to reduce poverty, to ensure participation in governance, to create a more mobile, open and cohesive society. So we are putting a lot of effort in ensuring we drive the deployment of broadband infrastructure for the rollout of broadband services. And what policies and regulatory reforms do you think are needed to collect the next billion, especially in remote and rural areas? Well, thank you. This is a very, very valid question. In Nigeria, we have what we call challenge of access. Access to information and communications technology services. And the regulator has done the most important thing by identifying clusters of these access gaps, we call them, we have a map. And you won't believe this, but these access gaps defy 40 million Nigerians, you know, of access to affordable telecommunication services. So this is an important project. How do we find, you know, the right technology solution? You know, to address access in rural areas, in unsolved as well as undersolved areas, you know, of the country. And I think once we can do that, then we'll find a solution to the problem of empowering our citizens. You know, by making ICT services, you know, available to them, by, you know, bringing this and empowering them to use this as well as, you know, economically, you know, become, you know, viable. The economic viability of rural population would have been enhanced if we can address access gaps in the manner I mentioned. Now, we're hearing a lot of great conversations here. I wanted to find out from you, what about actions? What actions do you hope to be coming from this conference that will really help to enable ICTs? Well, this conference is targeted at the developing world. And Nigeria is part of that, you know, community. And I've heard the resolutions that are being discussed. And they recently concluded, you know, working group. We have heard useful and very valid resolutions, you know, targeted at containing disasters, you know, managing them, you know, by, you know, leveraging the power of information and communications technology by addressing the, you know, citizens in our various countries with, you know, disabilities, physical disabilities. That is very, very important. I have heard resolutions of how we can effectively use spectrum, you know, reparm it, replan, in order to ensure optimum utilization of this important resource. I think that is what is coming out of this conference. And I think whatever, you know, steps we are going to take on this three will to a large extent define the way, you know, this, you know, part of the world, you know, the developing world, you know, evolves, becomes a key flare in the global economy, as well as, you know, by empowering our people to participate in the knowledge economy. Professor Imagawa, thank you very much indeed, being with us in the studio today. And we look forward to catching up with you again in the future. Thank you very much. I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you. Thank you, Max.