Lagos — No other award since the beginning of what is generally regarded as the telecom revolution in Nigeria has attracted so much interest like the Nigerian Telecom Award holding tonight at Le Meridien Abuja. None has witnessed such personalities as today's event would witness and none the kind of credibility that observers and stakeholders have ascribed to today's event.

When the organisers of the Award, Logica Communications, publisher of glossy telecom magazine, Telecom News, held the maiden press briefing in the last quarter of last year to intimate the public about the plans for the award, none knew it would take on this huge dimension.

As at the time of going to press, the chief executive of Logica Communications, Chief Biodun Ajiboye, confirmed to THISDAY that five governors had signified their intention to be personally present at the event.

He also disclosed that 14 ambassadors including the Canadian Ambassador to Nigeria have confirmed their attendace of the event for tonight.

People in government have also written and made calls to confirm their attendance.

As if that is not enough, global players in the industry like Samsung, Alcatel and Motorola have said they would be present and indeed participate at the event.

Said Ajiboye Tuesday, "Samsung headquarters has written to us to congratulate us about the credibility and acceptance that the award has received."

Alcatel has paid for 12 seats at the Awards of tonight signifying that it is coming with a strong team to be led by the President of Alcatel Mobile.

So far, the Office of the President and the Vice President has also confirmed that the first two citizens of Nigeria would be in attendance.

From beginning, it was clear that the award was going to be credible, or at least there were plans to make it so. The Board of Trustees, which comprised of eminent Nigerians is chaired by Chief Segun Olusola, OFR, Engr. Olawale Ige, a Commissioner with the Nigerian Communications Commission and former Minister of Communications; Alhaji Abubakar Rimi was also a former Communications Minister who is an active player in the telecom sector; and Otunba Eddie Aderinokun, writer and seasoned administrator.

A Panel of Judges comprising eminent telecom professionals, engineers and intellectuals, whose towering credentials cannot be questioned in the telecom sector, was also inaugurated far away from the public glare.

The CEO Messages Inc Limited, Media Consultant to the Awards weekend gave out the criteria, as given to him by the judges, which are also expected to be confirmed to the audience tonight at Le Meridien. According to Mr. Ademola Adedoyin, the Best Fixed Operator would be based on the criteria of network size/capacity, technology, national spread, growth rate, customer care, pricing, local content, visibility and overall quality of service.

For Best Mobile Telephone Operator the following criteria apply: Network size/capacity, technology, national spread, growth rate, customer care, pricing, local content, visibility and over all quality service.

The Best Internet Service Provider award has all the above criteria in addition to innovation.

For Best VSAT company, all the criteria mentioned earlier also apply. Same goes for the Best Value Added Service Provider.

For Best Product of the Year, such criteria as reach, style, acceptability and reliability apply. Such criteria as technology, innovation, local content and visibility apply for best brand of the year while Best Hardware Vendor of the year award has such criteria as technology, experience, local content and global spread.

Another category of the award is the Telecom Journalist of the year. The criteria used for this category are: notable contributions, (star project work) reports and analyses, reach to masses, national presence, professional contribution and style/appeal.

Another category is the Telecom Personality of the Year. The criteria and the marks are as follows: Notable contribution, national appeal, professional contributions and entrepreneurial contribution.

To ensure a credible Awards, scores were structured as follows: Judges Assessment 60 percent, Consumer/Public Assessment 30 percent and Promoter's Assessment 10 percent. It is this total that come to 100 per cent that determines who emerge as eventual winners.

Ajiboye who was reported in a national newspaper Tuesday as saying that the Awards is to reward excellence was also quoted by Adedoyin as saying that the major challenge is to make the award event a world class standard. To live up to this billing, a world class awards/plaques manufacturing and trading company, Accent Awards, in the United States, has been contracted to come up with the plaques to be taken away by the winners.

The plaques, just like the event itself, are designed to be a world-class affair. "Nigerian telecom deserves no less," Ajiboye was reported as saying.

As all attention rivet on Le Meridien Abuja tonight, a hotel said to be fully booked, courtesy of the Awards, the first set of winners were said to have emerged. These are the nominees who were picked out of several contestants/participants in the sector. The other winners are of course, Nigerians, because henceforth, there would be a contest to win this Award which is truly for only the best of the kings.