Pantami Commissions 4,366 Projects Implemented Under His Supervision

Pantami Commissions 4,366 Projects Implemented Under His Supervision

 

The Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) unveiled and commissioned 4,366 projects, programmes and initiatives implemented under his supervision as Minister. This took place at the Communications and Digital Economy Complex, Mbora, Abuja and virtually at the remote locations of the commissioned projects.

The commissioning ceremony was graced by several dignitaries. These included the immediate-past Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Finacial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Mr. Modibbo R. Hamman Tukur and the Chairman of the Board of the Nigeria Postal Services (NIPOST), Barrister Maimuna Yaya Abubakar, among others. The Chief Executive Officers of the parastatals under the Ministry were also in attendance.

The dignitaries poured encomiums on Professor Pantami for his visionary and inspirational leadership. They extolled his passion for the digital economy sector and for the development of Nigeria. They congratulated him for how he has shown that the Nigerian youth can excel at the top levels of leadership in the country, having himself performed extremely well as Minister.

The commissioned projects were spread across all the States of the Federation and were executed by the Ministry and all the parastatals under the Ministry. Some of the projects commissioned included the Community IT Training Centre, Ogbomosho, Oyo State; the Digital Nigeria Centre, Udi Abia Secondary School, Enugu State; IT Hub, Gashua, Yobe State; Mini-ICT Square Project, Minna, Niger State; Digital Awareness Programme Cardoso High School, Apapa, Lagos State; Digital Nigeria Centre, Gen. Hassan Usman Katsina Unity College, Bauchi State, among several others.

The Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) also unveiled ten 3-ton trucks to enhance their postal services. The trucks were purchased from internally generated revenue and were commissioned by the Honourable Minister at the Communications and Digital Economy Complex, Mbora,

A 443-page Compendium of Achievements was also unveiled to provide a concise summary of the unprecedented achievements that were recorded under the leadership of Prof. Pantami since he became a Minister on the 21st of August 2019.
The participants applauded the Honourable Minister for starting strong and also ending strong. They also noted that the digital economy sector had become integral to all aspects of the Nigerian economy because of the landmark achievements and efforts of Prof. Pantami.

Uwa Suleiman

NCC Boss to Receive Vanguard’s Regulator of the Year Award on Friday

NCC Boss to Receive Vanguard’s Regulator of the Year Award on Friday

 

 

The Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, is set to receive the 2022 Regulator of the Year Award at the highly-coveted Vanguard Personality of the Year Awards.

 

Vanguard Newspaper Limited, the organizers of the event, has said that Danbatta would receive the award category at a ceremony to be held in Lagos on Friday, January 27, 2022 based on the recognition of the professor’s transformational and inspiring leadership, which brought the effective regulatory regime in the telecoms sector, impacting positively on Nigeria’s digital economy ecosystem.

 

Alongside other prominent personalities including state governors like Babagana Zulum of Borno State, Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, Abdulraham Abdulrazaq of Kwara, Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom and Seyi Makinde of Oyo State as well as the Chairman of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, and other Nigerians who have distinguished themselves in professional excellence and service to humanity, Danbatta will stand tall before Nigerians on Friday to receive his category of award.

 

Profoundly described as Africa’s Regulatory model, Prof. Danbatta has become a model to other African regulators.

 

A respectable scholar and distinguished academic, Danbatta has displayed a no-nonsense mien in discharging regulatory functions, yet he is generally viewed in the industry as a calm and calculative leader who takes fair but firm decisions in his drive to steady the Nigerian telecom environment. This has, no doubt, inspired many African regulators to adopt Nigeria’s model in order to revamp their regulatory activities.

 

 

A professor of telecommunications engineering, Danbatta, before his appointment, had been the Acting Vice Chancellor at the Kano State University of Science and Technology (KUST), and as a lecturer he has supervised more than 60 PhD, M.Eng and B.Eng projects in diverse areas of telecommunications.

 

Danbatta, however, was not entirely new to the industry before he bacame the NCC boss, as he had a stint at the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI) an international centre for advanced communications studies established in 2004 by the NCC for capacity building in diverse areas of Information and Communication Technology as the Vice President of the institute.

 

 

His first five years in office witnessed an effective regulatory regime through cutting-edge initiatives, strengthening the role of the telecommunications sector as a major contributor to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

 

 

Currently leading the charge to achieve the Nigerian National Broad Plan 2020-2025, Danbatta was acclaimed for spearheading the predecessor campaign, which Nigeria attained and surpassed the 30% national target in 2018, from paltry 6% when he took over.

