President Muhammadu Buhari says the digital economy sector has raked in about 46 billion in IT projects clearance, making it the most successful in the diversification of the nation’s economy.
The President stated this in Abuja, while unveiling and launching two new policies developed by the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.
Linking the two policies to the diversification and prosperity of the economy, President Buhari said the National Policy on the Nigerian Government Second-Level Domains and the National Data Policy, were central to accelerating the development of the nation’s digital economy sector.
He said his administration would continue to develop policies and programmes in furtherance of the diversification of the economy.
The President noted that Nigeria’s strides towards a thriving digital economy started on October 17, 2019 with the redesignation of the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy and the restructuring of its mandate, stressing that the changes have been phenomenal.
According to him, 21 new national policies and strategies have been developed by the Federal Government since 2019, adding that the policies and strategies are national instruments to support Nigeria’s digital economy at the national and sub-national levels.
On the issue of digital identity for the country, President Buhari declared that the present administration had actively promoted it as key to a sustainable and secure development of Nigeria’s digital economy, which will ultimately promote the use of the right identity by all Federal Public Institutions.
While noting that the National Policy on Nigeria Government Second-Level Domains is a welcome step in this direction, he directed that government officials should refrain from using private emails for official purposes and Federal Public institutions (FPIs) must migrate their websites to the relevant government domains.
On the recent deployment of Starlink services by SpaceX in Nigeria, the President expressed delight that Nigeria was the first and only African country to have the link, adding that with the deployment of Starlink service Nigeria has 100 percent broadband penetration.
Earlier, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Pantami said that the two policies being launched were outcomes of compliance with the President’s directive to come up with a National Policy that was earlier approved by the Federal Executive Council, noting that the policies are targeted at consolidating on the gains achieved so far in the digital ecosystem.
Enumerating the benefits to be derived from implementing the policies, the Minister said the Ministry relied on relevant provisions of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 as amended, and the NITDA Act 2007, with the belief that they would go a long way in consolidating the achievements in the digital economy sector.
On the National Data Policy, Professor Pantami reiterated the indispensability of data in national life, emphasising that data was critical and could be leveraged on for the development of other sectors of the economy.
Bello Wakili