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Nigeria is tidying up its strategies to have an active digital economy as the country, this week in Abuja, formally inaugurated a 25-member committee of the technical retreat for zero draft of the Nigerian national broadband plan 2020-2025.
The committee will help to intensify the actualisation of the eight pillars National Policy for Digital Economy Policy and Strategy for a Digital Nigeria unveiled by President Muhammadu Buhari on November 28 during the eNiegria conference in Abuja,
“We cannot develop and promote digital economy without broadband at our disposal or in our country.
“We feel it is necessary after getting our national broadband in place, we need to immediately see how we can come up with another very important strategic committee to work on our national broadband plan. All hands must be joined together to see how we can penetrate under served and unserved areas in the country,” said the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, while inaugurating the committee comprising of notable industry players from the public and private sector.
Broadband drives digital economy
The global digital economy is currently valued as being in excess of11.5 trillion USD representing approximately 16 per cent of the world economy. But “by 2022, 60 per cent of the world economy will be digitalised, just in the next three years,” said Pantami in reference to the World Economic Forum (WEF).
“By 2030, almost 85 per cent of the world economy is going to be a digital economy because digital economy is dominating the world,” the minister further affirmed quoting the research outcome of the Oxford Economics which noted that digital economy was strategically dominating the world economy so that by 2030, almost 85 per cent of the world economy is going to be a digital economy.
Why Nigeria must deepen broadband penetration
Expressing concerns that Nigeria risks becoming an outsider in the global digital economy, Pantami said it was exigent to have in place a national policy drive to achieve broadband penetration by 2025 – part of the bedrock of the 8-pillar National Policy for Digital Economy Policy and Strategy for a Digital Nigeria unveiled by the president.
The eight pillars are: Developmental Regulation, Digital Literacy and Skills, Solid Infrastructure, Service Infrastructure, Digital Services Development and Promotion, Soft Infrastructure and Digital Society. Other are Emerging Technologies and Indigenous Content, Development and Promotion.
The third pillar fully covers the works of the committee to accommodate broadband, data centre and other related solid infrastructures vital to achieving the entire framework of the national digital economy policy and strategy of the government, said Pantami adding that achieving the other pillars hinges on the successful outcome of the third pillar.
“The work of the committee is going to address significantly, one of the eight pillars and the remaining seven pillars also are attached to it and their success also depends on this very important pillar.
“So that is why this committee is very important and strategic, it is a national broadband committee, however, it’s work of this committee will go a long way in supporting national digital economy policy and strategy for the federal government, said Pantami.
A five year national broadband plan was first inaugurated 2013 and expired in 2018. The new plan to run from 2020 will expire in 2025.
The new committee has the support of the UK government and draws from government agencies under the ministry that include Nigerian Communications Commission, (NCC), Galaxy Backbone, Nigcomsat Limited and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). The private sector is led by the CEO of MainOne, Funke Opeke, president of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Olusola Teniola, MD/CEO of IXPN, Muhammed Rudman, and Executive Chairman, Consultancy Support Services (CS2) Ltd who is also a member of AU Cybersecurity Experts, Abdul-Hakeem Ajijola.
Other officials present at the inauguration were Guy Harrison, a representative of the UK government, EVC of the NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, CEO of Nigcomsat, Ms Abimbola Alale, Postmaster-General of NIPOST, Mr. Adebisi Adegbuyi, Executive Secretary of Universal Service Provision Fund, Mr. Ayuba Shuaibu, Managing Director of Galaxy Backbone, Yusuf Kazaure and DG of NITDA, Kachifu Inuwa Abdullahi represented by NITDA’s Director of eGovernment, Dr Vincent Olatunji.
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