The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization (CTO) at its yearly council meeting held in Nairobi, Kenya has elected Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta as its new Chairman.
Danbatta is the Acting Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
Danbatta who assumed office immediately after the election thanked the 54 -member nations for the honour done to Nigeria and promised to provide visionary leadership that will take CTO to the next level. With the re-election of Nigeria to the Chairmanship and Secretary General positions the country has effectively taken control of the affairs of the close-knit CTO.
Another Nigerian, Engr. Shola Taylor emerged as the Secretary General and Chief Executive of CTO. Taylor was named Secretary General on June 16, 2015 in London, United Kingdom.
Taylor is the Chief Executive of Kemilinks International, a global ICT Consultancy firm based in Lagos, Nigeria.
A telecommunications engineer by training, Taylor is expected to bring his over 35 years of global telecommunications experience in ICTs to CTO. He has consulted for several blue chip companies in Nigeria and the global ICT communities. From 1994 – 1999, Taylor served as Regional Director of Inmarsat. He also served as Space Technology coordinator for developing countries at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) from 1993 to1994. He had earlier served as Project Director at ITU (1987 – 1993).