The Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, FNCS, FBCS, FIIM, has approved the development and release of an improved National Identity Number (NIN) slip and a Mobile App. This is part of the Federal Government’s Policy to improve the process of obtaining NIN and linking it to SIM, which was sent to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for implementation.  The N20 and N40 fees for NIN verification by individuals and Mobile Network Operators, respectively, were also waived.  These efforts are aimed at supporting the Policy to link subscribers’ NIN to their SIM, which was approved by the Federal Government earlier in the year and communicated to the NCC on the 4^th of February, 2020. 

The highly anticipated Web Service (MWS) Application, called the NIMC Mobile App, and the improved National Identification Number (NIN) Slip are now available for public use. The App provides a secure channel for all Nigerians and legal residents to easily verify and authenticate their identities on-the-go using smartphones. It also enables them to link the NIN to their phone numbers. The development of the App and other tools to support the National Identity Number (NIN) process align with the National Digital Economy Policy for a Digital Nigeria.

The App offers a built-in harmonization process that allows for its use across other government services including the NCC, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Federal Road Safety Commission and National Health Insurance Scheme, to mention a few.

On the other hand, the new improved NIN slip is a pocket friendly and an easy to verify version of the NIN.  It can be accessed via a self-service Portal, where people who already have been issued the NIN, can log in,  download a PDF of the document in color (if preferred), print and laminate as desired. The current NIN Slip will remain valid and will be gradually phased-out.

The App is available on the Google Play store for Android users and App Store for IOS users. Details on how to download and install the App and download the improved NIN slip are available on the websites and social media platforms of the Ministry and NIMC.  Users can also download the improved NIN Slip at https://dashboard.nimc.gov.ng.

The Honourable Minister has directed NIMC to respond to enquiries and also provide multimedia guides to make it easy for users to obtain their improved NIN slips and install the App. The Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy remains committed to creating an enabling environment for all Nigerians and legal residents to obtain their Digital Identity Number.

Dr Femi Adeluyi
Technical Assistant (Information Technology) to the
Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy
31^st December, 2020

The National Task Force on National Identification Number (NIN) and SIM Registration met today, 21^st December, 2020. The meeting was  chaired by the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa  Ali Ibrahim (Pantami)  with major stakeholders in the sector including Chairman-NCC, EVC-NCC,  DG-NITDA, DG-NIMC, ECTS/ECSM-NCC, Chairman ALTON, CEOs of MTN, Airtel, Ntel, Glo, Smile, and 9Moble in attendance.

RESOLUTIONS

Based on the endorsement of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the following resolutions were made:

1. Three (3) weeks extension for subscribers with NIN from 30^th December, 2020 to 19^th January, 2021.
2. Six (6) weeks extension for subscribers without NIN from 30^th December, 2020 to 9th February, 2021.
3. NIMC has provided strategies to enable citizens attend the registration in full compliance with Covid-19 protocols – particularly the use of facemasks which remains mandatory and maintenance of social distancing.
4. The President appreciates Nigerians for their patience and commitment to update their Identities; The Federal Government also thanks all stakeholders for their compliance with the directives.
5. Mr. President has also commended the efforts of the Task Force and urges all stakeholders to take advantage of the extension to link their SIM card with their NIN.
6. USSD and verification charges remain suspended during these extensions.

      Prof. Umar G. Danbatta, FNSE, FRAES, FAEng, FNIEEE                        Engr. Aliyu Aziz

        Executive Vice-Chairman, NCC                                                                Director-General, NIMC

                                                                              For: Ministerial Task Force

The Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) FNCS, FBCS,FIIM, MCPN has directed the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to remove the N20 USSD fee imposed on subscribers for NIN retrieval requests.

The Minister’s directive which takes immediate effect, is an intervention aimed at making the process easier and affordable. In a letter conveying the implementation of the directive, the Executive Vice Chairman NCC and the Director General of NIMC, informed Dr Pantami that the relevant authorities had met with, and negotiated a waiver with the Mobile Network Operators in that regard. By this waiver, all Nigerians, subscribers and applicants can access the service using the *346# code for their NIN retrieval at no charge for the duration of the NIN/SIM Card integration exercise. 

Recall that the Federal Government had earlier directed that all National Identification Numbers be integrated with Subscriber Identification Modules for security purposes..