 

The multiple award-winning professor also midwifed a highly successful 5G spectrum auction last year, while his strides in reviving the Emergency Communications Centers (ECCs) and the introduction of harmonized national emergency communication number (112) helped the NCC to win the International Public Relations Association Golden Award in the year 2021, because of a pivotal role they played in containing the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

His stellar leadership style was recently rewarded by the organizers of the prestigious Zik Prize, as they bestowed on him the Zik Prize award for Professional Leadership.

 

Danbatta earned BEng, MSc degrees from the Technical University of Wroclaw in Poland and received his PhD from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. Yet, in spite of his towering achievements, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, remains an epitome of modesty and humility.

In America, Pantami Meets With Space X, World Bank, Google to Strengthen Nigeria’s Digital Economy

In America, Pantami Meets With Space X, World Bank, Google to Strengthen Nigeria’s Digital Economy

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The Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy of Nigeria, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, had meetings at Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (Space X) headquarters in Hawthorne, California, as well as a meeting at the World Bank Headquarters and another meeting with Google Corporation in a bid to strengthen partnerships for the development of Nigeria’s digital economy.​

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The meetings with the World Bank and Google were held on the sidelines of the US-Africa Leaders’ Forum (USALF), which took place in Washington DC, United States of America, while the visit to Space X was a follow up to the events at the USALF.

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Professor Pantami was received at Space X by Samuel (Chad) Gibbs IV, the Vice President of Business Operations, on behalf of Elon Musk, Founder and CEO of Space X. At the visit, both parties discussed how Space X can expand its presence in Nigeria, following their entry into the Nigerian market through the Starlink broadband service.​ ​

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The Honourable Minister also asked the Space X team to consider sourcing some of its engineers from Nigeria’s digital talent pool.​ During the visit, the Honourable Minister and his team were given a personalised tour of the SpaceX Rocket Manufacturing Facility, Starlink Assembly Line, and Product Development Facility.​ He also witnessed the live Space X rocket launch of 2 telecom satellites into orbit.​

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On the invitation of the World Bank Group, the Honourable Minister had a meeting with top officials of the Bank, including Vyjayanti Desai, the Practice Manager for the World Bank’s Identification for Development (ID4D) and Digitizing Government to Person Payments (G2Px) Programs.​ Also at the meeting were Franz Drees-Gross, Director of Infrastructure, World Bank West African Region and Michel Rogy, World Bank’s Digital Development Practice Manager for Africa and the Middle East.​ The World Bank team commended the Minister for his great leadership, which has led to significant development in Nigeria’s digital economy sector. The meeting also discussed how the Bank can further partner with Nigeria to strengthen the digital economy ecosystem in areas such as infrastructure, skilling, cybersecurity, and digital identity.

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Professor Pantami also had a meeting with Karan Bhatia, Vice-President, Government Affairs, and Public Policy at Google.​ Mr. Bhatia was full of praise for the Honourable Minister for the significant progress that has been made in the digital transformation of the Nigerian economy.​

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He also commended the Minister for Nigeria Startup Act, noting the potential of the legislation to serve as a catalyst for rapid development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Nigeria and other parts of Africa.​The Google Vice-President discussed the company’s growing focus on Africa and looks forward to expanding partnerships with Nigeria in areas such as skilling, cybersecurity, and cloud computing, among others.

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The Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, under Professor Pantami’s leadership, remains committed to implementing the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) in order to ensure that Nigeria’s digital economy remains a leading light, both in Africa and across the globe.

Secretary-General of the ITU, Mr. Houlin Zhao Commends Pantami As He Bags Dubai World Trade Centre Award

Secretary-General of the ITU, Mr. Houlin Zhao Commends Pantami As He Bags Dubai World Trade Centre Award

 

Recognising the role, the Nigerian Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) is playing globally to foster a digital economy, which has been commended by world leaders such as His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, the outgoing Secretary-General of the ITU, Mr. Houlin Zhao, Executive Chairman, ID4Africa, Mr. Joseph Atick, among others.
The Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), organizers of the Gulf Information Technology Exhibition Conference (GITEX), and the Gulf Information Security Expo and Conference (GISEC) added another feather to the cap of Minister Pantami today. The DWTC officially presented a LEADERSHIP AWARD to Prof Pantami in recognition of the role Pantami is playing in advancing Nigeria’s digital economy.
It is on record that under the supervisory leadership of Pantami, the ICT sector attained the position of the fastest growing sector of Nigeria’s economy according to the report provided by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The sector pulled Nigeria out of the COVID-19-induced recession.

In the same vein, within the stewardship of Pantami, Nigeria witnessed an unprecedented rapid increase in broadband penetration, a rapid increase in digital identity, and a rapid decrease in the cost of mobile data.

It is no surprise that the ITU found it worthy of appointing the Nigerian Minister as the chairman of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) Forum 2022. Mr. Haolin Zhao went further to call on other African leaders to emulate Pantami in prioritizing commitment to their official duties.

