The State Governors under the auspices of the Governors’ Forum resolved to address the lingering issue of Right of Way (RoW) charges in a bid to deepen broadband penetration in the country and promote a Digital Economy for a Digital Nigeria.

On 28th November 2019, His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, launched and unveiled the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy for a Digital Nigeria which is made up of 8 pillars that include Developmental Regulation, Digital Literacy and Skills Development, Service Infrastructure, Solid Infrastructure, Digital Services Development and Promotion, Soft Infrastructure, Digital Society and Emerging Technologies and lastly Indigenous Content Development.

The Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) FNCS, FBCS, FIIM, MCPN on Thursday 16^th January 2020 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on behalf of the Federal Government with Tech giant, International Business Machines (IBM) West Africa, for partnership and collaboration in the area of Digital Skills development in Nigeria.

The partnership which gives impetus to the digital, innovation and Entreprenuership skills of the economic development plan of President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, is a quantum leap in the Digital Economy strategy of the Ministry. The MoU provides a platform to empower  Nigerian youths with digital literacy skills, to enable innovation, design and development of indigenous solutions, self sufficiency and make Nigeria a hub for critical skills for Africa and the world at large.

Under the partnership, and in line with the Digital Literacy initiative and drive of Dr Pantami, IBM will through its Digital Nation Africa Initiative, provide free training to Nigerians for a period of 12 to 16 weeks, in diverse areas of Information Technology. The objectives of the MoU are mainly to:

1.   Create awareness and support in the development and use of digital tools and applications to improve the delivery of government services;

2.   Create a pool of Nigerians with digital skills validated by globally recognized certifications;

3.   Bridge the gap between the academia and the industry through sensitization on digital tools and skills; and

4.   Lower the access barrier to digital tools for the citizens.

Addressing IBM representatives led by the Country General Manager, the Honourable Minister expressed satisfaction at the organisation’s response to the Digital Economy policy by, sufficiently keying in, to bridge the divide between the academia and the industry, education and entrepreneurship.

Dr Pantami noted that “to achieve a Digital Economy, digital skills are central, and this has been adequately captured in the second pillar of the Digital Economy Strategy Policy Document as approved and launched by the President on the 28^th of November 2019”. The Minister further disclosed that the importance of Broadband in the implementation of a Digital Economy is the life line to its success and this again has been reflected in the seventh pillar of the strategy document. “The importance of broadband penetration in achieving a digital economy has given rise to the National Broadband Committee to ensure that we thoroughly address the impediments to broadband penetration and achieving a Digital Economy”.

Pantami encouraged institutions of learning to give priority to skills, especially digital skills over paper qualifications as according to him, “digital skills are more relevant in today’s world of emerging technologies, therefore we must encourage innovation and drive digital literacy and skills among the populace”.

In his remarks at the signing ceremony which held at the Minister’s conference room in Abuja, the Country General Manager Mr Dipo Faulkner, stated that “IBM works with governments and key Ministries to address the societal impact of digital technology, leveraging our investment in education with platforms such as IBM Digital Nation Africa. This new collaboration furthers our aims of scaling digital job skills across Africa”.

The programme is scheduled to take off in February 2020.

Signed

Uwa Suleiman (Mrs)

Spokesperson to the Honourable Minister of Communications & Digital Economy

16^th January 2020

The Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos, Prof Oluwatoyin Ogundipe has described the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami FNCS, FBCS, FIIM as a man of unquestionable integrity who keeps to his promise.

The Vice Chancellor made his position known today when he led the management of the institution to a courtesy visit to appreciate the Honourable Minister for the various IT intervention projects donated to the institution aimed at enhancing research and learning.

We received with dismay the decision of some states of the Federation to increase the Right of Way charges in disregard of the resolutions reached by the National Economic Council (NEC).

It may be recalled that in 2013, NEC set up a Committee comprising State Governors and Ministers to review the issues of multiple taxation in the telecommunications Industry in Nigeria and its impact. The Committee, after extensive and wide-ranging consultations, resolved to harmonize the taxes applicable to broadband related activities and streamline the taxation management processes across the Federation. Specifically, to deepen broadband penetration for the social and economic development of the country, the Committee agreed to the uniform Right of Way (RoW) charge of N145.00 per linear meter of fibre.

It may also be recalled that in October 2019, we had written to all the State Governors, drawing their attention to these resolutions and soliciting their support and collaboration towards the realisation of the National Digital Economy by fast-tracking the deployment of broadband infrastructure for the provision of affordable internet services to underserved and unserved areas.

It is true that the digital economy today is strategically dominating the world economy. Oxford Economics puts the current value of the digital economy at $11.5 trillion which is about 16% of the world economy. Furthermore, the World Economic Forum revealed that 60% of the global economy is expected to be digitised by 2022. With the renaming of the Federal Ministry of Communications to Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy as well as the unveiling of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy by Mr President, we are on the path of realising the potentials of the digital economy.

It is however disheartening to hear that some States have decided to disregard these resolutions and have, in some cases, increased the RoW charges by over 1,200%. This will no doubt impact negatively on the efforts being made by the Federal Government. It is established that there is a strong correlation between a country’s broadband penetration and its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). An ITU study on Africa indicates that a 10% broadband penetration would result in an increase of 2.5% of GDP per capita.