The Honourable Minister appreciates the efforts of all stakeholders and encourages them to continue to sacrifice more for national interest.

Signed

Uwa Suleiman (Mrs)

Spokesperson to the Honourable Minister of Communications & Digital Economy.

18^th December 2020

In line with the directives of the Honourable Minister of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, FNCS, FBCS, FIIM, measures have been put in place to significantly reduce the average cost of data. The average cost of 1GB of data has reduced from the January 2020 cost of N1,000 to N487.18 in November, 2020. This was based on a Report by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) submitted to the Honourable Minister following the implementation of the directives.

The Honourable Minister had inaugurated a Committee that developed the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (2020-2025) on the 16^th of December, 2019.  The Plan was unveiled and launched by His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, on the 19^th of March, 2020. One of the goals of the Plan is to reduce the average cost of 1GB of data to a maximum of N390 by 2025.  With the January 2020 baseline of N1,000 per GB, the maximum projected steady decrease for the end of each year was as follows: 2020 (N925), 2021 (N850), 2022 (N775), 2023 (N700), 2024 (N545) and 2025 (N390).

In line with Dr Pantami’s commitment to under promise and over deliver, the measures have caused the current cost of data to reduce significantly beyond the December 2020 projection of N925.  Based the Report by NCC, the average cost of data as at November 2020 was N487.18, which amounts to 47.33% lower than the projected value.  The Report also indicates that the cost of data in November 2020 was less than 50% of the cost of data in January 2020.

The Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, through the NCC, will continue to ensure that consumers enjoy a price regime that supports fairness and is friendly to consumers. Policies are in place to ensure that operators adopt competitive pricing that eschews unjustifiable margins. The general public may also wish to note that complaints about rapid data depletion are also being investigated. 

For more enquiries, the Honourable Minister has directed NCC to respond to all issues raised by our citizens and customers. All hands will remain on deck to achieve the goals of the Broadband Plan as the Ministry supervises its implementation in line with our National Digital Economy Policy for a Digital Nigeria.

Dr Femi Adeluyi
Technical Assistant (Information Technology) to the
Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy
9^th December, 2020

Nigeria is both a geographic and an economic gateway to sub-Saharan Africa. As a geographic gateway, it has a prime location between West and Central Africa. In other words, investing in Nigeria gives investors easy access to close to 550 million people- 200 million from Nigeria, another 200 million West Africans and about 150 million Central Africans, the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy of Nigeria, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami has said.

The Nigerian Minister made this assertion today while delivering the keynote address at the Africa Investment Forum (AIF) titled “NIGERIA’S DIGITAL ECONOMY: A GOLDEN INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY. The investment forum is part of the official activities at the ongoing 40th edition of the Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX).

Dr Pantami who doubles as the leader of the Nigerian delegation called on potential investors not to shun the golden opportunity of investing in the largest economy in Africa (Nigeria), “Nigeria has the largest economy in Africa, with a 2019 GDP estimate by the World Bank putting our GDP at $448 billion”, he said.

Adding that “Nigeria is part of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and it gives us access to the African continent covering an area worth over US$3 trillion in GDP and eliminates tariffs on 90% of goods traded across the continent. This is no doubt a unique opportunity for investors in Nigeria”.

Pantami informed that in a bid to provide policy direction for the digital sector in Nigeria, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari GCFR launched and unveiled the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy for a Digital Nigeria which is based on the following 8 pillars.
1. Developmental Regulation;
2. Digital Literacy and Skills;
3. Solid Infrastructure;
4. Service Infrastructure;
5. Digital Services Development and Promotion;
6. Soft Infrastructure;
7. Digital Society and Emerging Technologies; and
8. Indigenous Content Development and Adoption.

Nigerians are very friendly people and our business environment is conducive, Pantami concluded.

Source: Mr Yusuf Abubakar, Personal Assistant (New Media) to The Honourable Minister

7^th December 2020

The leader of the Nigerian Delegation at the ongoing Gulf Information Technology Exhibition ongoing in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy of Nigeria, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami has called on prospective investors to take advantage of the large pool of youthful and skillful talents Nigeria has to offer to invest in the largest economy in Africa.

Dr Pantami said, “Innovation is second-nature to Nigerians and there are so many Nigerians that have made their mark through innovative solutions that they have developed”.

