Pantami urges digital economy progress
Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, Nigeria’s minister of communications and digital economy, has told the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to increase its efforts to ensure the government’s digital economy agenda is realised.
Pantami’s call for action comes after Umar Garba Danbatta’s recent reappointment as executive vice-chairman of the NCC.
“The proactive decision to recommend Danbatta’s reappointment to the president for approval was to ensure stability in the telecommunications industry and consolidate on the gains and successes already recorded in the industry in the last five years of Danbatta’s leadership as the EVC of NCC,” Pantami said.
The minister urged Danbatta to work effectively with the ministry and agencies to ensure the thorough implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) as well as the new National Broadband Plan (NBP) for 2020 to2025.
With the Covid-19 pandemic seeing many individuals and organisations relying more on digital platforms for work and collaboration, Pantami said President Muhammadu Buhari was currently focusing on boosting the digital economy.
“The success of the commission is our collective responsibility,” he continued. “While we, as a ministry, do our best to formulate general industry policy and supervise the activities of the commission, I will urge the NCC family to be united, remove all lines of demarcation, ensure justice, fairness in all decisions and, above all, ensure harmonious relationships. This task lies on the table of the EVC.
“So, we expect the NCC, as the telecoms regulator, to take the issue of digital economy very seriously and give it all the attention it deserves within the commission.”
In response, Danbatta said: “I consider my reappointment as the EVC of NCC for another five years as an honour and a show of the confidence the honourable minister and the president have in our efforts at NCC in the last five years.
“We would like to assure the honourable minister of our commitment, as a commission, to work with the ministry and other agencies under the ministry’s supervision towards advancing the frontiers of digital economy in Nigeria.”
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