Today, in my capacity asa proud representative of the Honourable Minister of Communications, who at this time yesterday was very enthusiastic about my accompanying him to this occasion as a Senior Officer of the Ministry realized had to be on the entourage of the President to Nasarawa State.

I am particularly overwhelmed this afternoon principally by the caliber of representation I see here, very eminent companies, giant of the telecom industry in global terms, more interesting is the presence of the Chairman of House Committee on Communications, Hon. Yemi Arokodare, the distinct and respectable intellect that conceived this great idea; the publisher of TelecomNews who again is my friend, I say good afternoon to you all.

The Honourable Minister had briefed me sufficiently about this occasion and its importance. First and foremost, please be assured that you have the support and backing
of the Federal Government through the Ministry of Communication in this assignment you have been called to undertake, your presence here, I believe is in corporate capacity as representatives of your individual companies.

The importance of the telecom sector to the overall economy of Nigeria has made your assignment very crucial at this time. Your roles and duties in this instance is to usher, plan, organize and bring to being an award of international standards.

The Nigerian telecom awards as conceived by the initiator is something big enough to be called the Nigerian Awards, driven by the private sector.

The objectives of this award as it were are:
i. To reward the companies that have done well, in whatever category, this will implore and engender healthy growth in the industry.

ii. To use this medium to bring together the stakeholders in the industry globally, all your parent companies, your CEOs, Alcatel, Nokia, Siemens, Huawei, the investors on a round table forum with the government of Nigeria as headed by President Obasanjo to discuss
how this industry can be one of the best in the world.

iii. To raise the profile of this market before the rest of the world, by way of image laundering for Nigeria; and further portray Nigeria as a safe place for investment.

You will agree with me that with these magnitude of goals, you will require a formidable platform as you can see here this afternoon with the support of government to achieve this

At first, I saw it as a task so huge that may be difficult, but seeing the readiness and this caliber of representation I can only in excitement look forward to that grand occasion, on this note I declare the support of the Federal Ministry of Communications to this Committee, we will be on hand to give you a hand to help you achieve your mission.

It is not unlikely that people will think that being a member of the Steering Committee your winning any of the awards may lack credibility; please let me put on record that this committee shall be limited to planning only. This committee shall only concern itself with, planning, logistics, invitation contacts, and sponsorship drive.

The initiator of this concept made it sufficiently clear that a consultant, whose representative is here present, e-Shekels, has been commissioned to handle the technicalities of the award criteria, i.e. nominations, selections etc.

So, if any one of your companies wins, I want to believe you merit such.

I thank you all for coming while I declare this committee inaugurated.

Thank you and God bless.

Dr. Sufi, Director of Planning and Research,
Federal Ministry of Communications, Abuja.