The Nigerian Minister added that “A Nigerian-trained Doctor is credited to have played a leading role in the development of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. Reports indicate that this vaccine is expected to pull in more than $8 billion in revenue by the end of 2021.

Pantami made this call today while delivering the keynote address at the Africa Investment Forum (AIF) titled “NIGERIA’S DIGITAL ECONOMY: A GOLDEN INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY.

The minister informed that the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy for a Digital Nigeria appreciate the importance of identifying and supporting Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and it also focusses on encouraging many of these SMEs to go a step further by aiming to become Innovation Driven Enterprises (IDEs).

Source: Mr Yusuf Abubakar, Personal Assistant (New Media) to The Honourable Minister

7^th December 2020

The Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), FNCS, FBCS, FIIM, felicitates with the Secretary General of the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) on the ATU Day. As Nigeria joins the rest of the African Continent to mark the 2020 ATU Day amidst the novel Covid-19 pandemic, the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy is committed to promoting the use of digital technologies to drive the economic development of the nation.

 This is evident in the development and implementation of some strategic policies of the Ministry, which include the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), Nigerian National Broadband Plan, National Policy for the Promotion of Indigenous Content in the Telecom Sector, National Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship Policy, Policy on Virtual Engagements in the Public Service, amongst others. The facilitation of Virtual Federal Executive Council, Council of State and National Economic Council Meetings also reflect the progress we have made.  The Ministry’s policies are consistent with ATU's statutory objective of promoting programmes for the development of the African Information Society and the Pillar on promotion of Quality Broadband Infrastructure and Affordable ICT services under the current 2019-2022 ATU Strategic Plan

The theme of this year’s celebration, which is being observed today, Monday, 7^th December, 2020, is titled “Post COVID 19: Role of Telecoms/ICT in the Resumption of Socio-Economic Activities”.  It has reinforced the effort of the Ministry to collaborate with relevant public and private sector stakeholders on the acquisition of requisite skills and competences to leverage Telecommunications/ICT to solve a myriad of problems in our societies.

The COVID -19 pandemic has further shown how connected and interlinked the world is and the need to ensure the coherence of policies and programmes across the Telecommunications/ICT sectors and to focus on promoting the accessibility of all people including the disadvantaged and vulnerable in the society.

One of the initiatives of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, aimed at bridging the gap of digital skills in Nigeria, is the recent Commissioning of an eGovernment Training Centre for capacity building. The e-Government Centre will go a long way in bridging the gap of different skills required to promote good governance through the training and retraining of Civil Servants in Nigeria.

COVID-19 has made the world a more challenging place than ever for many people. However, the Ministry has remained focused on the implementation of laudable programmes and projects that will enable the economy to thrive in spite of the pandemic.

Once again, Nigeria congratulates and celebrates with the African Telecommunications Union (ATU), as it celebrates the 2020 ATU Day.  We look forward to continued partnership between Nigeria and the ATU.

Uwa Suleiman (Mrs)

Spokesperson to the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy

7^th December 2020

The attention of the Honourable Minister of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, FNCS, FBCS, FIIM, has been drawn to some newspaper articles which claimed that the Senate summoned him concerning the role of communication devices in national security.

Dr Pantami awaits the official invitation and would like to sincerely thank the Distinguished Senators for their concern and support towards improving national security. The Honourable Minister has supported security agencies in their statutory duty of protecting lives and property and this is why his first action after his appointment was to issue a directive that no improperly registered subscriber identification module (SIM) be allowed to remain on our networks. Based on the report submitted by the regulator (Nigerian Communications Commission) on the 26th of September 2019, there is currently no improperly registered SIM on our networks. In the event of evidence to the contrary, the Honourable Minister will sanction any individual or institution found wanting.

Furthermore, Dr Pantami wrote to all security agencies on the 14th of October 2019 asking them to collaborate with the Ministry by contacting us whenever a crime has been aided and abetted through the use of telecommunication devices. No request by security agencies for assistance in the identification of owners of SIMs used for crime has gone untreated in his office. The Honourable Minister also submitted a detailed memorandum to the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on Nigerian Security Challenges on the 12th of February 2020. It contained details on policies developed by the Ministry to enhance security.

