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The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), PhD, FNCS, FBCS, FIIM resumed office as Minister on the 21 of August, 2019 The Communications and Digital Economy sector has recorded a number of unprecedented achievements under his leadership. For example, the sector played a pivotal role in lifting the Nigerian economy out of recession, with the ICT sector recording the highest growth rate in the 4 Quarter of 2020 (14.70%), as reported by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) th and stated by the President.
This growth rate was the only double-digit growth rate and it exceeded the aggregate growth rates of all the 2 to the 7 fastest growing sectors. The ICT sector also had the highest growth nd th rate in the year 2020 and the 1 Quarter of 2021. It is also noteworthy that the st telecommunications sub-sector grew at 15.90% and this was its highest growth rate over the past decade. Additionally, the Ministry and its parastatals have generated over N1 Trillion for the Federal Government in less than 2 years, this translates to an average of about N44 Billion every month or over N1.4 Billion every day! For example, about N360 Billion of this revenue was largely from Spectrum, allocated by the National Frequency Management Council (NFMC), under the Chairmanship of the Minister, to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) for commercial purposes. Another over N600 Billion was paid as taxes by ICT Companies to the account of the Federal Government through the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
Over the last 2 years, a significant number of National Policies have been developed to create an enabling environment for the sustainable growth of the Communications and Digital Economy Sector. This has led to the resolution of challenges that had lingered for close to a decade. Sixteen (16) of these National Policies have been developed and over a dozen of these are already being implemented. As part of the implementation of these policies, over 1,667 projects/centres have been established, and an additional 455 are ongoing.
Over 219,000 Nigerians have directly benefited from training on digital skills and this number does not include several others that have benefited from such trainings indirectly. Furthermore, there have been over 61 million unique NIN enrollments. Almost all the achievements here are unprecedented.
A succinct list of some of these achievements has been captured in the following document (click to download).
The 7th phase of the virtual commissioning of digital economy projects under the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy was held on October 20, 2020 at the Communications &Digital Economy Complex, Mbora Abuja.
Five (5) more completed projects implemented by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) were commissioned by the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami in alignment with the Ministry’s National Digital Economy Policy & Strategy (NDEPS) 2020 – 2030.
With the rise of the value of the digital economy on a global scale, particularly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Minister stressed the necessity of diversifying the economy by focusing on being more digital than traditional.
The Secretary of USPF and Chairman of the Ministerial Committee on Project Review and Commissioning, Mallam Ayuba Shuaibu welcomed the distinguished guests at the event, notably, the Chairman of the occasion, Governor of Ekiti State and Chairman Nigeria Governors’ Forum, DrKayodeFayemiwho participated virtually, the Special Guest of Honor and Honorable Minister of State for Health, DrOlorunnimbeMamora as well as Board and Management Staff of the agencies under the Ministry.
In his remarks, Governor Fayemi appreciated the Minister for the various ICT projectsexecuted in his State and he reaffirmed that the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) will support Dr. Pantami’sfuture initiativeson the transformationagenda of the Communication’s sector, describing them as mutually-beneficial relationships.
The Special Guest of Honour, the Honorable Minister of State for Health, DrOlorunnimbeMamora commended the Honorable Minister and the agencies under him for their zeal for good governance particularly providing operational and diverse digital solutions that allow other aspects of government to work remotely and efficiently during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The commissioned projects are the Emergency Communications Centre Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State; the Digital AwarenessProgramme for Methodist Girls High School Yaba, Lagos State; the Digital AwarenessProgramme for Bishop Okoye Girls Secondary School Ukpor, Anambra State all from the NCC; USPF’s School Knowledge Center (SKC) at Ijaloke Grammar School EmureEkiti, Ekiti State and lastly NITDA’s Flag-Off of National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State.
 The Chairman of the occasion & Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi giving his remarks |
 Honorable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami |
 Minister of State for Health, Dr. Olorunnimbe Mamora addressing the audience |
 Secretary USPF, Mallam Ayuba Shuaibu delivering the welcome speech |
The Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, in the last couple of weeks and in 4 different phases, has virtually commissioned various completed projects of the agencies under the Ministry.
The projects executed by agencies under the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy namely Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Galaxy Backbone, Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NigComSat), Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) and the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) are all connected to Nigeria’s digital economy drive as contained in the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS).
This according to the Minister, are projects connected to some pillars of the NDEPS, especially with respect to developmental regulation, digital literacy and skills, solid infrastructure, among others. The beneficiaries of these projects executed under President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, administration are the Nigerian citizens whose usage of ICT will boost the economic development in the country.
The Secretary of the USPF, Mr. Ayuba Shuaibu who also doubled as the Chairman of the Ministerial Committee on Project Review and Commissioning, welcomed the distinguished guests that included the Governors of Borno, Imo, Gombe and Jigawa States as well as the Ministers of Finance, Budget & National Planning, Works and Housing, Information and Culture, Interior, Education (State), Mines and Power (State), Aviation, Industry, Trade and Investment.
