Minister explains reasons for digital economy drive in Nigeria

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, has justified the necessity, appropriateness and significance coque barca iphone 4 of coque samsung a8 joker the re designation of the Federal coque samsung galaxy s4 captain america Ministry of Communications as Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy (FMoCDE) coque samsung galaxy a8 aliexpress in October 2019 by President Muhammadu Buhari, as he recalled the modest strides of the ministry and strategy for accomplishing the digital economy policy for national development.

Mr Pantami explained this on Friday at a media parley and press briefing which took place at Treasure Suites, Maitama, Abuja.

The meeting with members of the Abuja Chapter of the Nigerian Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA), convened by the minister to enlighten coque iphone 4 jaune the media about steps that had been taken by the FMoCDE under his leadership, to enhance the transition to digital economy, was the first briefing by any Ministry, Department or Agency (MDA) of government in 2020.

The minister said the re designation was done to position Nigeria for the gains of digital economy as ‘communications’ captured just the channels. Hence, the term coque samsung j1 noire became inadequate in describing the essence of the new vision that embraces the content, as well as the utilisation of both channel and content to achieve the central focus of the Ministry to migrate the nation to a digital economy.

Pantami said this is particularly significant as it enables Information and Communication Technology (ICT) which is the most diverse and fastest growing sector to mobilise other sectors and align with the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) of the Federal Government.

The minister said this is quite fitting, as it also ensures that the name of the ministry captures its objective in keeping with best global practices.

Following the re designation, the minister stated that the Federal Government directed the ministry to develop and implement a national digital economy strategy. This, he said, was done by the ministry and unveiled by the President at the e Nigeria Conference in November 2019.

Pantami said the policy captures the thematic focus while the strategy speaks to how the various themes will be achieved.

Speaking further, Pantami declared that all other MDAs are connected to the strategy in view of the centrality meilleur coque samsung galaxy a5 2017 of ICT to development in other sectors of the economy. He etui coque samsung j7 2016 emphasised that the role of the ministry is to coordinate the implementation of the policy and the strategy.

The minister stated that the implementation of the strategy had started. He stressed that by the end of housse coque samsung j3 2016 the decade, the Federal Government expects every Nigerian to have connected with and expressed the goal of digital Nigeria by being computer literate, owning a digital device (which coque samsung s8 pantone the agencies in the ministry have been assisting to facilitate), having access to the Internet, owning a bank account that can be accessed and operated digitally and online. Beyond financial services, the Minister said the Federal Government hopes to see majority of the citizens undertake many activities electronically.

Mr Pantami recalled the eight pillars of the policy which he enjoined all tiers of government and all stakeholders to begin to explore for implementation.

The first of the pillars is Developmental Regulation, which he said is conceived as regulation that promotes and supports development.

“This means online communications and transactions should focus on and encourage digital economy and ensure taxes and prices come down because when prices come down, demand goes up” and entrepreneurs make more profit by sheer increase in the volume of trade. “It is simple economics,” theinister emphasised.

The second mainstay of the digital economy policy is coque antichoc iphone 4 Digital Literacy and coque samsung galxy s5 Skills, and the minister emphasised the importance of this pillar because digital economy is unrealisable without skills.

Mr Pantami enumerated that different sections of the population are targeted for training and retraining, including women, youths, journalists, civil servants and those who are certificated but unemployed.

He was optimistic that, at least, 90 per cent of Nigerians will be digitally literate by the end of the decade as all agencies in steampunk coque samsung the ministry will be involved in series of training and retraining as much as the financial circumstances of the nation permit.

Solid Infrastructure, the third pillar of the policy, will ensure availability of robust data centres and deals with broadband expansion, according to the Minister.

He explained that the 2020 2025 Broadband Plan is expected to be ready within the first quarter of 2020 and the plan is to ensure that all unserved and underserved areas have access to broadband services. For this, he said the Federal Government and the Ministry are encouraging many institutions to host their data in Nigeria as he promised to continue the advocacy.

The fourth policy pillar Service Infrastructure, according to the minister, is focused on facilitating digitisation of activities that will find deeper expression in e health, e agriculture and other automated transactions. He accentuated the connection of automation to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by stating iphone 4 coque disney that studies by International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and other development agencies have revealed that 10 per cent increase in broadband penetration could increase GDP by up to 2.5 per cent.

According to the minister, the fifth pillar, Promotion of Digital Services, is also to ensure increased digitisation of activities, while the sixth pedestal of the digital economy policy is Software Infrastructure, which focuses on cybersecurity awareness to ensure security of activities in the cyberspace.

The penultimate pillar of coque samsung galaxy core prime a personnaliser the policy, according to the coque samsung galaxy note 4 fnac minister, is Digital Society and Emerging Technologies. He said the policy is conceptualised “to encourage start ups to support our innovators, so they can deploy their inventions in Nigeria.”

In this context, coque coque d iphone 4 samsung j3 silicone transparent the minister envisioned that Nigeria will explore in quantifiable terms, cloud computing, nanotechnology, Fifth Generation (5G) communications, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics. Illustrating the benefits of deployment of and access to 5G, Mr Pantami said with 5G, virtual surgery is possible in Nigeria.

The minister emphasised that digital innovation and digital entrepreneurship are particularly important in ensuring increase in Nigeria’s GDP.

He made a comparison between Nigeria and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) by stating that Nigeria’s GDP is $397 billion while MIT’s GDP is about five times higher. He attributed the disparity largely to inputs of digital innovation and entrepreneurship.

Thus, the minister declared that certificates are important when spiced with skills because that will trigger innovation. To demonstrate the paradigm shift to skills rather than mere certification, Mr Pantami said China is at the threshold of “converting 600 universities to skills centres” having realised that skills validate certificates.

The minister, however, explained that Nigeria is so blessed and needs to leverage that potential to ensure her coque samsung galaxy s5 mister jack teaming youths acquire enduring “skills that will make them to be potential employers rather than potential employees”.

It was evident the minister looked forward very enthusiastically to coque samsung galaxy core prime rose pastel seeing more Nigerians use the social media to support the digital economy by engaging it to achieve legitimate economic prosperity rather than for coque iphone 4 minnie the promotion of division and hatred among the people of Nigeria. He was quite saddened as he recalled divisive enlever coque samsung j5 2017 online conversations.

Thus, in order to stress the connection between the seventh pillar and the eight which is, Indigenous Content Development, especially how coque samsung galaxy grand prime stylé youths can use their skills and creative energy for innovation and technology development, Mr Pantami said Nigeria needs to create and promote indigenous amazone coque samsung galaxy core plus technology and use them locally.

“Let us use our skills positively to promote digital economy because the World Economic Forum (WEF) has predicted that by 2022, 60 percent of the world economy will be digital,” he added…