In a similar vein, the Honourable Minister has directed the NCC to ensure that they put modalities in place to tie the National Identify Number (NIN) to SIMs, as well as see to it that no unregistered SIMs are sold. He has also directed the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to significantly scale up the number of monthly NIN registrations. Moreover, Dr Pantami recently presented a Draft National Policy on Digital Identity for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) which took place on the 11th of November, 2020. The memo was approved and will support in the provision of Digital IDs for Nigerians, thus assisting in the implementation of the Policy to tie NINs to SIMs.

The Honourable Minister wishes to assure the Distinguished Senators and Nigerians that the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy is committed to using technology to support the growth of our economy and the security of our nation. To this end, we look forward to collaborating with the Senate and security agencies in this regard.

Dr ‘Femi Adeluyi
Technical Assistant (Information Technology) to the
Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy
26th November, 2020

The Honourable Minister of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, FNCS, FBCS, FIIM, is pleased to note that Broadband penetration in the country increased to 45.43% by the end of October 2020.  This is due to an increase of 4,061,731 broadband subscriptions between September and October 2020.

This notable increase in broadband penetration has been as a result of conscientious implementation of the National Digital Economy Policyfor the overall benefit of the economy to achieve a Digital Nigeria. In particular, the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (2020-2025), along with the harmonization of Right of Way charges across the States and protection of Critical National Infrastructure across the country, amongst others, have had a significant impact on the broadband penetration.

Broadband is critical to sustainable economic growth and according to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Broadband Series, broadband contributes to economic growth through more efficiency in business processes, acceleration of innovation and more efficient functional deployment of enterprises. A Report titled "How Important Are Mobile Broadband Networks for Global Economic Development” shows that 10% increase in mobile broadband penetration results in approximately 0.6% to 2.8% rise in Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In some countries, it increases the GDP by over 6%.

The increase in broadband penetration is leading to the growth of Nigeria’s economy in a way that transcends the ICT sector. Broadband has supported growth and enabled financial institutions in the delivery of services to their customers.  It has also enabled the provision of digital services across the different sectors of the economy. 

It is noteworthy that all these are part of the digital economy, which has been defined as “that part of economic output derived solely or primarily from digital technologies with a business model based on digital goods or services” – consisting of the digital sector plus emerging digital and platform services.

The Honourable Minister has directed the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), as the regulators of Internet services, to ensure that quality of service improves.  Dr Pantamiwould also like to urge all stakeholders to keep supporting the Ministry in the implementation of the Broadband Plan for the overall benefit of the economy.

Dr ‘Femi Adeluyi
Technical Assistant (Information Technology) to the
Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy
11^th November, 2020

The Federal Executive Council approved the Policy on Virtual Engagements for the Public Service at its meeting on the 14^th of October, 2020.  This followed the presentation of the draft policy by the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), FNCS, FBCS, FIIM and the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr(Mrs) Folashade Yemi-Esan. 

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a sudden migration of official meetings from the conventional physical meeting format to virtual platforms.  Much as these changes were welcome, provision was not made for such meetings in the Public Service Rules. 

This Policy on Virtual Engagements for the Public Service was therefore developed to legalize as well as provide the framework and standards within which Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs), Parastatals, and Government-owned companies can use virtual engagements as an administrative procedure in the Public Service. 

The Policy aims to achieve the following:

1. to institutionalize the use of virtual platforms for effective and efficient service delivery;
2. to encourage remote collaboration among stakeholders, including the private/public sector, individuals and International Organizations;
3. to effectively adopt and deploy digital technology for virtual engagements in order to improve service delivery in the Public Sector;
4. to enhance learning and manpower development across the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in order to create a smart workforce; and
5. to improve transparency in government and fight corruption. 

The Honourable Minister urges all MDAs, Parastatals and Government-owned companies to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Policy and ensure full compliance.  To ensure the inter-operability of technologies adopted for inter-governmental meetings, Government institutions at the State and Local Government Levels are also encouraged to adopt the Policy. 

The implementation of the Policy will improve service delivery in the country and will support in the implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy for a Digital Nigeria. The Policy can also be supported by subsidiary legislation from our regulatory parastatals supervised by the Ministry.

The Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy is committed to supporting all government institutions towards the successful implementation of the Policy.

Dr Femi Adeluyi
Technical Assistant (Information Technology) to the
Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy
15th of October 2020