We are therefore calling on all State Governors, especially those that have made public their decisions to increase the RoW charges, to reconsider these decisions in the interest of Nigerians as well as for the socio-economic growth and development of the country. We also draw their attention that these decisions, if implemented, will result in an increase on the costs of operations of the telecoms operators which will naturally be passed to the consumers.

Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), FNCS, FBCS, FIIM
Honourable Minister of Communications & Digital Economy
Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy
Federal Secretariat, Abuja
14th January, 2020

The Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami FNCS, FBCS, FIIM has called on well-meaning Nigerians to key into the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy unveiled by His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR) on 28th, November 2019 during the eNigeria 2019 Conference, Exhibitions and Awards.

The NEXT LEVEL Minister stated that the target of the rebirth Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy under his watch is to have a digital Nigeria by the year 2030.

Certificates are important but certificates without skills are misleading, what is most important is to have certificates with skills. Today many developed nations are agitating to remove the column of educational certificates in curriculum vitae (CV), the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami FNCS, FBCS, FIIM has said,

The Honourable Minister made this assertion today while making his remarks during a visit to Borno State Government House, Maiduguri, Borno State.

The Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim(Pantami), FNCS, FBCS, FIIM has hailed the decision of the Apex Bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to considerably reduce the cost of electronic cash transactions as well as Automated Teller Machine (ATM), card maintenance fees.

This directive from the regulator of the financial sector he said, will in no small measure contribute to the actualization of a Digital Economy, as lower service charges will encourage a higher patronage of electronic services, especially in the banking and financial services sector.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Mr. Musa Istifanus has advised the newly appointed Permanent Secretary from the Ministry Mr. Tope Fashemi to adhere to the rules and regulations in the civil service in discharging his duty to Nigerians.

He stated this during a send forth organized by the staff of the e-government department in honour of their director who was appointed to the post of the Permanent Secretary by the Federal Government.

Mr. Istifanus said the newly appointed Permanent Secretary has the required knowledge and expertise and advised him to be fair, balance and stick to the rules at all-time, and he should not succumb to any influence adding that these values would keep him on top in service delivery to Nigerians.

According to him, “it is better to be sacked and go home to relax than being invited by ICPC and EFCC for any wrong doing. Everybody would laugh and smile with you but what they have in their hearts is different from what their faces reflect”.

“You do not have a friend or enemy in the service, what you have is equal human being and once you treat everybody equally, you have already exonerated yourself not only in the eyes of human being but also in the eyes of God”. Istifanus stressed.

The newly appointed Permanent Secretary, Mr. Tope Fashedemi thanked the Permanent Secretary and staff of the Ministry for their kind words and advise and promised to take on board their admonitions.

Mr. Tope Fashedemi was the Director, e-government in the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy that supervised the production of the Federal Government e-government Master Plan in collaboration with the stakeholders.

Source: Press Unit, Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy

The Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) FNCS, FBCS, FIIM on behalf of the Federal Government inaugurated the Nigerian National Broadband Plan Committee (2020-2025) Committee at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja.

Inaugurating the Committee which comprises members from the private and public sectors, the Minister stated that the work of the committee will go a long way in supporting National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy of Nigeria which include critical role for Federal, States and Local government in the country.

He said digital economy is strategically dominating world economy and Nigeria cannot promote and develop it without Broadband in place and charged the committee to come up with strategy to penetrate underserved and unserved areas in the country.

Pantami said that the Broadband plan 2013-2018 has expired and urged the committee to look at the target that has not been achieved and challenges that are affecting Broadband penetration. He directed them to also look into many more challenges that have not been stated previously and see how we can join hands and resolved them collectively.

“It is because of this we come up with this that we have come up with this very important strategic committee that would work on our National Broadband Plan for 2020-2025”.

He urged the members of the committee to maintain objectivity in their discussion/deliberation; to rightly identify our national priority and preference because we cannot do everything at the same time, He admonished that there is nothing personal in the assignment but to honour the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians.

The Minister advised the committee to look at the recently released report and investigation by Huawei and Alliance 4 Affordable Internet (A4IA) 2013-2018 review report to extract useful information that would help the committee.

In his remark, the representative of the British High Commissioner- Head of Prosperity and Competition, Mr. Harrison Guy, stated that Broadband penetration has huge potentials to transform the way services are rendered in health and education and noted that e-government delivers benefits across all sector of the society.

He said the United Kingdom is an active partner of Nigeria, as such is very more kin to support the country’s goals of increasing the Broadband penetration rate between 65-66% within the next 5-6 years. Harrison added that UK government would provide technical expertise to support the drafting of the new plan.

The Chairperson of the Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2020-2025, Chief Executive Officer, (MainOne), Ms. Funke Opeke in her remarks, thanked President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR  for approving the setting up of the committee to address the issue of |National Broadband Plan. She also noted that the President recently participation in e-Nigeria and the launching of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy clearly signal his commitment to the digital economy.

According to her, “Broadband to the digital economy is like electricity to the industrial world. We are foot soldiers to help put together this new plan to ensure it happens. The stakeholder here is not us but those young Nigerians who have future ahead of them as they would be fully planted in the global digital economy”. She therefore urged the committee members to put Nigeria’s interest ahead

Source: Press Unit, Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy