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The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, has inaugurated two ministerial inter-agency committees, this week, in Abuja. The committees are tasked with helping to create national awareness on completed ICT projects executed across the country and their impacts on communities in local languages.
The two committees: Completed Projects Review Committee and Committee on Media Engagement in Local Languages are to review, collate, commission and communicate in local languages ICT projects implemented under President Muhammadu Buhari.
The minister expressed concerns that while the ministry and agencies under its supervision, had successfully complemented a number of projects across the six geo-political zones in the country all of which have been beneficial to Nigerians, not much is known about them by Nigerians.
His words: “The existence of these projects have not been sufficiently communicated to the public in local languages. There has not been so much awareness creation on the presence of these projects among Nigerians who are the ultimate beneficiaries.”
To address these gaps, the Completed Projects Review Committee is mandated to collate all the projects already completed. The committee will then carry out a virtual commissioning of the projects in order to raise awareness and help to project their benefits to Nigerians.
On the other hand, the Committee on Media Engagement in Local Languages, have the mandate to create awareness on the projects, their locations and how they have benefited Nigerians through the use of Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba and Fulfude languages reflecting the spoken language in the specific zone where the projects are established.
While stressing the importance of engagement and feedback in promoting good governance to deliver efficient services to Nigerians, Pantami said it was strategic to communicate government policies and programmes effectively to citizens and also receive feedback so as to enhance transparency and accountability.
The committees have members drawn from the ministry and all agencies under its supervision including the National Information Technology Development Agency, Nigerian Communications Commission, Nigerian Postal Service, NIGCOMSAT, and Galaxy Backbone.
