These men determine your internet world

Adebayo Obajemu

The internet experience we savour is indeed interesting. Hardly can a day passes by without our smartphones or laptop. In fact we can not imagine a world without surfing the net, it will amount to a reversal to the Dark Ages, it will be a world without information, which we can not conceive of in these days and age.

However, this bliss made possible by the internet in Nigeria did not just come from the blues. It is made possible by some ” internet Turks”, if we may use the term.

Remember nothing is as frustrating as a hitched and bumpy browsing experience. This becomes all the more irritating especially when there is hiccup while trying to get something really important and urgent done, not just having a random surf of the internet.

Check it out, we are often too quick to point accusing fingers at the MDs and CEOs of Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and why not? They are the public figures associated with the company, after all – for good or otherwise.

Are they really the fall guy for our ugly surfing experience? Business Hallmark bring you the Chief Technical Officers (CTOs) of the leading ISPs.

They are the tech-savvy guys who manage and maintain the technology infrastructure of the ISPs, and these are the things that really determine whether or not you have a hitch-free internet experience, or struggle to hold yourself from smashing your device on the floor.

Ironically, they are the power behind the throne, the unheard powerful voices, but rarely in the public eye, or in the office for that matter.

Where do they operate then? The field! It is where they spend time fixing technical challenges or designing new infrastructure to enhance our surfing experience.

Mohammed Ghidan – CTIO, Airtel Nigeria

Mohammed Ghidan, an experienced technician got his appointment as Chief Technical & Information Technology Officer (CTIO) of Airtel Nigeria March 2014.

Previously, he had functioned as CTO of Orascom Telecom Algerie S.P.A. (VimpelCom) in Algeria, managing the network technology to service 17 million subscribers.

Ghidan

He has had varied working experience in mobile and fixed operations in different countries including Egypt, North Korea, Pakistan, Greece, Tunisia, Italy, and Canada.

His skills span over two decades in the telecoms sector and has attended training programs in almost every country where he worked.
He is an Electrical and Electronics Graduate from Menufia University and has several other professional certifications.

Mohammed Rufai – CTO, MTN Nigeria

The versatile Mohammed Rufai got his MTN current job as Nigeria’s Chief Technical Officer (CTO) in May 2019, and immediately went to work, by assuming responsibility for the company’s tech strategy roadmap.

He initially went to MTN in 2002 as an RF/BTS Support Engineer in Kano, and his intimidating and result-oriented performance pushed him through the ladder to becoming General Manager in 2009.

As a measure of the confidence the company had on his competence and gravitas, he was soon reassigned to MTN Ghana as Chief Technical Officer in 2015.

Rufai

According to MTN’s record, his tour of duty in Ghana saw data usage increase by over 900% and voice traffic almost triple, among other notable sterling performance.

Early last year, he was reassigned back to the country as CTO, MTN Nigeria to work his magic in developing and maintaining the tech infrastructure.

He boasts of Bachelor of Technology degree in Computer Science from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, and professional certifications from the General Management Program at Cranfield University, the Global Advance Program at Duke Corporate Education, India, and the Senior Management Program at Lagos Business School.

Arun Panda – CTO, Spectranet Limited

Panda the technical guru at Spectranet got his job as Chief Technical Officer of Spectranet in March 2015.

His foray at Spectranet marks the third company where he has held this position, as he had previously functioned as CTO in Libercell in Lib