ATCON Elects Tony Emoekpere, Muhammad Rudman as New President, VP

The Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) has elected new executives and National Executive Council (NEC) to steer the wheels of the association’s affairs for the next two years.

The election which was conducted during ATCON’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) saw the Chief Executive Officer of MangoNet and Anchor Telecoms, Tony Emoekpere as the new President.

The election saw its former President, Ikechukwu Nnamani hand over to the new leadership. The election was conducted by a constituted electoral body, made up of the Head of Regulatory Affairs at IHS Towers, Mr. Damian Udeh as Chairman and the Executive Secretary of ATCON, Mr. Ajibola Olude as Secretary.

In a keenly contested election held at the Oriental Hotels in Lagos, Mr. Emoekpere gathered 39 votes from members to emerge the winner ahead of his closest contester, Mr. Ibrahim Dikko, who gathered 23 votes. He will take over from Engr. Ikechukwu Nnamani, who served only one tenure and did not contest for a second term.

Speaking after the election, both Emoekpere and Muhammad Rudman, the elected First Vice President expressed satisfaction over the conduct of the election and pledged their commitments to lead the association through team work in the next two years.

Emoekpere who commended the immediate past president of ATCON for operating a single term of two years, promised to also operate a single term of two years, before handing over to another elected president.

Disturbed by the negative effect of brain drain, where those with special technology skills are leaving the country in search of better living condition, Emoekpere said the new ATCON NEC would tackle the issue to redirect the thinking of Nigerians who are still planning to leave the country. According to him, ATCON will work with organisations to re-design incentive package and training for staff that will make them remain on their jobs.

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In the area of funding, Emoekpere said ATCON NEC would push for single-digit interest rates from financial institutions and investments companies that will make funds available to ATCON members to drive projects that would benefit Nigerians.

In the area of advocacy, Emoekpere promised to build on the advocacy programmes of the past NEC and engage more with industry stakeholders to key into the vision of ATCON in the area of local content development.

Tony Emoekpere founded Anchor Telecoms in 2005 first as a Project Director and then CEO. In over 18 years under his watch, the company has grown from providing Site Construction services serving one client to providing full Turn-Key Communication Infrastructure Services serving all MNO’s, major InfraCo’s and OEMs in Nigeria, with active operations in Ghana, Cameroun, South Africa, and has executed projects in Benin Republic, Liberia, Gabon, Togo, Sierra Leone, and Equatorial Guinea.