Shola Taylor takes over as secretary general of CTO today

Nigeria’s Shola Taylor takes over as the secretary general/chief executive of the 54-member nation Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) today.

His appointment was announced in London on June 16. He succeeds Tim Unwin, whose tenure expired yesterday.

Taylor’s assumption of duty comes a little over two weeks after another Nigerian, Akinwunmi Adesina took over as president of African Development Bank (AfDB) in Abidjan, Cote D ‘Ivoire.

Umar Garba Danbatta, acting executive vice chairman of the NCC, is the chairman of CTO. Taylor’s appointment comes at a time Nigeria is re-establishing its status in the comity of nations and when the Federal Government has assured of its continued support for the CTO.

Danbatta congratulated Unwin for his contribution to the steady growth of CTO in the last few years, saying the Federal Government particularly thanked member nations of the CTO for considering Nigeria and Shola Taylor worthy of this appointment “and this is confidence renewed in our country.”

According to Danbatta, who spoke from Nairobi, Kenya, where he is attending the Annual Forum and Council Meeting with the theme: ‘Towards a Connected Commonwealth,’ Taylor’s 35 years’ experience as a consummate and well groomed engineer will be put to bear on the activities of CTO and it is hoped that he will translate many of those pending decisions to actions in the days ahead “thereby taking the CTO to the next level, providing visionary leadership in the process.”