The Board and Editors of Daylight (www.daylight.ng), a leading and reliable online newspaper have unanimously voted the cerebral and hard working Director General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Mr. Emeka Mba, as its Person of the Year 2015. Mba was chosen ahead of several other eminently qualified individuals doing Nigeria proud in various sectors of our national lives.
According to them, he is being honoured and celebrated for his immense and invaluable contributions to the growth, expansion and professional management of the nation’s broadcasting industry, where he holds sway as the apex regulator.
Mba’s giant stride in this sector, since he assumed office a couple of years ago, has been robustly and hugely recognised, appreciated and rewarded within and outside our shores with several awards, plaques and commendations.
The historic presentation of the prestigious Daylight Person of the Year award to Mr Emeka Mba will hold in February 2016, at a yet-to-be named venue and date, amid glitz and glamour.
Meanwhile, below are the ten outstanding reasons the Board and Editors said they chose Mba as the first ever recipient of this rare recognition that is bestowed on outstanding public servants every year, for excellence in leadership and service to fatherland, and which is being powered by Daylight Annual Leadership Awards (DALA).
1- Consistently championing Nigeria’s march to seamless Digital Switch Over (DSO).
2- Raising N34bn through innovative licensing of MTN to provide converged digital broadcast services on digital dividend.
3- Stabilising the nation’s broadcasting industry and regularly engaging stakeholders.
4- Successful flag off of pilot DSO transmission in Jos.
5- First ever Web Jurist Awards as best government parastatal owned and managed website.
6- Under Mba’s visionary and focused leadership, the NBC secured the rights from the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) to host the 11th African Digital Switch Over Forum in 2016.
7- Under Mba’s leadership again, a Nigerian firm, MCI and its South Korean counterpart, Kaon Media signed a $1bn agreement to produce set top boxes in Nigeria to aid DSO and create jobs.
8- Working assiduously with his dedicated team at the NBC to meet the June 2017 new deadline for DSO set by ITU.
9- NBC under Mba successfully tracked and jammed the operations of the illegal radio station, ‘Radio Biafra’, which was broadcasting with impunity in some south eastern states.
10- Lastly, the NBC under Mba sanitised the airwaves and created an enabling environment for the business of broadcasting to thrive and excel.