The African ICT Foundation (AfICTF) is optimistic that going by the track record of the new minister of Communications, Ali Isa Ibrahim Pantami, on the pursuit of Nigeria’s local content policy, as well as data protection at the Nigeria Information and Technology Development Agency (NITDA), there will be improved patronage of made-in-Nigeria IT hardware and software.
The Foundation made the observation in a congratulatory message to Pantami, the former Director-General of NITDA, following his appointment as minister of Communication, by President Muhammadu Buhari last week.
In the congratulatory message signed by Tony Ojobo, president of the foundation, he commended President Buhari for appointing a core ICT professional to manage the Communications ministry noting that the industry should leapfrog into a new beginning when the new minister goes into work.
According to Ojobo, the former NITDA director-general hasda formidable track record at the NITDA which prompted his choice for the ministry, saying that NITDA’s unwavering commitment to local content under Pantami, enhanced the purchase of indigenous brands of ICT devices by over 60 percent within the last three years.
He said that local hosting of data doubled in value and local software consumption has increased significantly. The cumulative effect of these efforts is that ICT contribution to GDP reached an unprecedented mark of 13.63 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018, he noted.
While expressing the commitment of the AfICTF to the growth of the industry through its advocacy role, Ojobo said that the Foundation has been involved across Africa, empowering Africans with digital skills through its programmes of skills acquisition and ICT penetration.
He noted that AfICTF recently launched the series of its digital marketing programme, the e-reputation and social media workshop for young entrepreneurs from the Republic of Benin in Cotonou.
The workshop exposed young entrepreneurs to how they can use the social media to drive their business, master their communication, choose one’s communication vectors, occupy the communication space, stay consistent, and manage the security of one’s accounts.
According to him, the foundation has unveiled its two-year development plan for ICT in Africa and AfICTF seeks collaboration with the ministry in the area of ICT skill development, broadband penetration and patronage of local content as well as policy formulation.
Ojobo recalled that under Pantami, NITDA issued several policies, guidelines, and frameworks to help stimulate broadband penetration in the country such as the framework and guidelines for public internet access, guidelines for clearance of IT project by public institutions, NITDA public key infrastructure regulations, framework on data localization and local content policy.
He noted that replicating such feat through the office as minister of Communications will facilitate the implementation such policies and guidelines, adding that AfICTF was aware that under him over 660 IT intervention centres were established nationwide, Digital Divide Bridging Centres, Digital Job Creation Centres, Campus Area Networks for educational institutions, e-Learning Centres for educational institutions, Virtual/Digital Library Centres, and IT hubs.
Ojobo said that AfICTF was sure of the achievement of the 70-80 percent broadband penetration as endorsed by the industry with Pantami at the helm of affairs at the ministry of Communications and that with all stakeholders’ support, building a broadband ecosystem that will help improve existing broadband services and significantly increase broadband penetration in the country was sure.
