The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has applauded the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, for championing initiatives aimed at equipping young Nigerians, particularly girls, with digital skills as it hosted 185 students on an educational excursion to its National Communication Museum in Abuja.
The students, contestants in the 2026 National Girls in ICT (NG-ICT) Competition, were selected from across the nation’s six geo-political zones by the Ministry to promote digital inclusion and inspire greater female participation in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and other STEM disciplines.
Speaking at the event, the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida, represented by the Director, Research and Development Department, Babagana Digima, noted that the museum tour was designed to create a link between the old and new generations in Nigeria’s telecommunications journey, helping young people appreciate the sector’s transformation from analogue systems to the current digital revolution.
“When they see what happened in the past and how it has progressed into the future, they can also take it up from here and think about what it will look like going forward. That is the whole essence of having them here,” Maida said.
During the tour, NCC officials guided the students through exhibits documenting key milestones in Nigeria’s telecommunications history, beginning from 1886 when the colonial administration established the country’s first communication facilities. The students also learned about the country’s early telegraph services, which linked Lagos to other parts of West Africa and Europe via submarine cables.
According to a statement on Sunday by the NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Nnenna Ukoha, a particular striking moment for the students was learning the state of telecommunications at Nigeria’s Independence in 1960, when the entire country had only 18,724 telephone lines serving a population of approximately 40 million people.
It said the students were subsequently worked through the evolution of the sector, including the operations of the former Department of Posts and Telecommunications (P&T), Nigerian External Telecommunications (NET) Limited, and the establishment of the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) in 1985.
A major highlight of the visit was the display of rare historical artefacts preserved at the NCC Museum. Among the exhibits were a Post Office Counter dating back to 1852, Sorting Racks introduced to Lagos in 1852, the Grand “T” Key used at the Lagos Post Office in the nineteenth century, leather mail bags dating back to 1863, Drop Bag fittings from the late 20th Century, a 511A Letter Scale from the mid-20th Century, an Improved Dynamometer Scale from the 1920, Telegram machines, Teleprinter T100, Cordless PBX, Digital Card Phone and others.