Similarly, in the same feat, His Excellency, President Buhari singled out Minister Pantami’s innovative, doggedness, and resolute approach to duty. ” I commend the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), for the landmark achievements of the digital economy sector and his commitment to carrying out his responsibility of developing the sector, including championing the growth of the indigenous telecom sector and NIN-SIM registration process. I also commend the industry stakeholders for their support for the sector.”
Under the leadership of Pantami, 19 National policies have been formulated and are currently being implemented. This is unprecedented in the history of Nigeria. The developmental regulation approach of Pantami has provided the enabling environment that supports rather than stifles development. Nigeria becoming the first country in Africa and one of the first in the world to introduce a digital currency to her citizens is a testament to that.

The digital economy sector in Nigeria under the supervision of Prof Pantami is playing an important role in improving security, fighting corruption, and developing the Nation’s economy. Unregistered or improperly registered SIM cards have been deactivated, IT projects are being cleared to ensure interoperability and transparency in governance in line with digital Nigeria policy and strategy.

Nigeria Re-Elected as ITU Council Member

Nigeria Re-Elected as ITU Council Member

 

 

In clear recognition of the critical role Nigeria is playing on the global telecom stage, the country was re-elected earlier today as a Council member of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations specialised agency that oversees global telecommunication operations. Nigeria will serve on the Council again from 2023-2026.

 

The election of Nigeria and other countries, on Monday, October 3, 2022, into different regional groups that constitute ITU Council, was the highpoint of the Plenipotentiary Conference 2022 (PP-22) ongoing in Bucharest, the capital city of the Republic of Romania.

 

The Nigerian delegation was successfully led to the global event by the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami. Other members of the delegation include the Chairman, Board of Commissioners of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Adeolu Akande, and the Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta.

 

At the conference, which started on September 26, 2022 and scheduled to end on October 14, 2022, member states at the event voted on the composition of the next ITU Council and the 12 representatives to serve on the Radio Regulations Board (RRB) for the next four years.

 

The 21st Plenipotentiary Conference of the Council, also saw the election by member states, of Doreen Bogdan-Martin of the United States of America as the organisation’s next Secretary-General.

 

Like Nigeria and the countries elected into the Council, Bogdan-Martin, as the first woman to lead ITU in its 157-year history, will begin her four-year term from January 2023, when Houlin Zhao would have completed his second final term of four years in office as ITU Secretary General.

 

The seats in ITU Council are divided into five regions, A to E. Nigeria was elected into the ITU Council, Region D for Africa, which has 13 seats. Other 12 countries elected alongside Nigeria are Algeria; Egypt; Ghana; Kenya; Mauritius; Morocco; Rwanda; Senegal; South Africa; Tanzania; Tunisia; Uganda.

 

Elections of member states also took place into the Region A for The Americas (nine seats); Region B for Western Europe (eight seats); Region C for Eastern Europe & Northern Asia (five seats); and Region E, for Asia and Australasia with 13 seats as Africa.

 

Commenting on Nigeria’s re-election as ITU Council member, the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Umar Danbatta, thanked the ITU member states for the confidence it has in Nigeria expressed by the re-elected into the ITU Council, in which the country has been playing critical role over the years.

 

“The re-election of Nigeria as a member of ITU Council for the next four years, again, points to the globally-recognised leadership role Nigeria is playing in Africa and at the level of ITU Council in the area of telecommunications policy formulation and technical regulations development to drive ITU’s mission and vision,” the EVC said.

 

The ITU, originally established in 1865 as the International Telegraph Union and became a United Nations specialised agency in 1947, was set up to coordinate telecommunications operations and services throughout the world. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.

 

Nigeria became a member of ITU on November 4, 1961. The USA joined on July 1, 1908; United Kingdom, February 24, 1871, and UAE on June 27, 1972.

 

The ITU is governed by the Plenipotentiary Conference and the Administrative Council. The Plenipotentiary Conference is the supreme organ of the Union. It is the decision-making body which determines the direction of the Union and its activities.

 

The Council, on the other hand, acts as the Union’s governing body in the interval between Plenipotentiary Conferences. Its role is to consider broad telecommunication policy issues to ensure that the Union’s activities, policies, and strategies fully respond to today’s dynamic, rapidly changing telecommunications environment.

 

ITU Council also prepares a report on the policy and strategic planning of the ITU, and it is responsible for ensuring the smooth day-to-day running of the Union, coordinating work programmes, approving budgets, and controlling finances and expenditure.

 

The Council also takes all steps to facilitate the implementation of the provisions of the ITU Constitution, the ITU Convention, the Administrative Regulations (International Telecommunications Regulations and Radio Regulations), the decisions of Plenipotentiary Conferences, and where appropriate, the decisions of other conferences and meetings of the Union.