Shuaibu also appreciated the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry and their Directors; Board and Management Staff of the agencies under the Ministry, gentlemen of the press among others.
The USPF projects commissioned by the Minister are the Tertiary Institution Knowledge Center (TIKC) Enugu State Polytechnic, Iwollo; the Tertiary Institution Knowledge Center (TIKC) Delta State University Abaraka, Delta State and the School Knowledge Center (SKC) Government Day Secondary School Hassan Central, Gombe State.
Other commissioned projects include, the e-Library Federal College of Education (Technical) Bichi, Kano State; e-Accessibility Center Government School for the Deaf, Malumfashi, Katsina State and the School Knowledge Center (SKC) A.U.D High School Ikole-Ekiti, Ekiti State.
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Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami |
 Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof Umar Danbatta |
 L-R: Executive-Vice Chairman, NCC Prof. Umar Danbatta chatting with Secretary, USPF Mr. Ayuba Shuaibu. |
 Secretary, USPF/Chairman, Ministerial Committee on Projects Reviews and Commissioning, Mr. Ayuba Shuaibu. |
 L-R: Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Abdullahi, Secretary, USPF Ayuba Shuaibu and Executive-Vice Chairman, NCC Prof. Umar Danbatta |
 L-R: Executive-Vice Chairman, NCC Prof. Umar Danbatta; Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba; Governor of Imo State Hope Uzodinma; Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami and Minister of Information & Culture, Lai Muhammed, during the virtual commissioning of 11 ICT Projects located across the country which were executed by agencies under the Ministry in Abuja on Tuesday, August 11, 2020. |
The USPF Changemaker Challenge 2019 is a Hackathon event to encourage startups and investors to create applications and services to deepen ICT solutions in the country particularly in the unserved and under-served areas.
The competition held in the Southern (Lagos) and Northern (Kano) zones of Nigeria and was facilitated by Surez Global Resources Ltd as well as Everly United Associates Limited respectively. It brought together software developers, data scientist, student and other ICT experts to create fully working prototypes of their ICT solutions capable of deepening ICT penetration in the country.
This 4th edition of the nationwide competition with the theme “A Break from the Norm – Advancing Humanity through Technology” had 5 Tech Solution Categorization namely; Artificial Intelligence, FinTech, Disaster & Emergency Management, Digital Transformation & Automation and Business Intelligence & Analytics.
The pitch presentations were judged based on the following criteria; Idea/Innovation, Presentation, Technology Stack, Market Viability, Scalability, Quality of the Team and Alignment with the USPF initiatives.
Prize money was won by the 10 teams that participated in the competition in the zones as follows; N1, 000, 000 (1st Prize), N750, 000 (2nd Prize), N500, 000 (3rd Prize) and a consolation prize of N150, 000 for the remaining teams. In addition, the top 3 winners will go for incubation and entrepreneurship training as well as have access to investors.
In his opening remarks, the Secretary of the Universal Service Provision Secretariat, Mr. Ayuba Shuaibu who was represented by the Head, Strategy & Corporate Performance Monitoring, Dr. Olubunmi Bamijoko stated that the objective of USPF Changemaker challenge is to provide a platform for ICT start-ups to create fully working prototypes of ICT solutions capable of deepening ICT penetration in Nigeria while creating employment for the young ICT entrepreneurs. He expressed appreciation to the judges, mentors and participants at the event and emphasized that the prize money and consolation prizes are not only what would be won, but the incubation of the great ideas after the hackathon.
Team Food Prime won the 1st prize at the Lagos event and their ICT solution entails an electronic smart device solution that increases farmer’s yield by reducing losses and damages caused by pest using sensors, perimeter detectors, counter-sound etc. While, the Kano event 1st Prize went to Team BC Scan for pitching a breast cancer detection device using a chip in brassieres.
All the teams were adjudged winners for their innovative ICT solutions and advised to remain focused and pursue their ideas. More information on www.uspfchangemaker2019.ng
Head, Strategy & Corporate Performance Monitoring, Dr. Olubunmi Bamijoko delivering the opening remarks for the Secretary USPF, Mr. Ayuba Shuaibu
Team Food Prime (middle), winners of the Lagos USPF Changemaker Challenge 2019 with staff of USPF, Judges and the Hackaton facilitator
Team BC Scan (middle), winners of the Kano USPF Changemaker Challenge 2019 with staff of USPF and the Judges
Following the USPF Management approval for Innovative ICT Solutions and Enterpreneuship Development, interested participants are hereby reminded that adverts for the 2019 event are already in the print media and the portal for event registration has been activated accordingly. Please visit the link below for more: